Services: Bat Guano Removal

Unfortunately, there are not many resources available to help people understand the techniques used to clean up fecal/guano and abate contaminated material in a safe and appropriate way.  It has been found that the same principles applied to the removal of asbestos would be appropriate for the removal of guano.  Therefore, the best thing for people to do is hire a professional, preferably one with asbestos removal experience and/or licensing.  As always, it is better to be safe than sorry!  The proper decontamination of employees and building materials is just as important as the equipment used.  Removal is not risk free as it may simply spread contamination elsewhere if not performed by an experienced contractor.

• Wearing appropriate safety equipment – We provide our workers with the proper equipment to remove fecal matter/guano safely and effectively.  Tyvek Suits, HEPA respirator, Gloves.
• Negative pressure containment – This engineering control will assure 5 complete air exchanges per hour of the work area with fresh filtered air and will ensure that the rest of the home will not be contaminated.  This is important because during the removal of fecal matter and contaminated building materials may cause fungi spores, nuisance dust, and other volatile organic compounds to become airborne and thus lead to some very serious illnesses. 
• Use of proper chemicals – This will disinfect all surfaces and equipment used to perform the work and a light mist to piles of fecal/guano will help keep the dust down and kill some microbes.
• Disposal of fecal matter – We dispose of all fecal matter safely.  If all fecal matter is not removed from premises, it will draw animals or rodents onto the property and into your building or home.  The smell alone will attract animals to the area and thus cause further problems for you.
• Cleaning the contaminated area – The last part of our clean-up process is the final clean up of the contaminated area.  This includes wet wiping the area with an EPA registered anti-microbial biocide/fungicide and HEPA vacuum the entire work area and all equipment.

Risks of Bat Guano

• Bat guano will produce a rancid ammonia smell as it decomposes.
• Excessive weight on ceiling structures. If bat guano piles are high enough, they can cause sheetrock to crack, rot, stain, and collapse.
• The excretions in bat toilets will drip through the attic floor, causing an unsanitary, disease-harboring, brown splotch on the ceilings in your home or office.
• Bat droppings are a major breeding ground for fungi like Cryptococus- neosporin, which may lead to diseases such as histoplasmosis.
• Histoplasmosis is a fungal disease contracted through airborne spores in bat droppings. Histoplasmosis symptoms may be anything from having flu-like symptoms to blood abnormalities, or death. An eye condition has been linked to the bat disease histoplasmosis and can lead to blindness in those who contract it and is incurable.
• Dry guano can carry histoplasmosis for years and contaminate items you are storing in the attic and therefore pose a huge health risk.

Why Bats Invade

Throughout the winter, bats will look for a warm place to go to escape the cold. Unfortunately, this means that the place that they retreat to is our homes or office buildings.  Bats commonly reside in building walls, attics or between the roof and the ceiling. The truth is that a bat can squeeze through a hole the size of a dime.  Droppings and dead bats can cause severe odor, damage and contamination of property and heating/AC systems, which makes removing bats from a house all the more important.

The conventional wisdom to avoid a wild bat is true- they are susceptible to rabies and can spread it even through a very tiny bite. Most people do not even know that a bat has bitten them.  Sometimes, a bat will bite people you while they sleep.  If bats are in your home, whether it be one or several hundred, it is imperative to get rid of them as quickly as possible.  Bats double the size of their colonies every year.  Once the bat is extracted from your home, the danger still remains.  The fact is that bats produce double their own weight in waste each month.

Bat guano can build up in attics and eaves that have been used by bats, and even if the human occupants of the building are not aware of the dung, they can be harmed by it. After guano has lain around for a couple of years, a fungus can grow in it, releasing spores into the air that cause histoplasmosis in humans.

Histoplasmosis can cause serious respiratory diseases in humans, causing flu-like symptoms including fever and chest pains. If left untreated, histoplasmosis can turn into a chronic lung disease that resembles tuberculosis. In the very young and the very old, or people with compromised immune systems, histoplasmosis can be fatal. Histoplasmosis can also travel from the lungs to the eyes, causing ocular histoplasmosis syndrome, which destroys the central vision (not peripheral). If caught in time, the lung problems can many times be cured with anti-fungal medications.  However, the ocular disease has no cure.

If bat guano is found in a home or other building, it is important to have it removed as soon as possible by a trained professional. A professional knows what to look for in searching for bats and any passageways that is accessible for a bat to enter.  Many times, bat colonies will attempt to return to the same location that they left from.  With this being their nature, all entryways for a bat has to be closed off in order to prevent their return.

To remove guano, our professionals will wear a respirator and dress in protective gear. We will always have the work area under negative pressure using state-of –the-art air filtration equipment to ensure that there is no chance of pollutants becoming airborne. Surfaces will then be decontaminated with a HEPA ( High Efficiency Particulate Air – filter) vacuum which filtrates down to .03 microns, wet wipe techniques with disinfectants, and be collected manually, or a combination of both.