What is best way to remove old insulation ?

[Windpower]

So we are getting ready to tear off the old farm house roof --

the metal hip roof here (not the shallow pitch part):



I want get rid of the old insulation -- it is a mish mash of fiberglass, rock wool, vermiculite, blown cellulose and 80 years of rodent stuff

I have seen some very powerful vacuum cleaners like this one




but don't really want to do it myself and they are $3000 or so

Are there contractors that do this type of work ?


Suggestions ? 

Anyone with experience ?

[Redoverfarm]

Be careful. Some of the older blown in insulation and vermiculite had asbestos in the mix.   

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/vermiculite.html

[flyingvan]

When I bought our house in '95 it had fiberglass batt insulation that, thanks to inadequate attic ventilation, had mold so I wanted to tear it all out and replace it with better stuff.  Moving it at all made tiny glass fibers fly everywhere.  I just cut the holes for the new vents and mounted a fan so there was positive pressure up there, and then always working with the fan to my back started stuffing insulation in lawn style trash bags an sealing them up real tight.   Landfill took them as 'construction debris'.    After installing the new vents I kept the positive pressure setup for putting in the new insulation.  Not only did it keep me from getting itchy, it also kept the attic a comfortable working temperature

[UK4X4]

Sure you can find a local company to do it - but it will cost


i had a variety pack too in my old house

I treated the job as a hazmat exercise

Disposable under clothes- tyvek suit- taped seams- a proper filtered full face mask (not the little disposable ones)

plastic sheet the entry and any ports to the house

Multiple trash bags- tape and supplies

camel back hose drinking water container 3ltr.

decent shop vac-

if your removing the roof anyway- a fresh air hatch may be nice just punch a hole big enough for getting the trash bags out without going through the house.

Start early one morning - take your favorite pain killer and anti inflam and get to work

tape yourself in and don't stop till its done !

you don't want to have to repeat or have to go back up there to finish off.

I was pulling the interior roof off mine as the lathe and plaster was blown due to a water leak

I choose a room with a window to the drive way and positioned a disposal skip beneath it

taped the door shut from the rest of the house and went to work

i also washed the walls down with bleach and water after I finished emptying the attic.

Removed all the clothes and dumped into trash bags and left the room naked straight for the shower.

its a horrible job- but good prep and gear makes it just a sweaty job.

[hpinson]

I'm going to second Redoverfarm. Do be careful and treat it like hazmat! The older vermiculite may well be contaminated with asbestos. Your house looks to be just the right vintage.  If the Vermiculite came from Libby, Montana, you have a problem-- not sure about other sources, but please take this seriously!

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/vermiculite.html

[MountainDon]

Not to mention any hantavirus from the mice.  Oh, I did just mention that. 

[Windpower]

Thanks for the feedback

I think this is a job for the check book

[Alan Gage]

When I tore down my house originally I was going to try and suck it out myself or knock a big hole in the ceiling so I could push it onto the floor of the house and then put it in bags. Found info online telling how to set up a large shop vac so you could suck it out into bags.

After crawling into the attic and looking at just how much insulation there was I decided to hire it out. Found an insulation contractor that also had a sucker and it cost me $500 to have them suck it out. Mine was cellulose I'd installed a few years earlier and wanted to save it to put in my garage. I set up plywood sides on our flatbed trailer so I had a 16x4' container to put it in. It took them most of the day to suck it out and even after packing it down in the trailer multiple times it was still over flowing by the time they got done.

IMHO, if you have more than just a little insulation, there's no practical way to take it out yourself. It would have been a miserable multi-day project. It was perhaps the best $500 I ever spent. Shouldn't be too hard to find someone that can do it, they do it all the time when roofs leak.

Alan

[Windpower]

Thanks, everyone for the feedback

I think it will be money well spent

Just need to find the right contractor I quess

[paul s]

Servepro does this all the time.  the one i worked at we had a 27 hp gas engine powered machine ran 6 inch hoses and dumped it all into a big mesh bad on the truck.  check the yellow pages

[Windpower]

I found a place that is licensed for vermiculite removal in WI

They are going out to look Tuesday

They have a diesel powered vacuum with HEPA filter that bags the stuff and they take it away. They also have suits with positive air ventilators


Not gonna be cheap though (maybe $3500)

But it will be really nice to have it gone with out me going up there and enduring the itching and potential health problems

Check book to the rescue .....