At Advantage Home Performance we vacuum out blown-in attic insulation, remove fiberglass batts and roofing debris for our customers when they are considering a retrofit foam job, gut remodel, new electrical wiring or simply want a rodent mess removed. We dispose of the insulation at the municipal dump.
It is partially up to you. For our foam customers who are going to be spraying the attic roof with a spray foam we leave the attic floor shop-vac clean. We want it very clean. For other customers this level of cleanliness may not be required because they will be blowing cellulose or fiberglass into the attic when they are done with their wiring or remodel.
A two thousand square foot house usually takes two days. The depth of existing insulation will have a large bearing on how long we take. An attic with 4” of insulation is going to go much quicker than an attic with 12”. In some cases we can bring two vacuum systems to speed up the process.
The cost of the insulation removal depends on a variety of factors. The biggest factor is the amount of insulation and roofing debris we have to remove. More insulation means more labor and vacuum disposal bags which are expensive. We will also have a larger dump fee because our fee is based on weight of material we dispose of.
There will also be more labor on a retrofit foam job as opposed to a gut remodel job. In a foam retrofit job we have to leave the attic in a very clean condition. If it is accessible, no blown in insulation or roofing debris is left on the attic floor. Our crews come behind our vacuum machines with shop-vacs to achieve this standard of cleanliness.
A house with someone living in it will go a lot quicker if we can access the attic from the garage or gable end as opposed to having to access the attic from inside the home. Our goal is to reduce the amount dust that gets into the house, which requires a lot more prepping when we are accessing the attic from inside the house. For example if we are accessing the attic through a master bedroom closet we cover all the clothes and carpet with plastic.
The price of a typical two thousand square foot home can range from $1,500 to $2,500. For our gut remodel customers they recoup some of this cost by not having to handle the insulation themselves or having to fill up their dumpster with blown in insulation. These prices don’t hold on jobs under eight hundred square feet or with tight attic spaces.