Attic cleaning and sanitizing

What attic cleaning covers

Most Bay Area attics nobody has looked at in years hold more than insulation. Our attic cleaning services take out what shouldn't be up there and leave the space disinfected, whether or not anything else happens to the attic afterward:

• Rodent droppings and urine on top of the insulation, along the joists and around the hatch.
• Nesting material: shredded paper facing, chewed duct wrap, leaves, cloth and whatever else rats and mice dragged in.
• Debris: old roofing scraps, wire offcuts, broken boxes and the dust and trash left by earlier trades.
• Forgotten storage: boxes, bags and furniture that were pushed in decades ago and have been sitting in droppings since.
• Dead animals, which explain a lot of the smells that turn up on warm afternoons.

Then the attic floor and framing are treated with a disinfectant. That's the sanitizing half of "attic cleaning and sanitizing," and it's the part that makes the attic safe to work in again.

Cleaning or removal: which one you need

The two jobs often get sold together, but they answer different questions.

Attic cleaning is about what's in the attic. If the insulation is dry, still lofted and only dirty on top, it can stay. The droppings, nesting and debris come out, the surfaces get disinfected, and you're done, or ready for the next step.

Insulation removal is about the insulation itself. When droppings and urine have soaked down into the fill, when a roof leak has matted it, or when it has been packed flat by years of storage, it can't be cleaned in place. It has to come out, be bagged and hauled away, and be replaced.

The inspection is where that call gets made, room by room if need be. Plenty of attics need cleaning in one corner and removal in another. Either way, the quote lists cleaning and removal as separate lines, so you can see what each one covers.

Signs your attic needs cleaning

• Droppings near the hatch, on the insulation or along the top of the walls.
• Scratching or running overhead at night, now or in the past.
• An ammonia smell from the hatch, or a smell that gets stronger on hot days.
• Runways and tunnels through the insulation, or shredded nesting in the corners.
• Stored boxes that are chewed, stained or covered in droppings.
• Debris left behind after a reroof, solar install or electrical work.

If the scratching hasn't stopped, the animals come before the cleaning. Rats in the attic covers how to tell what you have and the order the fix happens in.

How we do it

1. Inspection. We go up through the hatch and look at what's there, how far it has spread, whether the insulation underneath is still sound, and where the animals got in. You get a photo report from the inspection, and we walk you through what we found. If you'd rather skip the visit, send photos or video for an estimate.
2. Animals first. If rodents are still active, a pest control company deals with them before we start. We don't trap, bait or exterminate.
3. Droppings before anything moves. Droppings are dealt with before any insulation or stored item is moved, so contaminated dust isn't stirred up.
4. Out it comes. Nesting, debris, dead animals and damaged storage are picked up, bagged, and leave with us.
5. Disinfect. The attic floor and framing are cleaned and treated with a disinfectant.
6. Close the doors. Cleaning only lasts if they can't get back in, so most jobs continue with rodent proofing to close the entry points with metal.

After the job we show you the work, so you can see the attic you're paying for.

What California's health department says about droppings

The rules for droppings are strict for a reason. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) says Sin Nombre hantavirus is spread by deer mice, which are found throughout California, and that people get infected by breathing air contaminated by infected rodents. That's what happens when dried droppings, urine and nesting are disturbed.

CDPH's instruction is short: do not sweep or vacuum the area. The CDC says the same about rodent urine, droppings and nesting material. That rules out brooms, household vacuums, shop vacs and leaf blowers. For a small spot, CDPH's steps are to air the space out, wear gloves, spray the area with disinfectant or a bleach solution until it's very wet, and wipe it up. Our rodent droppings page quotes both agencies step by step.

For heavy infestations, the CDC lists extra precautions, including protective clothing and a respirator with HEPA filters. An attic with droppings spread through the insulation is that kind of job, which is why we don't recommend tackling it yourself.

After rodents, after storage, after other trades

After rodents. This is the most common reason Bay Area homeowners call. UC's Integrated Pest Management program describes both roof rats and Norway rats in California, and roof rats in particular are climbers that end up in attics. Once they're out and the house is closed up, the cleaning makes the attic safe to work in and takes out the source of the smell.

After storage. Older Bay Area houses often have attics that were used as storage before anyone thought about insulation. Boxes left on the attic floor crush the insulation under them and give rodents somewhere to nest. Clearing them out is often the first step before anything else can be judged.

After other trades. A reroof, a solar install or electrical work can leave scraps and dust behind. Cleaning before new insulation goes in means you aren't burying someone else's debris.

When cleaning isn't the answer

• Vermiculite. Gray-brown, pebbly fill may be vermiculite, and the EPA's advice is to assume it contains asbestos and not to disturb it. We stop and refer you to a qualified asbestos consultant. See the vermiculite insulation guide.
• Mold. Dark staining on the roof boards is a moisture problem first. The EPA says the key to mold is controlling moisture, so the water source gets found and fixed before anything is cleaned. Start with mold and condensation in the attic.
• Wildfire smoke residue. A smoke smell after a fire season has its own order of steps; see smoke smell in the house.

What an attic cleaning quote should spell out

Whoever you hire, the quote should say:

• What's being removed: droppings, nesting, debris, stored items, and roughly how much of the attic is affected.
• How it leaves: bagged and hauled away, not left in your garage or side yard.
• What disinfecting covers: the attic floor and framing, with the product named.
• Whether insulation is staying or going. If any of it is coming out, that's an insulation removal line with its own square footage.
• Entry points as their own line, if they're being closed.
• What isn't included, such as live animals, which go to a pest control company, or vermiculite, which goes to an asbestos consultant.

We serve 30 cities across the Bay Area, from San Francisco and Oakland to San Jose, Walnut Creek and Santa Rosa. When the attic is clean and closed up, the next steps are usually air sealing and new blown-in insulation, but those are separate decisions, made once you can see what's really up there.