Swiss'ed up insulation

[Chris Bernhardt]

What say you about loose fill insulation turned into swiss cheese by burrowing rodents in the attic?

I would imagine the burrowing has short circuited the value of the insulation to some degree; I've seen the evidence with my IR camera.

Chris, Oregon

[Jim Katen]

Originally posted by Chris Bernhardt

What say you about loose fill insulation turned into swiss cheese by burrowing rodents in the attic?

I would imagine the burrowing has short circuited the value of the insulation to some degree; I've seen the evidence with my IR camera.

Chris, Oregon

I first address the rodents. (Hellooooo rodents! )

[Apologies to Art Carney]

Then, if it's bad enough, I tell them to replace the nasty, urine-soaked insulation.

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[hausdok]

Hi,

I'm on the same track with Jim. However, if it's a newer home without any K & T and the insulation is more trampled down with little trails here and there and there isn't a lot of evidence of droppings or urine, I recommend they re-loft it (fluff it back up) and go on about their business.

During my non-compete period back in 2001, I put the word out to agents I knew that I was available to do repairs on homes within 25 miles of my base for a year. I ended up getting quite a bit of work from sellers after homes were inspected and sellers and buyers had agreed on terms. Some of that work dealt with rodent exclusion and cleaning up attics and crawlspaces. There's usually one or two nasty nesting areas plus a toilet area in an attic, where some insulation has to be completely removed, but the rest of it can normally be fluffed back up and leveled out pretty easily. A kid sized leaf rake works great for that.

It's not hard to re-loft - it's just a matter of time and patience working in a sweaty, dusty, itchy place getting itchy fibers in your eyes while wearing an uncomfortable mask and usually stooping or crawling around on your hands and knees. If you know what you're doing, it goes fairly quickly, but I'd never try it or recommend it for a home with K & T and one has to watch out for DIY electrical hack work.

Do you re-loft insulation that you've trampled down when you leave an attic? I do.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Chris Bernhardt]

Do you re-loft insulation that you've trampled down when you leave an attic? I do.

Yea, but I can never get it to reloft back to the same level; it gets clumpy.

Chris, Oregon

[davidlord]

I cover my tracks as best I can.

[msteger]

I note evidence of rodents in the attic and recommend consulting an exterminator. Then, I recommend trying to level out or redistribute the loose fill insulation to a more uniform thickness.

[SonOfSwamp]

Originally posted by Chris Bernhardt

What say you about loose fill insulation turned into swiss cheese by burrowing rodents in the attic?

I would imagine the burrowing has short circuited the value of the insulation to some degree; I've seen the evidence with my IR camera.

Chris, Oregon

I just told people (orally and in writing) something like this: "You've got rats in your attic. Or maybe mice. Could be snakes, too. Which is not so bad, because they eat the rats and mice. You might want to set out some traps, or hire somebody to set out traps."

Re-loft insulation? Naw. Helnaw. "While your rat hunter is up there, you might get him to rake your insulation."

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