What Will I Need to Clean Bat Guano From My Attic?

You will need to gather the following pieces of equipment to ensure that you remove bat guano from your attic safely:
Vacuum filter
Rubber gloves
Protective coveralls
Breathing/face mask
Eye protection
Boot/shoe coveralls
Fire pit
Cleaning equipment — cloths, scrubbing brushes, etc.
Garbage bags
Bleach
Biological enzyme cleaners
Torch
Ladder
Secondary person (for safety aspects)
Pen & paper




The protective clothing is to make sure that you aren't exposing yourself to dangerous disease, including Histoplasmosis. The fungus disease spores of this disease can be inhaled, first present in the guano left behind by bats. When the guano becomes dry and dusty in texture, it is easily spread around in the air, and so is the disease. If you're working in that area without a breathing mask on, you could inhale those spores. You should make sure that you have gloves — the thicker, the better — and eye protection when working with wild animals or the mess left behind by wild animals. The gloves are to make sure that you don't touch anything unpleasant, but it is also to make sure you, once again, don't come into contact with potentially deadly diseases. Rabies is a genuine concern with bats, and if the bat hasn't been dead for very long, any virus that may have been present will still be biologically active. The biological matter would need to make contact with an open wound or similar for you to become infected, but although rare, can happen.

As mentioned, you can't just sweep away dry and dusty bat guano. You must instead use a vacuum filter to ensure any small particles aren't inhaled. Once all physical signs of the waste has been cleared away, you must then get to work scrubbing, using the strongest cleaning agents you can get your hands on to ensure that every last trace of that animal has been gone. If any shred of it remains, it will attract back other bats, as well as other critters, including rodents. When using different cleaning agents or products, make sure that you do not mix anything that is not safe for mixing; otherwise, you run the risk of causing yourself an injury by inhaling toxic gases or vapors. You will also need to ensure that you have a secondary person on the property, just in case something goes wrong. If you're at home alone when you perform this job and the ladder falls down while you're on the roof, you might be waiting up there for a very long time before someone comes home!

If you wanted our honest opinion, we'd suggest leaving the job of bat guano removal to a professional who is experienced — and has all the tools and equipment that is needed.

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