TAP Insulation is #1
Dr. Pest installs TAP® R-38 insulation — TAP stands for Thermal, Acoustical, Pest Control. It is a loose-fill cellulose insulation treated with borates, blown into the attic and built up to an R-38 thermal value. The manufacturer states it is the only insulation registered with the EPA to control insects that also carries an ENERGY STAR label and a UL classification.
R-38 is the number that matters. Insulation works by trapping air, and depth is what does the trapping. Most of the attics we open up in Southern California fall well short of it — decades-old batts that have settled, gapped at the edges, or been tunnelled through by rodents.
We do the whole attic, not just the blow-in. That means removing the old contaminated insulation, cleaning and disinfecting the space, sealing the entry points, and only then installing the new TAP to R-38.
TAP Insulation
Provides Comfort
How TAP Insulation
Triumphs in Pest Control
Why the Attic Must Be Cleaned Out
After Rodents
Blowing new insulation over a rodent-infested attic is the most common mistake we get called in to fix. The insulation is the last step of the job, not the whole job. Here is why the cleanout comes first.
The contamination does not leave when the rodents do. Droppings and urine soak into insulation and stay in it. Dried droppings break apart easily once something disturbs them — someone walking the attic, or new material being blown over the top — and attic air does not stay in the attic. It moves down into the rooms below.
The scent is an invitation. Rodents mark with urine and leave pheromone trails behind them. Those markers stay active long after the animals are gone, and to the next rat or mouse they read as a recommendation: others lived here, and it was safe. An attic that has not been cleaned and deodorised is an attic that gets reinfested.
Parasites stay behind. The mites and fleas that were living on the rodents do not die with them. They go looking for the next warm host, and the nearest one is usually you or your pets.
Soiled insulation has stopped insulating. Rodents tunnel through it and flatten it into runways. Insulation only works because of the air trapped inside it, so crushed and matted material has lost most of the R-value you paid for — and you keep paying for that every month on your energy bill.
What the job actually looks like. We remove the contaminated material, clean and disinfect the attic, seal the entry points the rodents were using, and then blow in the new TAP to R-38. The order matters: insulating a house that rodents can still get into simply gives them warmer bedding. Call (562) 488-7455 and we will inspect the attic and tell you what is actually up there before any work is scheduled.
Call Dr. Pest for
TAP Insulation
