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Attic Restoration - Cleanup of Raccoon Poop
If you've had raccoons living in your attic, it's a good idea to have the attic cleaned.
Raccoons leave their waste behind when they inhabit an attic. This waste can carry a number of zoonotic diseases. There are at least 42 important diseases
that people get by ingesting or handling food or water contaminated with animal feces, such as Campylobacter infection, which us found in animal feces,
and causes gastrointestinal symptoms. There's also Leptospira infection. Humans get infected via contact of insulation containing urine from infected
animals. Left untreated, leptospirosis can be quite serious. There's also Salmonella infection,
which people get via contact with animal feces. This often-severe gastrointestinal infection can cause severe kidney damage to young children. The droppings of raccoons can contain raccoon roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis & B.
columnaris). This parasitic worm can and does infect humans. The egg spores in the raccoon droppings are light and can become airborne, and people can
breathe them in and become infected. Infection of humans can lead to larval parasite migration to the central nervous system. These egg spores can live
for years as dry pods. Raccoons also carry Giardia lamblia, a protozoan causing diarrhea associated with ingesting food or water contaminated by raccoon
excrement. Raccoons are also host to
a number of parasites, such as lice and fleas.
To clean the attic, I not only remove all of the waste by hand, I use
special cleaners, including an enzyme-based cleaner that eliminates any biohazard organic waste from animals, including droppings and urine. I use the
electric powered atomizer as shown in the below photo, which creates a fine mist that flows through the whole attic and gets every nook and cranny,
for 100% coverage and cleanup. To protect myself against insulation fibers and animal biohazard, I wear a disposable Tyvek suit and I wear the respirator
mask, as shown above. This fogging machine, also called an atomizer, sprays my cleaning solution in a fine mist that permeates the entire attic, and
makes certain attic cleanup scenarios easy. In a case like this, in which the homeowner did not want total insulation
replacement, the enzyme-based cleaner in the atomizer does a good job of breaking down and sanitizing the contaminated areas of the attic. If your attic
has wildlife waste or animal poop, then this is one method that can kill harmful pathogens along with the odor. Homeowner's insurance will pay for attic cleanup
and restoration in the case of raccoon damage, because of the potential health risks. |
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Please be kind to raccoons! They are intelligent animals, and believe it or not, they definitely have emotions! |
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