Attic Clean Up

Attic Clean Up

If a colony of bats or a flock of birds is allowed to live in your Atlanta building, their droppings will accumulate and create a health risk for anyone who enters the roosting area and disturbs the material. Once a roosting site has been discovered in a building, exclusion plans should be made, and the extent of contamination should be determined. When an accumulation of bat or bird manure is discovered in a building, removing the material is NOT the first step. The first step of the clean-up process is the remove the bats, or birds, themselves.

Histoplasmosis, a fungal infection of the lungs, can be contracted by exposure to areas where bird or bat droppings have accumulated, or where birds may roost. A thorough animal waste clean-up is recommended to help prevent histoplasmosis infection.

Looking for clean-up information on animals other than bats? Do you want to increase your home’s insulating effectiveness but, dont have an animal problem visit our home site Urban Wildlife Control, or call for information about rats, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, etc. insulation replacement & animal waste removal.

Ultrasonic devices and chemical repellents are ineffective for eliminating bats from an active roosting area. The most effective way of excluding bats from an occupied roost involves following multiple steps to identify and seal active entry and exit points, potential re-entry points and then remove the bats with humane check valves. Because some bat species are so small that they can squeeze through a gap as small as the diameter of a pencil.

The best way to prevent exposure to H. capsulatum spores is to avoid situations where material that might be contaminated can become airborne and subsequently inhaled. A brief inhalation exposure to highly contaminated dust may be all that is needed to cause infection and development of histoplasmosis. In cases where bats are roosting in the attic space of a home, the guano accumulation may contaminate the air handling equipment found in the attic exposing the occupants to a fungul infection.

Animal Waste Clean-up

Urban Wildlife Control uses an industrial vacuum cleaner with a high-efficiency filter to bag contaminated material. Our trailer-mounted vacuum system can handle buildings with large accumulations of bat or bird excrement or large amounts of contaminated materials. These high-volume systems can remove tons of contaminated material in a short period. Typically, the only part of the system that enters the home is the hose.

Proper disposal of contaminated material removed during clean-up is a must. Visible and accessible areas of the interior walls where bats were roosting must be thoroughly cleaned, and all guano removed. Removal of guano, or droppings, from structures should be left to experienced professionals familiar with proper removal procedures to prevent guano from becoming airborne.

After all guano and material has been successfully removed an approved disinfectant must be applied to kill any parasites or fungus associated with bat colonies. Fleas, lice, mites and bat bugs can infest bats, birds and other animals. If the host animals are removed from their nests or roosts, the parasites look for another host and may wander into the living space of human dwellings potentiatly transmitting diseases to humans.

Attic Insulation Replacement

If bats in attic or walls of a building have been removed and animal waste clean up has been accomplished, re-insulating of the attic or walls should be the final step. This will leave the attic clean and properly insulated to help control heating and cooling costs. Loose-fill insulation, usually made of fiberglass, rock wool, or cellulose, should be applied to the attic floor. These small particles should be blown into spaces using special equipment. The blown-in material will blanket the building cavities and attic floors. Loose-fill insulation is well suited for places where it is difficult to install other types of insulation, such as rolled insulation.
Many homes were under-insulated since the time of construction.

Homeowners do not spend much time in the attic so little consideration is given to this fact. After any animal, not just bats, has resided in an attic for any period of time, inulation contamination and damge are common sites. Insulation will become matted with feces and excrement and compressed destroying the thermal barrier, or R value.

Attic temperatures are usually far above outside ambient temperature. Because of the extreme temperature difference, insulating the floor of the attic is especially important. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a typical Georgia attic should have an R-49 insulation blanket. If your home does not already have R-49 attic insulation, once the removal process is complete Urban Wildlife Control can retrofeit your home to R-49 standards.

Attic Insulation Benefits

Energy cost savings- An under-insulated attic can lead to significant home comfort problems and high energy bills. Adding insulation to a poorly insulated home substantially reduces the home’s energy bills. Depending on the amount of insulation already in the home, many homes have pay-back periods as short as a few years.

Reduce wear on heating and air conditioning equipment- A well-insulated home reduces the amount of time the equipment runs, and therefore reduces equipment wear, which increases equipment life. Adding insulation reduces the equipment load and allows the equipment to effectively control temperatures when in some situations it would fail.

Protect the environment- The U.S. Department of Energy suggests that heating and cooling account for 50 to 70% of the energy used in the average American home. Adding or replacing poor insulation reduces power consumption which reduces greenhouse gasses. Increasing home insulation has a positive effect on the environment.

What Is R-value?

R-value is a measure of thermal resistance to heat flow, or how well the insulation slows heat flow. The higher the R-value, the more effective the insulation is to thermal intrusion. Each wall, ceiling, and crawlspace in the home may have a different R-value. The U.S. Department of Energy suggests attics, in Georgia, have an R-value of R-49.



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