When Should You Remove Your Attic Insulation In Tampa?

Everyone knows that having insulation in your attic is important but, not everyone knows how much insulation they should have or when they should remove their attic insulation before having new insulation installed.

As you probably already know insulation forms a layer of air between the layers of insulation in your attic. These pockets of air slow down the transfer of hot and cold air allowing the cool interior of your home to stay cool keeping the hot air out. The problem is, whenever there is not enough insulation or it's too thin, your home may not stay cool very well or it may force your air conditioner to work overtime.

So, when should you remove your attic insulation? This is a fairly simple question to address. Whether you need to remove your attics' insulation really comes down to whether or not it's in good condition still.

Insulation can become damaged in a number of ways and if your attic insulation has any of these problems you'll definitely want to have it removed before you have new insulation installed. Insulation that is not damaged can safely have new insulation blown over the top to increase R-value.

• Mold - If your attic insulation has mold on it your best be is to get it removed. There are a number of products on the market that claim to kill mold but when it comes to my family and the health risks associated with mold spores in the air, I want it removed. This is why we always recommend removing insulation when we see mold. The mold that is in the insulation can easily travel in the air and end up in your HVAC system and blow around your home which you definitely do not want.

• RodentFeces - this is another common reason you would want to have your Tampa area home's insulation removed before installing new insulation. If animal feces are in the insulation that means it also has urine and other germy mater in the insulation. Much like the issues with the mold, feces can travel in the air and blow around your home any time the insulation is disturbed and particulate from it makes its way into your HVAC system. If you have an active infestation, that particulate is consistently getting moved around when the animals in your attic move about.

• Wet Insulation - Wet insulation can damage drywall, often mats down dramatically lowering the r-value of your insulation even after it drys out, and causes mold growth. If you have wet insulation in your attic it is extremely important to address the cause of the moisture whether you have a leaky roof, vent issues (missing covers, missing vents, etc.), leaky chimneys, etc. and get that wet insulation out immediately before it causes other problems.

Attic Insulation Removal Process

During our attic insulation removals, depending on the type of insulation you have, may be handled in different ways. If you have a type of blown-in insulation like cellulose, blown-in fiberglass, etc. we use our vacuum system to vacuum the old insulation out through long hoses. This eliminates virtually all dust allowing for a much cleaner insulation removal job for our customers.

On jobs where the attic was insulated with rolled insulation batts, we use contractor-grade trash bags to bag up the old insulation and take it out of your home again allowing us to more cleanly remove your old insulation.

After all the old insulation is removed we clean and sanitize the attic to ensure the cleanest possible attic to install your new insulation.

How Much Does Insulation Removal Cost?

While the total cost is dependent on a number of factors, not replacing contaminated insulation can cause a lot of other problems that require major repairs, mold remediation, etc. which is something we save our customers from every day.

Insulation removal is a bit more costly than a basic it is far more affordable than addressing the issue that comes with not addressing situations that would typically require a removal prior to blowing in new insulation.

If you want to know exactly what your specific insulation removal and installation project will cost feel free to reach out. We offer FREE in-home estimates where we will inspect your attic and let you know what we think you should do based on what is going on in your home's attic.