On 28 Feb 2007 02:40:39 -0800, wrote:

Lately I have noticed a weird smell coming from my attic. I think it's
a dead animal as it really stinks! My friend has said it may be my
insulation getting old.

Getting old? That's funny.

My insulation got wet when there was a hole in the roof, but didn't
smell. Not saying it can't. Although I wouldn't think fiberglass
could smell. IIUC, there needs to be something for the mold to "eat",
like cellulose insulation would be. It can't eat glass.

(My house was built in 1978) Does anyone know
if this is possible? Can insulation get old and smell?

Am I able to go up there and check around?

Sure, why not? You can be as careful as anyone else can be. And if
you are female, you probably weigh less. I had a friend, who must
have weighed 300 pounds fwiw, who put a hole through his 2nd floor
ceiling. But if you are not fat, you are probably more nimble than he
was, or even than I am. But, like with anything, if you screw up, it
will cost you money to fix.

If you take a piece of plywood or something 18" or more long, that you
can place on top of two joists, with most of your weight on the joists
itself, it will make it easier not to lose your balance.

You can move around also, but obviously that increases the chance of
making a mistake. Don't put your head too close to the roof because
there will be nails sticking in from when the shingles were nailed on.
I can stand up in the middle of my attic, and there are still 2 feet
above my head, but the more comfortable I got up there, the more I
made mistakes. I hurt myself some poking myself with nails a few
times, but never actually cut my scalp. Now, I've been up there so
much, I don't think I'm totaly capable of being cautious, so I put a
hard hat up there to wear if I go to where the roof is low. I also
put up several pieces of plywood so that I can kneel on piece B then
C, and move A to the other side of C, so that I can work my way to far
corners of the attic. Then work my way back. I was putting in phone
lines, and bedroom ceiling lights, and TV cable, and burglar alarm
wires. If you're just going to go up there once, it wouldn't be worth
all this.

But come to think of it, you can first stick half or more of your body
up through the hole or door and remain standing on the ladder. You
and your nose can probably learn a lot from that. The brighter the
flashlight the better, and better than that might be a gooseneck desk
lamp or anything portable that runs on house current. 75 to 100 watts
really light up a space. Careful on the ladder when you turn halfway
around. That's when I start to fall off.

So it would be easy to just stand on the ladder. Is there one built
in? If not, a 6 foot ladder is about right if you have 8 foot
ceilings. Bigger is awkward.

Wear long sleeves, long pants, and gloves if you have fiberglass, the
pink or yellow stuff. Well, apparently the new stuff doesnt' stick to
your skin, but the stuff made in 1978 does, and it's like the teeniest
of pin pricks. Doesn't actually hurt, but it's annoying. When I
forget and wear short sleeves or pants, I take a shower afterwards and
that seems to make it go away.

If I don't just stand in the hole, but I go up and do something to
move the fiberglass around i wear asimple paper face mask, so as to
not inhale the fiberglass that I might cause to float around. No one
else mentioned that, and I don't know for sure that it is a risk, and
I've never even examined the air in bright sunlight to see if there is
fiberglass floating. I know there is a lot of dust floating in my own
home some time, but I think the nose catches most of that. Not sure
about fibeglass, and some people don't always breath through there
nose. A package of 3 was about 2 or 3 dollars.

I mean, I've never been up
there myself. There's a little "doorway" in the hall that I can gain
access to the attic from. Is it safe for me to go up there? or will I
fall through the roof?

Maybe if Scotty zooms you up.

Should I get someone else to go check? (I have a membership at Angie's
List www.angies-lists.com )

If it is a dead rat or mouse, could a decaying animal make us all sick

I don't think so. My mother always felt that certain smells carried
disease, so I've kept my eyes open, but never found anything to
support that.

(I have 2 kids). Sorry, I am kind of panicking now. Maybe I should
just call someone.

Almost everywhere, there are flies or insects or microbes which will
eat the carcass, and it will stop smelling.

Can anyone answer these questions please? If there is a chance it's my
insulation I should really get that stuff replaced.

No.

Sorry about the babbling, thanks for hearing me out. I appreciate any
help you can give.

When I first went up in my attic, I found two birds looking at me
through the pink fiberglas insulation, on the floor of the attic. If
they had been looking the other way, it would have been different, but
it was eerie, almost scary. Two black birds.

Anyhow, the birds didn't smell at all. Perhaps they did when they
first died, but I didn't own the house then.

By this time they were dry and I'm sure weighed less than they had,
but their head and feathers looked pretty much like new. Well, at
first I could only see their faces, but I put on gloves, and to not
get the gloves dirty**, I used a sheet of newspaper to pick them up
and put them in a bag, and I through that away. Just for neatness.
Eventually I suppose they would have fallen apart and left feathers
and bones whereever they broke off.

**I don't think the gloves would have gotten dirty, but these things
were totally dessicated. If your animal still smells, it's not dry
yet.

Later, when I was outside, I found out where they got in. It was at
the very end of the soffitt, where the screening was detached from the
small piece of wood, 1x2x5inches long, that was the end of the frame
of the screening that filled the soffitt, that was the soffitt. A
quarter inch of wood was missing, like it had rotted away, or been
pecked away by birds. So the screen was no longer stapled to the wood
(because the part that held the staple was gone). I thought it was
some kind of rot and thought it would continue so that my repair would
not last long. But I stapled or nailed the screeing back on, and
it's been 20 years. So now I think it wasn't rot but bird pecking.
For some reason, one or both of them wanted in, but then couldn't find
there way out, and starved to death.

I think this pecking their way in must be pretty unusual, especially
since the prior owner kept absolutely nothing in the attic.


I'm sure the other poster is right and it might be mold. The specific
smell might be a big clue, and what you see when you look and sniff
might also be.

Sincerely,

Lisa