Four causes, one symptom. Which one it is decides the order of the work.
The most common by a distance, and the most misdiagnosed. Warm moist household air leaks through ceiling penetrations into a cold attic that cannot breathe. Symptom: dark staining on the underside of the sheathing, worst near the eaves and around the bathroom fan. Fix: air seal the ceiling, restore the soffit-to-ridge airflow, then remediate the surface.
They enter through soffit returns, roof vents and rotten fascia, and they flatten and foul the insulation across a wide area. Removal has to be complete, not partial, and the entry point has to be closed and reinforced, or they come back to the same address next spring. We do not trap animals — that is a licensed wildlife control job and we will tell you to book one first.
Tunnels and nesting through the insulation, droppings through the batts, and chewed wiring sheathing that nobody sees until it is exposed. Same sequence: exclusion first, removal second.
Wet insulation has almost no R-value and stays wet. If we find a leak we stop and tell you to get the roof sorted before we put anything new down. Insulating over an active leak is how a small repair becomes a deck replacement.
We are an insulation contractor. We remove contaminated material, clean the surfaces and apply an antimicrobial treatment, and we close the gaps. We do not issue air-quality clearances, we do not do structural repairs, and we do not trap wildlife. Where one of those is what you need, we will say so and you can book it — from us or from anyone.
Attic mould is usually separated from the living space by the ceiling, so the exposure risk is lower than mould inside the house. The bigger risk is to the building: sustained moisture degrades the sheathing and the trusses. It is a building problem to be solved before it becomes a structural one.
No. Wildlife removal in Ontario is a licensed activity and we are not licensed for it. Get the animals out first, then we remove what they left and close how they got in.
Related
Book an attic check
You get the depth, the tier, the dollar figure and the photographs, whether or not you go ahead with us.