Re: Bird droppings in attic

[Paul Mc Cann]

> >> I have a small attic with a wooden (tongue and groove) floor > >> where birds have been nesting for some time, > >> and have left their deposits fairly widely over the floor. > >> I'm wondering about the best way to clean the floor. > >> Any advice or suggestions gratefully received. > > > The bakery trade use a metal scraper on a long handle like a brush for > > cleaning the floor of pieces of pastry etc. If you could borrow one of > > these it might be ideal. (I'm assuming the droppings are dry) > > Thanks for the suggestion. > I thought some sort of scraper on a broom-handle might do the trick, > but I don't recall ever seeing such a thing.

I don't think hacking something together would be very effective as the flexible metal blade of the scraper has to be forced flat against the floor to ensure it doesn't catch on any proturbances. It might be difficult to get a good connection between the handle and the scraper.

If hands and knees are not out of the question a heavy duty Skarsten scraper which is used in a pulling rather than a pushing motion might do it. Windmill Leisure and Marine used to carry them, or some of the other chandlers/marine suppliers, Western Marine in Bulloch Harbour etc. may have one

> > Follow up with a deck brush, hot water and detergent/disinfectant mix. > > Someone suggested a steam cleaner, > but I'm not really sure what this is, or how it could be applied. >

Don't like the sound of a steam cleaner. If the droppings are dry it is probably best not to wet them until the excess is cleared.

ISTR that dry bird droppings can metamorphose into unpleasant/nast/unhygienic dust so a good dust mask probably would not go astray.

snip

[Timothy Murphy]

Thanks for all your advice.

It is amazing the quantity of droppings that can accumulate with a few birds in a couple of years. Every time I went to cut off their entry it turned out they were nesting and the children objected to their being expelled.