Attic Cleanout & Pest Abatement

Whether it’s bats, birds, mice or squirrels, pests who make your attic their home are more than a nuisance. Through building nests, gnawing and simply living in your space, they damage your insulation, wires and pipes, while exposing you to serious diseases.

For these reasons, once the pests are out of your home, it’s crucial that you work with Eliminate ‘Em to clean up the area and develop a permanent pest control solution.

General Attic Restoration

How does the process work? Our team takes a three-pronged approach:

• Your home’s ability to retain heat in winter and keep you cool in summer has been compromised. We work to restore the insulation to its original form, removing the damaged insulation and vapor barrier. Our team then installs all-new materials.
• The pests have likely damaged more than the insulation. Wiring and pipes need a thorough review and likely require replacement, while the whole area needs to be cleaned and sanitized. We will vacuum up all droppings and debris, sanitize the area and clean up all rub marks. Not only does this get rid of waste but removes scent, making your home less attractive to other rodents. Long term, this reduces your chances of a second infestation.
• Along with cleaning up your attic, our team works to prevent the pests from returning. Our permanent pest control solutions entail scanning the exterior for openings and cracks to seal up these areas and installing pest control guards to your home’s upper level.

Specific Attic Infestations

Your attic is a common place for rodent and wildlife infestations because there is direct entry from gaps in the roof. From there, the pests nest and breed in your insulation where it’s warm.
What should you know about the particular types of infestation?

Rodents

Although mice, rats and squirrels all have specific features and hazards, they are all known to spread diseases, from rabies to Hantavirus and Typhoid. These rodents can crawl through holes the size of a quarter or smaller so, when developing a permanent pest control solution:

• Eliminate ‘Em inspects your roof, attic and crawl spaces for accessible and inaccessible points of entry. We seal up these areas to prevent the pests from returning.
• We clean up all waste and debris. Rats and mice alone spread as many as 35 diseases to humans, many through contact with urine, feces and saliva. Within your home, bodily fluids that could contain potential diseases end up in your attic and the dust particles circulating through your air ducts. To lower your exposure risks, our team cleans up the attic, including all areas damaged by rodents, removing all dust, fluids and debris, then sanitizes the area.

Other Pests

While you are more likely to deal with a rodent infestation in your attic, bats, raccoons and birds may also enter this area of your home during the colder months. Along with causing various degrees of property damage, these pests may expose you to histoplasmosis, a lung infection, roundworm and other serious illnesses.

Decontamination & Sanitizing the Attic

The process of decontamination and sanitizing your attic has a two-fold purpose.

• One, it eliminates potential health hazards and risks left behind by the pests.
• Two, it decreases the chances more pests will invade your space.

With rodents in particular, the scent of urine and feces draws other mice, rats or squirrels to the same space and key entry points. Failing to fully decontaminate these areas can indicate to other pests that your home offers a source of food and shelter. Further, it shows them where they can gain access. As such, our team removes all signs of rodent urine, feces, blood, hair and oils for long-term pest control.

Especially if the infestation went on for months, there’s a strong chance their particles have spread throughout your home. For this reason:

• We remove all contaminated insulation, the vapor barrier and other debris.
• We sweep out all debris and droppings from crawlspaces.
• After everything has been removed, we fully sanitize, disinfect and deodorize the attic and all crawlspaces.

Reinsulating the Attic

When pests live in your attic, they do a number on your insulation by:

• Nesting directly in the insulation between the floor joists under the floor.
• Damaging it with their urine, saliva and droppings.
• Tunnel through it.
• Chewing on nearby wiring and pipes, damaging the surrounding insulation in the process.
• Tearing it apart for nesting and bedding.

Long term, the shredded, compressed and soiled insulation no longer effectively holds heat in the winter, decreasing energy efficiency. Your home may feel colder or the heating bills start to rise.

Eliminate ‘Em not only aims to remove all damaged and contaminated insulation from your attic but intends to restore the attic to its original condition.
To do this we:

• Remove both the damaged insulation and the vapor barrier.
• Sanitize and deodorize the area and treat it with viricide.
• Inspect all ducts and electrical wires for damage in these areas.
• Install new insulation, keeping in mind building codes and energy-efficient practices.

If the bats, birds, raccoons or rats have been removed and you’re looking to put a more permanent solution in place, work with Eliminate ‘Em to restore your attic and develop an abatement plan.