Benefits of Attic Cleanup and Decontamination

If you are like most homeowners you probably haven’t had your attic thoroughly cleaned or looked into attic services in a very long time. Many homeowners don’t clean their attic unless they experience problems such as rodent infestation or a leak in their roof prompts action.

While it is understandable that you may not be mindful of your attic, this oversight can result in big problems over time. Leaks can go unnoticed, rodent infestations can gain traction and spread, and damaged or insufficient insulation can lead to higher energy costs. All of these problems can result in a substantial attic decontamination cost that might otherwise be avoided with regular attic cleanup and decontamination.

In this article, we’ll explore the many benefits of attic decontamination services. Some of these benefits may be surprising to you. Whether it is to address long-standing health issues stemming from a dirty attic, or to boost the energy efficiency of your home, utilizing attic cleanup and decontamination services are a necessary component of home maintenance that shouldn’t be overlooked. You may be unaware on signs you need an attic cleanup until it’s too late.

What is Attic Cleanup and Decontamination?

If you aren’t familiar with what an attic cleanup and decontamination service is, it can be difficult to understand exactly how it is useful. This service is far more than simply removing old junk from an attic. While removing junk and debris is part of the service, other important components can also have a big impact on your home.

A professional attic cleanup service can include activities like:

Removing junk and debris that has built up.
Assessing the health and adequacy of your insulation.
Removing old or contaminated insulation.
Installing new insulation.
Identifying, removing and decontaminating a rodent infestation.
Addressing a rodent problem and proofing the attic space.
Identifying a leaky or damaged roof.
Identification and remediation of mold.
Dust and debris removal.

The wide range of activities that may be included in a professional attic cleaning and decontamination effort highlights the fact that the state of the attic itself will have a big impact on what needs to be done. For example, if you have a rodent infestation you’ll need to remove the animal waste and infestation, decontaminate, rodent-proof the attic, and install new insulation. If it has been many years since you have had your attic cleaned, the level of work and removal services necessary to restore it will be higher than if you have your attic cleaned on an annual basis.

Core Benefits of Attic Cleaning

Attic cleaning should be a regular part of home maintenance. Regular attic cleaning can reduce the number of allergens and toxins in the air circulating in your home, reduce your monthly utility costs, and reduce maintenance costs over time. Let’s take a look at each of these benefits in greater detail.

Reduced Toxins and Irritants

You may not realize just how much of an impact your home can have on your health. On the surface, the link between the state of your home and your overall health makes sense when you consider how much time you spend in your home. A 2009 study by the United States Office of the Surgeon General highlights the clear link between the condition of a home and the health of its occupants. Indoor air quality, in particular, can cause asthma-related conditions to become worse and contribute to other respiratory issues.

The Surgeon General’s report indicates that, aside from obvious contaminants like secondhand smoke, carbon monoxide, and radon gas, the two most common irritants in a home are dust mite allergens and allergens from rodents. The report found that 82% of homes in the United States have detectable levels of mouse allergens, 84% have a bedroom with detectable levels of dust mite allergens, and 63% of homes have detectable levels of cockroach allergens.

These startling statistics reinforce the concept that both the dust in your home and exposure to a rodent infestation can impact the health of your home.

Rodent infestations lead to a buildup of feces and urine in nesting materials in your attic. This rodent waste can pose serious health problems. Here is a brief list of some of the most common diseases that rodent feces and urine can contain:

Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome
Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome
Lassa Fever
Leptospirosis
Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis
Omsk Hemorrhagic Fever
Plague
Rat-Bite Fever
Salmonellosis
South American Arenaviruses
Tularemia

Even after a rodent infestation has been removed, contamination in the nesting materials and area around the infestation must be dealt with before the danger posed by these diseases are eliminated. This makes decontamination an essential component of dealing with any rodent infestation and highlights one of the strongest reasons for utilizing a professional service for this task.

You may also be surprised to learn that the dust in your attic can pose a serious health risk. When attics aren’t cleaned regularly dust can build up. While dust may seem benign, it can contain chemicals from household cleaners, environmental contaminants, and even heavy metals that can impact the health of residents in a home. Both settled and airborne dust can irritate the respiratory system, exacerbate asthma, and contribute to other health conditions.

Increased Energy Efficiency

The layer of insulation that is in your attic functions as a crucial barrier to the transfer of heat. On hot days that insulation keeps the living area of your home cooler, while on cold days the insulation keeps your living area warmer. The insulation limits the amount of temperature fluctuation that occurs in your home.

If you aren’t regularly cleaning your attic, you probably won’t notice when there is damage to your insulation. Additionally, if you aren’t a professional you may not be able to tell when there is an insufficient or inadequate level of insulation.

What does this mean for you as a homeowner? Damaged or inadequate insulation won’t provide an effective barrier to the transfer of heat. In the end, this causes your home to be less energy efficient. Your HVAC system will have to work harder to keep your house cool during the summer and warm your house during the winter.

The simplest method to ensure your insulation is sufficient and in good condition is to schedule an attic cleaning with Attic Construction.

Reduced Maintenance Costs

A professional attic cleaning will identify problems early on before they become larger expensive issues. A leaky roof will be caught earlier before it can cause extensive damage to your insulation and drywall. Issues with your ducting or HVAC system can be highlighted and fixed before they cause issues down the road. A rodent infestation can be caught and dealt with before you have extensive contamination that you have to deal with.

Why Get Your Attic Professionally Cleaned?

Many homeowners wonder whether they can clean their attic themselves. While they may know that attic cleaning services exist, it may not be clear exactly what value these attic decontamination services provide.

Here are a few of the core reasons why you should consider having a professional decontaminate your attic.

Safety

There are some very serious safety considerations that highlight why attic cleaning is better left to the professionals. Among these are:

Risk of falling.
Contact with contaminated material.
Potential exposure to exposed wires.

Most attics are tight spaces that are difficult to navigate through. With low ceilings and precarious footpaths, moving around in an attic is risky in itself. Once you compound this with removing debris and junk and operating equipment, the risks of having a fall or mishap grow.

Professionals also use the appropriate protective equipment to help avoid contact with contaminants. Removing rodent droppings, urine, and nesting materials can expose you to diseases. Even settled dust can irritate the airways and expose you to traces of chemicals and heavy metals.

Not only does protective equipment need to be used to protect the health of the workers, but also to help avoid the spread of contaminants. Contaminated material must be vacuumed up with specialized equipment and then disposed of properly. Minimizing the risk of spreading contaminants is an essential component of what professionals do.

Thoroughness

When cleaning and decontaminating an attic it is essential to be as thorough as possible. This isn’t always easy given the tight spaces that one must work in to clean an attic. Despite the difficulty, if you aren’t thorough when cleaning your attic many of the benefits associated with it won’t be realized. Damaged or insufficient insulation may be missed, or contaminants may be left in place that will continue to circulate through your home’s air.

Expertise

Most people simply don’t have the knowledge base to recognize the early signs of big problems. Nor do they have the expertise to understand what steps need to be taken to ensure those issues don’t grow down the road

Professional attic cleaners like our staff at Attic Construction have that expertise, and it is one of the top reasons why you should have professionals clean your attic. Not only will they be able to recognize early signs of a rodent infestation or a leaky roof, but they’ll also be able to outline exactly what steps you should take now to deal with the problem. This can save you both time and money down the road.

Final Thoughts

The top benefits of having your attic cleaned and decontaminated are that it improves the air quality in your home, improves energy efficiency, and helps identify small problems early on before they become big issues.

The importance of cleaning and decontaminating your attic can’t be understated. Rather than viewing this as a project for when you first buy or sell a home, attic cleaning should be done regularly to maximize the benefit it provides. Regular attic cleaning will ensure settled dust levels remain low, rodent infestations are kept at bay, and your insulation is functioning properly. Without it, you end up needing a full attic insulation removal and replacement.

If you are looking for attic cleanout and decontamination near me, our professional staff at Attic Construction can help. Our staff can assess the current state of your attic and outline what cleanup services you will need and determine the cleaning costs. With years of experience cleaning and decontaminating attics, our professionals have the depth of knowledge to deal with any attic problem they might encounter.

To learn more about attic cleanup and decontamination services, please contact Attic Construction today. You can also read, Attic Cleaning: Why It’s Crucial for additional information and important facts. If you need an attic cleaning in Orange County, an insulation installation in San Diego…or need attic services in the greater Phoenix area, give Attic Construction a call. We provide a wide range of attic & home cleaning and insulation services. Schedule an appointment today.