Unwelcome tenants
Mice, squirrels, and raccoons love attics. They are warm, dark, and quiet. A small gap at the eave is all they need. Once inside, they nest in your insulation.
You may hear them first. Scratching at night. Thumps in the early morning. Or you may smell them first. Either way, the insulation below is taking damage.
What rodents do to insulation
They tunnel through it. They pack it down into nests. They chew it apart. They leave waste through all of it. Trampled insulation insulates poorly. Waste-soaked insulation is a health concern.
They also chew wires, which is a fire risk. And they widen their entry holes, inviting more pests. The longer they stay, the worse it gets.
Health and safety first
Rodent waste can carry germs. We treat every infested attic as a safety job. Our crew wears full suits, respirators, and gloves. We do not cut corners here.
You should not go into an infested attic yourself. Do not sweep waste dry. That throws dust in the air. Let us handle it with the right gear.
How it works
1. Free inspection. We confirm the pest type and the damage level. We take photos. If animals are still active, we tell you to call a wildlife pro first. We clean after they are gone.
2. Removal. We bag all soiled insulation by hand. We vacuum the floor and the framing. Every trace comes out.
3. Sanitize. We treat the floor and wood with an enzyme cleaner that breaks down waste and odor. The attic smells neutral when we finish.
4. Seal entries. We close the gaps they used: eave gaps, pipe holes, and chewed spots. Steel mesh and sealant, not foam alone. Foam alone they chew right back through.
5. Re-insulate. We blow fresh insulation to full depth on the clean floor. Your attic ends up better than before the pests.
Keeping them out
Cleanup without sealing is a waste. They come back. So entry sealing is part of every job. We walk the whole exterior top edge and close what we find.
We also tell you what to watch. Trim tree limbs off the roof. Cap the chimney. Fix the loose soffit. Small habits keep them out for good.
Why fast action matters
Waste soaks deeper over time. Odor sets into the wood. Entry holes get bigger. A small mouse issue becomes a raccoon issue. The cleanup grows with the delay.
If you hear scratching, call. The free inspection tells you exactly where you stand. Waiting never makes it cheaper.
Every project is different — contact us for a free written estimate.
What Rodents Do to Insulation
Mice and squirrels love attics. They are warm, quiet, and full of soft nesting material — your insulation. They tunnel through it, compress it, and contaminate it with droppings and urine. Compressed insulation loses R-value fast. Contaminated insulation is a health issue, not just an energy one.
Cleanup starts with removal. We vacuum out all the damaged insulation with commercial equipment, right down to the drywall. Then we sanitize the deck and framing to neutralize the contamination. This is not a spray-and-pray deodorizer — it is a proper antimicrobial treatment.
Then we find how they got in. Gaps at the eaves, uncapped chimneys, holes where utilities enter — we seal every entry point with rodent-proof materials. Steel mesh and metal flashing, not foam they can chew through. Only after the attic is sealed and clean do we blow in fresh insulation.
The new insulation goes in evenly to the right depth, and we photograph everything. You get a clean, sealed, well-insulated attic — and the exclusion work means you will not be doing this again next year.
Do not ignore the smell. Rodent urine soaks into wood and insulation, and the odor lingers for years if not treated. Our sanitizing step neutralizes it at the source. If your attic smells wrong, that is the contamination talking — and it will not air out on its own.
Timing matters with rodent jobs. The best window is after exclusion but before new insulation — and exclusion works best when done decisively, sealing every entry in one visit. Piecemeal sealing just teaches them to find the next hole. We do it all at once.
After cleanup, we recommend a follow-up check in six months. It is free, it takes twenty minutes, and it confirms the exclusion held through a full season of rodent pressure.
Call (301) 679-9193 for a free attic inspection.