Blown-in Insulation Filler

[89MustangGX]

Hello,

Apologies for long story-

I recently purchased a home and during the inspection it was noted that there were some mouse droppings in the attic. Now that I have gone up in the attic myself to do some work I see much more than I anticipated, mostly confined to about a six-foot diameter circle of blown-in insulation. I also see mud wasp nests in quite a few places as well in the soffit type areas. I don't have any reason to believe there is any current activity. I don't see any wasp remnants (and some nests have fallen down) or mice, nor have I heard any activity either (I caught one small mouse in the garage and haven't seen anything since, having left traps in place).

I did close up two areas of soffit vent screening that were pushed back to allow for satellite wiring installation on the outside of the house.

My belief is that a previous owner had these installations done, found pests in the attic and had them exterminated, but never had anything cleaned up.

I believe (hope) that the soffit vent screens were the entrance and are now closed.

I can scrape the wasp nests off easy enough, but I want to also be rid of the mouse droppings.

My thought was to basically bag all blown-in insulation that it is mixed in with the mouse droppings and get rid of it and replace with clean insulation.

Finally, my questions:

1) Is there a way to put my mind at ease and verify there is no current activity and that I have secured entrances? I'm thinking no- I just cleanup and monitor.

2) Does my idea sound like a legitimate and possibly best way to accomplish my goal of removing the mouse evidence?

3) Is it possible to buy a small-enough amount of blown-in insulation to be filler for what I want to remove?

4) Is it possible to hand-spread the blown-in insulation to replace what I take up effectively?

Also side-note, yes I am fluffing the insulation back up as best I can in areas where it was disturbed by previous work and from my current work.

Thanks!

Adam

 

[Handyfarmer]

many lumber or building centers will rent a machine if you buy the insulation from them, many times they will rent it for free if you buy there insulation,

the way the new stuff is bagged it is nearly impassible to fluff up enough to just spread it our by hand,

If you were closer you could use my machine,

 

[89MustangGX]

Thanks for the reply. I was really hoping to be able to buy a garbage bag of the stuff and just put it in but unless something like that exists it sounds like it's the way you describe. Can you buy a small enough amount to do what I'm talking about- a 6-foot circle? Or am I wasting my time?

Or is there another solution?

Adam

 

[CJ7VFR]

Try and see if you can buy a bag like you suggested and put it up there. You won't get it fluffed up as much as using a machine that blows it in, but you can certainly pull out handfuls of the insulation, fluff it up using your hands, and then throw it where you want it, just to see what happens.

You are talking about such a small area that it wouldn't pay to rent a machine to do that unless you were going to blow in more insulation in your entire attic.

Try it by hand if you can find it to purchase by the bag full. It can't hurt to ask.

Another thing you could try is to take small amounts of the insulation from other areas up in the attic, put that in a bag, and then bring it over to the spot you want to fix, and throw it there. If you take just a small amount from all over the attic it won't hurt the R value very much, and you can fill in your spot if it's not too big.

Jim

 

[weadjust]

I had to replace the blown in insulation in small area where some drywall repair was done. I bought two bags. I dumped some of the compressed insulation in a 5 gallon bucket and fluffed it up with the drywall mud/paint mixer and a cordless drill. Worked good enough for a small job.

 

[rcass]

get shake and rake insulation
http://www.menards.com/main/buildin...437002091-c-5777.htm?tid=-5989336962736742756

 

[89MustangGX]

Thanks for the ideas guys. Having never dealt with it out of the bag I wasn't sure what I really had going for possibilities, but now I feel like I have options. Appreciate the help.

Any comments on the pests and how to tell if there is anything to worry about? My gut is that I just need to monitor, but hopefully they were evacuated long ago and I have closed off their entrances.

Adam