Insulation Removal in Redwood City, CA

Local Context

What a Roof Rat Leaves in a Farm Hill Attic Outlasts the Roof Rat

Trapping ends the rats. It does not end what is in the insulation. Roof rats living in a Redwood City attic urinate as they travel, so contamination follows their runways through the whole material rather than sitting in one nest — and the nest itself is shredded insulation, cardboard and whatever else was stored up there. Blown-in material takes it worst, because the runways compress channels through it and the R-value goes with them.

Redwood City's canopy makes attic infestation the default form. Mature street trees, backyard fruit trees and the riparian cover along Redwood Creek and Cordilleras Creek let roof rats travel at roof height, so they enter high and settle in the attic instead of the sub-area. Hillside neighborhoods like Farm Hill, Canyon and the streets below Edgewood Park see it most, since the open space next door keeps sending replacements.

The reasons to remove it are health and performance together. Rodent urine and droppings in attic insulation get handled with respiratory protection and HEPA-filtered equipment for good reason, since disturbing dry contaminated material without containment puts it into the air. Beyond that, insulation older than about twenty years has usually settled well below its rated depth, and a saturated or compressed layer does very little for a house that swings from 40°F nights to low-80s afternoons across the year.