Why it is Important to Clean your Ceiling Cavity?

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Why it is Important to Clean your Ceiling Cavity?

So why is it important to clean your ceiling cavity you may ask? Maintaining the cleanliness of your ceiling cavity is often neglected until an issue arises. However, it’s crucial not to overlook this area of your home. Regular cleaning every 5 to 7 years is essential to ensure optimal air quality and eliminate potential health hazards.

When it comes to cleaning your ceiling cavity, we come across various objects, both common and uncommon. Some are harmless and some are harmful. This is why it is best to have professionals clean your ceiling cavity to avoid any risks to yourself or your loved ones.

Common Objects Found in Ceiling Cavities

The ceiling cavity refers to the space between your house ceiling and roof. It’s a hidden area rarely visited and often becomes a storage spot for items that remain untouched for years. Some common items found in a ceiling cavity include:

  1. Old household items and clothing
  2. Leftover building materials and construction waste
  3. Debris from previous construction projects
  4. Hazardous chemicals like chlorine, fuel, and oil

These objects not only add weight to your ceiling, leading to potential sagging but also pose a fire hazard. Airborne particles such as dust and dirt from coal burning, vehicle emissions, and industrial activities accumulate in the cavity, creating an ideal environment for mildew, mould, insects, rodents, and other animals.

Pests commonly encountered during cleaning may include:

  1. Rats/Mice
  2. Insects
  3. Silverfish
  4. Bees/Wasps
  5. Spiders
  6. Flies
  7. Birds

These pests make the cavity their home, causing damage to your property and posing health risks. Infested cavities may contain animal droppings, fungal spores, decomposed insects, nests, and carcasses.

The accumulated debris can decompose into fine dirt particles, infiltrating your home through ceiling fixtures such as fans, lights, air conditioners, and any gaps caused by the strain on the ceiling cavity.

Unusual Findings in Ceiling Cavities

Aside from the common objects mentioned, your ceiling cavity may house unexpected guests based on your location, local fauna, and environmental conditions. If you have abundant trees or a nearby forest, you might encounter:

  1. Possums: These adaptable marsupials, especially brushtail possums, occasionally find their way into ceiling cavities, building nests or residing without one. To prevent possum infestation, it’s important to seal off any openings that possums can access.
  2. Pest Birds: Ceiling cavities attract various pest bird species, some of which nest in large numbers, causing significant issues for affected properties.
  3. Snakes: During ceiling cavity clean-ups, old snake skins are occasionally discovered. Snakes may enter the cavity searching for prey like rats and mice, sometimes establishing permanent residence.

In a bizarre incident, a Queensland resident even found an intruder residing in her ceiling cavity!

Cleaning your ceiling cavity should never be overlooked. Neglecting this essential process can lead to air pollution, severe health issues, and a perfect breeding ground for dangerous pests. Stay proactive in maintaining a clean and safe home environment.

Contact us

To schedule an appointment or request a free quote for a ceiling cavity clean in Brisbane East, contact Gutter-Vac today!

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Clouds Rolling in, Have You Cleaned Your Gutters Yet?

We are constantly watching the weather when we are on the roof.

It can become unsafe to be caught on the roof in a sprinkle of rain. Just a small amount of water can make a dirty roof very slippery.

If it is only a light shower or intermittent rain, we use our ground workers system to vacuum clean the gutters. When the rain becomes more persistent, it is time to pack up. There is no point sucking water into our drums.

Storms also remind us to clean our gutters. Sometimes, leaks appear or overflows occur. This could mean they are full of debris and require a clean. Good maintenance would be to have them cleaned regularly so that in times of storms, you know they are clear and can handle the flow of water.

We see time and time again, after a huge rain event, many people ring to have emergency cleaning of gutters. They have not been cleaned for some time and everyone wants a gutter clean immediately. It then becomes hard to schedule everyone in.

The best advise is to maintain your gutters on a regular basis and enjoy the clouds rolling in with peace of mind.

Body Corporates Happy with our Gutter Cleaning Service

“An excellent service, as always. We have been using Gutter-Vac for some years now in our group of units and have always found Chris & Therese’s team service to be exceptional, from sending reminders when services are due, to coordinating their attendance, carrying out the cleaning efficiently, and providing feedback (with photos) afterwards, as well as noting any roofing/gutter condition which may require attention. A great team, highly recommended.”

The Woods Body Corporate per Manager, Dynnyrne, Tas

Our commercial and residential customers love it when we provide them with photos of the work our technicians completed. It provides evidence of the clean and information on the condition of the gutters. Our customers also receive a report, attached with the photos, that states any recommendations of future works and how regular their gutters should be cleaned.

Our office staff strive to get photos, reports and invoices out within 2 business days. Gutter-Vac Tasmania also offers a no obligation reminder service giving customers the choice to be sent reminders when their next gutter clean is due. This free service can come in handy in our busy seasons when wait times can be up to months. We are so glad that you are happy with our services. Thank you for the positive feedback, it is always appreciated.

A Gutter Cleaning Company You Can Trust, Says Glenorchy Customer

“Have used gutter vac for a couple of years now, good to be able to leave premises and be able to trust them to do excellent job.”

Gillian, Glenorchy Tasmania

There are so many of our customers that we have not met face to face. We either deal with them over the phone or by email. Some of the clients are long time customers and we just get on with their clean every year and they don’t ever worry about their gutters.

It is good to know that we do not require the client to be home when we do our gutter clean. As long as we have access to the roof and the back yard if we need it, then we can get the job completed.

This helps busy people to go about their daily business and know that their house is receiving the maintenance it deserves.

There are exceptions when animals need attention. For the most part, if we can get on the roof and work from there, the pet is fine in the backyard. They may make a bit of noise but as long as they are not fretting, we are happy to get the work done.

We will work in with clients to book their times but it can be tricky to get it right when the schedule is full. We try to accommodate everyone and do our best to work in with the clients.

Great Review from our Gutter Cleaning Customer in Hobart

“Very pleased with the excellent communication from the business owners. The level of professionalism was beyond my expectations. What they’ve done in cleaning up the guttering in my investment property was fantastic. The before and after photos were proof of it. I would definitely recommend this business for regular gutter cleaning for your residential or investment properties. Thanks again for job well done.”

Ruth, Hobart Tasmania

At Gutter-Vac Tasmania, we pride ourselves on our communication skills. We communicate to our customers every step of the way, until the job is completed. Should there be any issues, changes to the schedule due to weather, not going to make it on time etc, we let them know. The before and after photos serve the purpose to demonstrate the work completed and the high degree to which our technicians work. The photos are a great way to show the condition the gutters are in. Receiving feedback like this from our customers really puts a smile on our faces. Thank you, Ruth. 

Happy Days are here again for this Launceston Gutter Cleaning Customer

“ My gutters were initially cleaned at the end of last year – however, since then, I noticed a leak onto the deck where there previously was none. Chris was more than happy to have a look and then sorted the problem. Outstanding, cheerful superior customer service from Chris and his team. Highly recommend.”

Ailsa, Launceston Tasmania

Wow! How nice it is to hear that our customers are happy with their service. We are always working to make our gutter cleaning service great.

Thank you Ailsa for giving us a glowing reference.

Water Ingress To A Warehouse in Grove Fixed By A Gutter Clean

A customer enquired about having their gutters cleaned in their warehouse in the Grove area. The gutters were quite full and had not been cleaned in a very long time. Consequently, they had water ingress in the warehouse due to the gutters being full of weeds, reeds and mud.

Once the debris was removed, we found the gutters to be mostly in good condition. There was some signs of surface rust starting to show in places. The gutter sludge can be corrosive and this will shorten the life time of the guttering if left.

Gutter Clean Hobart

This down pipe was blocked with mud to the first bend. As water could not access the down pipe it overflowed into the warehouse. This could be a disastrous outcome if you have items stored in the warehouse that could be destroyed from water damage. 

Gutter Clean Hobart

Maintaining regular gutter cleaning will ensure the gutters have a longer life. It will also ensure that water will traverse where it should, in the gutters and down pipes.

Gutter Clean Hobart
Gutters clear of reeds, weeds and mud.

Kingston Gutter Cleaning Service, Another Happy Customer

“Gutter-Vac provide a fantastic service. I received a very prompt and reasonable quote. All communication was very professional and polite. A friendly employee turned up on the agreed date and time, and the job was done in a very thorough manner, including before and after photos. I would highly recommend this business to anyone.”

Mike, Kingston Tasmania

The team always feels good when they get feedback from our customers. But when it is as detailed as this, it gives a good buzz to the day.

We appreciate the time it takes to let us know how the gutter cleaning service went, so thank you Mike.

Gutter Cleaning On Commercial Sites

The Gutter Vac Tasmania team works with a variety of commercial clients. We complete gutter cleans at hospitals, nursing homes, schools, childcare centres, council buildings and warehouses to name a few. Each site is different, access to buildings, height wise or location on the site is considered. Can we get our vehicles on site and close enough? We have 60 metres of hose on our vacuum units in order to reach most places. When customising our maintenance plans for these sites, we follow the OH&S standards to ensure that all personnel, our staff and the staff and visitors of the worksite, are in a safe environment. Staff are trained in workplace health and safety and are educated to work with each client’s specific policies and procedures.

Training

We take safety extremely seriously. All on road team members have safety training and working at heights certification. Each team member have their own safety gear like harnesses and safety lines for working on all types of roofing. We use anchor plates on tin roofing and webbing straps on a tiled roof. Our technicians have the gear to work safely on the job site to complete all gutter cleaning and solar panel cleaning work. When cleaning any pits and drains on site, our technicians know to follow procedures so to not leave them open. Technicians will put out safety cones to notify foot traffic of any hazards. 

How we clean safely in different conditions

We have a ground workers system that we can use on rooves too steep to work safely on. If the roof is slightly wet or there is misty rain and the weather precludes us from working on the roof, we use this system to clean the gutters. We check our work by either using a ladder or our camera on our extension poles. This system can be very useful on some properties where a cherry picker is a solution for accessing high gutters. Instead of paying money to rent a cherry picker, we may be able to access these high gutters with our ground system, at a lessor cost and little disruption to the complex. We have gone as high as 10m on some properties. 

Insurance

There are more considerations to working at heights than just being fully trained and having all the right safety equipment. You should ensure that the company you use is insured. We are fully insured with public liability and can work on unlimited heights. We have taken out an added insurance to cover this. It is prudent to ask any company what their height restraints are in their insurance covers. You may also like check their vehicles are insured as well. You can rest assured that we are fully insured in all aspects of our business. Being a  national franchise guarantees full compliance in this area.

Other Services

We offer a service to apply treatments to lichen covered areas such as roofs, walls, footpaths, etc. When using these cleaners, we ensure we use environmentally friendly and nontoxic products. This gives peace of mind that during our treatments and in the following days that any products used pose no risk to staff, customers, and the local area. You have to understand that the treatments are not a quick fix and it takes 6-12 months to work. Sometimes it may require more treatments if the area is heavy with lichen of black mould.

We can create a maintenance schedule for your property or even multiple properties. We will ensure all future cleans are scheduled in the period of your choice and there is no obligation at the time of the reminder. This is a free service that we offer to remind you when your gutters are due to be cleaned.

If we know you intend to have a maintenance program with us, our system notifies you of the clean slightly ahead of time so that we can schedule the gutter clean when it is due. All that our client has to do is reply by email or call us to confirm acceptance of the work. We will not go ahead with any work without prior approval. Each month we keep aside a number of slots for clients we know who require our services at that time. This ensures their needs are met and the right amount of time is allotted to each job.

Not a commercial client?…. Don’t worry!

We cater for residential work too. The system works the same for both types of work.