Loft Clean-Up and Insulation

What is up there

Four Things

After a squirrel has been in a loft for any length of time you are dealing with four separate things, and they need different answers.

The drey. A substantial mass of shredded insulation, loft-stored paper, twigs, plastic and whatever else was available, packed into a corner or between joists. It can be surprisingly large and it is dry, fibrous and flammable.

Droppings and urine. Concentrated where they have been resting and along the runs, soaked into insulation and sometimes into the plasterboard below it.

Flattened insulation. Everywhere they have travelled. Loose-fill and quilt insulation both work by trapping air, so compacting it destroys most of its value even where it looks intact.

Parasites. Squirrels carry fleas and mites, and those do not leave with the host. A loft that has been occupied and then vacated can produce hungry fleas for some time afterwards, which is occasionally how people discover the problem in the first place.

Photographs on this page are for illustration purposes only.

Why it is replaced

You Cannot Clean Insulation

People reasonably ask whether the insulation can be treated rather than removed. It cannot, for two reasons.

The first is physical: mineral wool and loose fill are open, fibrous materials that absorb liquid throughout their thickness. There is no surface to wipe. Anything sprayed on treats the top millimetre.

The second is that compacted insulation has already lost its function. Once it has been walked, dragged and nested in, the air gaps that did the work are gone, and you are paying to heat the loft through it. Even setting contamination aside, flattened insulation is worth replacing on the heating bill alone.

So the fouled and compacted material comes out, bagged, and new insulation goes back to current depth. That last point is worth noticing: a loft insulated twenty years ago is almost certainly below the depth now recommended, so this is one of the few parts of a pest job that leaves the house better than it was.

What the work involves

In Order

• Nothing starts until the loft is empty of animals and the way in is closed. Clearing up while it is still occupied is wasted work.
• Drey material and contaminated insulation lifted and bagged, working off the joists.
• Surfaces treated where there is fouling on timber or plasterboard.
• Parasite treatment where it is needed, which it often is after a long occupation.
• New insulation laid to depth, kept clear of downlighters and eaves ventilation.
• Photographs of what was found and what was done, which is what you will want if you are claiming.

Protective equipment is not optional for this — respiratory protection at minimum, in a confined space, disturbing dried droppings and fibrous insulation. That is a large part of why it is not a sensible DIY job even for capable people.

The parts we do not do

Said Up Front

Chewed cable is an electrician's work. We will tell you what we found and where, and we will not touch it.

Structural timber that has been gnawed badly enough to matter is a builder or a carpenter.

Water damage from a chewed pipe or an overflowing tank is a plumber, and possibly a plasterer.

Naming those separately is not passing the job on. It is so that you are not surprised by a second and third invoice you thought was included, and so that the right trade does the part that has to be certified.

Short answers

Squirrel Questions

Going further

Squirrel Guides