Insulation Removal

WE KNOW HOW TO DO IT

Insulation removal and replacement is a very common service that we offer to customers that have had a animal in the attic area of their home. Some of the animals that cause a great deal of damage to your attic area are squirrels, bats, raccoons, rats and birds.

Our attic insulation removal service involves the use of a custom-designed, high-powered vacuum, which is connected to a very long hose. All of the dust and debris can be suctioned up safely and efficiently and collected in a large-volume filter bag, which is specifically designed to collect the insulation material. This material is then placed outside of the home. With such technology, removing blown-in insulation is a safer task.



There are several reasons why doing this yourself is not a safe option for most homeowners. Problems can occur if you try the removal yourself without adequate protection and expertise. For instance, should pests or rodents have gotten into your insulation, stirring up dust and fecal matter might lead to contracting potentially fatal diseases.

Also, not everyone is familiar with the appearance of some potentially dangerous materials that older insulation has been made out of, such as asbestos and older fiberglass products, which can be very dangerous to work with without protective equipment.

With blown-in insulation removal, it's often the case that the insulation can be higher than the joists in your ceiling, which makes it difficult to see where you are walking. Although it is tempting to try to remove the loose fill or batts yourself, there is a very real chance that you could end up causing accidental damage such as stepping through your ceiling!

When insulation needs to come out, not just topped up

Adding new insulation over old is fine when the old material is dry, clean and evenly spread. Around Chattanooga it often is not. Removal is the right call when you have any of the following.

Rodent or bird activity. Droppings, nesting material and urine soak into batts and blown-in fibre and do not dry out. That is a health problem and a smell problem, and no amount of new material laid on top fixes it.

Water damage. A roof leak, a burst line or years of condensation leaves insulation matted and compressed. Wet insulation has almost no R-value left and holds moisture against your framing.

Settled or displaced blown-in. Decades of settling, plus anyone who has walked the attic running cable or servicing a unit, leaves coverage uneven. The gaps do most of the damage.

Smoke or mould. Both contaminate porous insulation permanently.

Before spray foam at the roofline. If we are sealing the attic at the roof deck, the old material on the floor comes out so the space becomes part of the conditioned envelope.

What insulation removal costs

Price is driven by square footage, how deep the existing material is, what type it is, how hard the attic or crawl space is to get into, and whether contamination means extra containment and disposal. A clean open attic with six inches of blown-in is a very different job to a low crawl space full of wet, rodent-damaged batts. We measure it and hand you a written price. The inspection is free and there is no obligation.

How long it takes and what we protect

Most residential removals are a single day. Before the vacuum runs we mask the path from the attic access to the door, cover flooring and furnishings, and seal the work area so dust does not travel into the living space. The material goes straight from the hose into sealed bags and out of the house. When we are done the space is vacuumed out, ready for whatever goes back in.

A note on asbestos

Some insulation installed before the 1980s, vermiculite in particular, can contain asbestos. If we see anything suspect we stop and tell you. Asbestos removal is licensed abatement work and we will not disturb it. Getting that wrong costs far more than testing first.

What goes back in

Most customers move to spray foam once the old material is out, because the cavity is already open and accessible. Whether that is open-cell or closed-cell depends on the space. See attic insulation, crawl space encapsulation or our FAQ for how we decide.

Common questions about insulation removal

Do I have to leave the house? No. The work area is sealed off from the living space. You can stay, and you can be back in the space the same day once it has been ventilated.

Will you remove insulation without installing new? Yes, though most customers do both at once because the access work is already done and it costs less than two separate trips.

What happens to the old material? It is bagged at the source and hauled away. Nothing gets left in your yard.

How do I know if mine needs to come out? Call 423-710-2529 and we will come look at it. If topping up is genuinely the better option for your house, we will tell you that.

Insulation removal across Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia

Foametix is based in Chattanooga and runs crews up to 100 miles out, veteran-owned and doing this for 17 years. Free inspection, written price, no obligation. Call 423-710-2529 or see our service areas.