Wildlife division · Insulation
When they leave, the mess stays.
An attic that has been lived in is contaminated — droppings and urine work down into the insulation and stay there. We remove it, decontaminate the space and re-insulate, so the attic goes back to being an attic.
1–3 hours on site · Photos and a written estimate · Any fee confirmed up front
Why the insulation has to come out
Insulation is designed to hold air, which means it also holds everything else. Droppings and urine do not sit on top of it; they work down into it and stay. Once an animal has been in an attic for a season, the insulation is not dirty in a way that can be cleaned — it is contaminated in a way that can only be removed.
There is a second reason, and it is the one people usually care about once they hear it: insulation that has been walked through, nested in and compressed has stopped doing its job. Matted, tunnelled insulation is not the R-value on the label any more. Taking it out is a contamination decision that happens to also be an energy one.
The short version: you can’t clean contaminated insulation, and by the time it is contaminated it has usually stopped insulating properly anyway.
The work
How we do it.
1. Contain, then remove
Dried droppings break up into dust, and dust is the part that travels. That is the whole reason this is equipment work rather than bags and a shovel — the material comes out under containment, with the proper gear, so that what is in the attic doesn’t end up circulating through the rest of the house while we work.
2. Decontaminate the space
With the insulation out, the deck, joists and framing are exposed for the first time. That is when the whole area gets sanitized — not spot-treated where the visible latrine was, but the full space, because the visible latrine is rarely the full extent of it.
3. Re-insulate
New insulation goes in once the space is clean and dry. This is also the moment when any remaining gaps in the roofline are obvious from the inside, which is one more reason to do this after the exclusion rather than before it.
Order matters. New insulation installed while the way in is still open is money spent on the next animal’s bedding. Exclusion first, restoration second — every time.
What tends to be up there
Bat guano and bird droppings are the two that get talked about most, because dried droppings produce dust and dust is inhalable. That is the reason for the containment and the equipment, and it is a well enough documented concern that we treat every guano job the same way regardless of how small it looks. Raccoon latrines get the same caution. Rodents contaminate more diffusely — less of a single pile, more of it everywhere.
We’re not going to tell you what any of that means for your health; that is a conversation for your doctor, not your wildlife guy. What we will tell you is what is up there, with photographs, and what it takes to get it out properly.
Insulation questions we get asked
Does the insulation always have to come out?
No, and we’ll tell you when it doesn’t. A short occupation in one corner of a large attic is often a localized removal rather than a full one. What decides it is how far the contamination has actually spread — something the inspection establishes with photographs, rather than something we assert from the driveway.
Will my homeowner’s insurance cover this?
Sometimes, and it is worth asking. Policies vary a great deal on wildlife damage, and some cover the restoration but not the removal or the exclusion. We can give you the photographs and an itemized written estimate that makes a claim easier to file, but we can’t tell you what your policy will do.
Can you do the insulation without doing the exclusion?
We would rather not, and we will say so plainly: new insulation under an open roofline is bedding for the next animal. If you have already had the exclusion done properly by someone else, that is a different conversation and we are happy to have it.
How long does it take?
It depends on the size of the attic and how much has to come out. It is a bigger job than the removal that preceded it, and we schedule it properly rather than tacking it onto the end of another day’s work. You get a duration with the estimate.
Do you put back the same kind of insulation?
Usually, unless there is a reason not to. If the attic had a problem the old insulation was making worse, we will say so at the estimate and explain the alternative — rather than quietly substituting something and charging you for it.
Related
Find out what is actually up there.
One to three hours, inside and out, with photographs of the attic you haven’t looked at. The estimate is yours to keep.
1–3 hours on site · Photos and a written estimate · Any fee confirmed up front