Insulation removal & ceiling vacuum · Brisbane & SE QLD
Insulation removal & ceiling vacuum, Brisbane.
We vacuum out old, rat-fouled, water-damaged or fibreglass ceiling insulation across Brisbane and SE Queensland, then top over or replace it. Cellulose can be vacuumed out and reinstalled. Fixed price, no deposit.
Most of the time removal isn’t even necessary. My preference is to leave your batts where they are and pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of them, which fills the gaps, takes the rodent smell out of the roof and keeps the R-value the batts still have. Send me a photo from the manhole and I’ll tell you which way is the better value before you spend a cent.
One skip, one job
old fibreglass cleared out properly
From our customers
Real people, real results — here's what they say.
Jung K
Riverhills, 2023
“An experienced family operation. Highly recommend. Thank you for the great job!”
David H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Completed the job as quoted and to a high standard. Great personal service. Would highly recommend Comfort Zone for ceiling installation work.”
Benjamin H
Carseldine, 2019
“Very good explanation about their works. Advice of existing problems with the roof. Clean work. Very professional.”
What is ceiling vacuum & insulation removal?
Old insulation out, before the new goes in.
Insulation removal is exactly what it sounds like: we vacuum the old, failed or fouled insulation out of your roof space so you can start clean. It’s the job you book when the existing batts are rodent-soiled, water-damaged, settled to nothing, or simply have to come out because the ceilings are being replaced.
A lot of the time you don’t need a removal at all. Where the old insulation is dry and still doing a job, we pump fresh Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of it to bring the ceiling up to the R-value you want with no removal cost and no skip bin. Even a slumped gappy batt that has had rodents through it usually stays where it is. The new layer packs out the gaps and the borate treatment takes the rodent smell out of the roof.
Either way I’ll tell you which one your roof is. The reason I ask for photos before I price the job is so you get a real answer and a fixed price rather than a removal you never needed. Once the old layer is sorted, we move on to fresh ceiling insulation done the right way.
Old foil insulation torn out and strewn across a roof cavity from a previous bad install, buried in years of loose dust and debris. Foil and batts like this come out by hand — we pull them up, bag them and carry them out. Whether we also vacuum the loose mess depends on how bad it is and what’s going back in.
The first question I answer
Do you actually need it removed, or can we top over it?
This is the call that decides what your job costs. My preference is to leave the batts in the roof and pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of them, so a removal has to earn its money before I'll recommend one. This is how I weigh it up.
Remove it when…
- ✕
The rodent infestation is extreme
Almost every batt roof I open has had rodents through it at some point, so a few droppings is not a reason to spend your money on a removal. Where the roof has been taken right over, with nesting through most of the batts and urine soaked into the plaster, that lot comes out and goes in the skip.
- ✕
Water-damaged batts
Batts that have copped a roof leak hold the damp and slump down flat. Wet broken-down insulation is not insulating anything, so out it goes.
- ✕
Broken down to loose debris
Old fibreglass that has come apart into scraps and powder across the whole roof has nothing left holding an R-value. There is no layer worth preserving, so we vacuum the debris out and start clean.
- ✕
You're replacing the ceilings
If the plaster is coming down anyway for a reno, water repairs or a new layout, that is the moment to clear the old stuff out and start fresh.
Top over it when…
It's dry and clean
If the existing insulation is dry, clean and reasonably intact, we can usually pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation straight over the top to bring it up to the R-value you want with no removal cost.
It's slumped, thin or gappy
A slumped batt still holds some R-value. Pumping Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top keeps that value in your roof while it fills every gap around the batts and lifts the ceiling to the current code R-value. It costs less than a removal because there is no vacuum-out and no tip fee.
There are rodents in the batts
Pumping over the batts packs out the runs and cavities the rodents live in, so they cannot get back into them. The borate treatment in our product also settles through the old nesting and takes the rodent smell out of the roof. That smell is the thing telling the next rat walking past that this is where rodents live.
Half-service top-over
Where the batts are in reasonable condition we can pump half as much Cellulose Fibre Insulation over them as a straight top-over rather than a full-service job. It comes down to what you want to spend and how far you want the R-value lifted.
You're selling the house
Topping over deals with the smell for a lot less money than a removal job. It also keeps a batt with R2 still left in it out of landfill on the way through.
Not sure which side of the line your roof falls on? Read the full breakdown in top over vs remove your old insulation.
What I recommend on most batt roofs
Why we pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over fibreglass batts instead of pulling them out.
A removal costs you twice, once for the labour to vacuum the roof out and once for the tip. On most houses that money does more work going into the insulation itself.
Fibreglass batts and rodents go together
Fibreglass batts very often have rodents in them. Batts sit loose over the joists with runs and cavities under them and between them, which is exactly what a rat or a mouse wants out of a roof. When we pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top, the product fills those gaps and packs the runs out, so the rodents cannot get back into them and they stop living up there. The borate treatment in our product settles down through the old nesting and takes the rodent smell out of the roof at the same time. That smell is what draws the next lot of rodents up, so dealing with it matters as much as filling the holes does.
Why new fibreglass batts on a rodent roof fill up again
Pull the fouled batts out, lay fresh batts and you have changed the insulation without changing the roof. The smell is still sitting in the timber and the plaster above your ceiling. A rodent walking past smells it and reads it as where rodents live, so up it comes and the new batts fill with rodents fast. You have then paid for the removal, the tip fee and a second set of batts to end up back where you started. That is why I don’t recommend pulling batts out and replacing them with new batts.
The two insulation jobs I do recommend
The first is to pull the old batts out and install Cellulose Fibre Insulation in their place. The second one, which is what I go to on most houses, is to pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation straight over the top of the batts. Topping over preserves whatever R-value the batts still have, fills the gaps they have opened up, takes the smell out of the roof and brings the ceiling up to the current code R-value. It is the cheaper job as well because you are not paying for a vacuum-out or a trailer load going to the tip. I don’t like sending an R2 batt to landfill when it still has years of work left in it.
The half-service top-over on batts in good condition
Where the batts are in reasonable condition we can pump half as much Cellulose Fibre Insulation over them as a simple top-over rather than a full-service job. You still get the gaps filled and the smell dealt with for less again. Which one suits you comes down to how far you want the R-value lifted and what you want to spend. Tell me what you are after and I will price it that way.
When I tell people to pull the fibreglass batts out
Our preference is to leave the batts in the roof even where they are gappy, degraded or have had some rodents through them. Almost every batt roof I open has had rodents in it at some point. If that on its own was the trigger we would be pulling the insulation out of nearly every batt roof in Brisbane. Removal and disposal is the call where the infestation is extreme. You know that one the moment you open the manhole because the nesting runs right through the batts and the smell hits you straight away.
What topping over does for your roof
- The gaps and rodent runs get packed out, so rodents stop living in the roof.
- The borate treatment takes the old rodent smell out, so the next rat doesn't read your ceiling as rodent territory.
- Whatever R-value is left in the batts stays in your roof and the new layer lifts you to the current code R-value.
- You pay for insulation rather than for a vacuum-out and a tip fee.
- An R2 batt keeps working for you instead of losing its value to society overnight in a landfill.
Not sure which one your roof is? Send me a photo from the manhole →
The job nobody warns you about
What we do about rats living in fibreglass batts.
I pull rat nests out of batt-insulated roofs every week. When I lift old fibreglass or polyester batts that rodents have been living in, what’s underneath is urine soaked into the plaster, droppings, nesting and a smell you can’t un-smell. That’s not insulation any more. It’s a health problem sitting directly above your bedrooms.
Where a roof has been taken right over like that, the batts come out. They get vacuumed up, bagged and skipped before anything fresh goes back in. That is the extreme end of it though. Far more often I open a manhole and find rodents have been through the batts without the roof being overrun. Pulling every one of those roofs apart would have people spending money for nothing.
On those roofs we pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of the batts instead. It packs out the runs the rodents live in so they can’t get back into them. The borate treatment takes the old rodent smell out of the roof as well. That smell is the part that keeps drawing new rodents up, which is why laying fresh batts over an untreated roof gets you a second rat problem.
And the reason I steer people to cellulose fibre afterwards isn’t a sales line. It’s that the insects rats feed on can’t survive in the borate-treated cellulose fibre, so there’s nothing in there for them. In 6,000+ roofs I’ve never pulled a rat nest out of one we’ve pumped with cellulose fibre. I’m confident enough about it to put $1,000 on it.
Cellulose pumped back into a ceiling after a vacuum-out, a clean, even blanket laid around the ducting and cabling, ready for the next decades.
The circular-economy bit
Cellulose Fibre Insulation can be vacuumed out and reinstalled.
Here’s a genuine advantage that almost nobody tells you about: Cellulose Fibre Insulation can be vacuumed out and reinstalled. It’s one of very few insulations that doesn’t automatically become landfill the day you renovate. If you’re having your ceilings replaced (a reno, a new layout, water repairs) we can vacuum the cellulose fibre out, let the builders do their thing, and pump the same product straight back in afterwards.
Old fibreglass and rockwool don’t work like that. Once they come out, they’re itchy, dusty, broken-down waste. They fill a skip and go to the tip. I dump whole trailers of that stuff. Cellulose Fibre Insulation is recycled paper to begin with, so re-using it in the same roof is about as low-waste as insulation gets. It’s the same reason Cellulose Fibre Insulation is the only product I’d use in my own home.
The material behind most of our removal jobs
Fibreglass insulation removal — and what goes back in its place.
Most of what comes off a Brisbane roof on a removal job is old fibreglass batts rather than Cellulose Fibre Insulation. Here is what happens to a batt over twenty years in a Queensland roof, the cases where pulling it out beats topping over it and what we put back once it is gone.
Why old fibreglass batts lose their R-value
A batt starts life as a fluffy roll with air trapped through it. That trapped air is most of what makes it insulate. Walk on it, stack storage boxes on it, or just leave it sitting under its own weight long enough and it packs down flat. In my experience batts get properly slumped and compressed anywhere from about five to ten years in, sooner if the roof’s been used for storage or someone’s been up there kneeling on them for wiring or plumbing work. Once a batt’s flattened out and shrunk away from the joists like that, it’s nowhere near the R-value on its own pack any more. That doesn’t make it worthless. Pumping Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top fills the gaps the batt has opened up and puts back the R-value the ceiling is short of. Whatever the old batt still has in it stays working for you instead of going to the tip. The batts I do tell people to pull out are the ones in an extreme rodent infestation, the ones soaked through by a leak and the ones that have come apart into debris.
The itch and the disturbance
Pulling old glasswool out is the itchiest, dustiest job in this trade. Fine glass fibre works its way into every collar and cuff the moment you disturb a batt that’s sat undisturbed for twenty years. It stays airborne a lot longer than people expect once it’s stirred up. As I tell my own crew: “I make sure my staff use asbestos-rated masks and disposable suits any time we’re asked to install or remove fibreglass batts or associated products, and sometimes we’re still itchy for four days afterwards.” That discomfort may matter more for people with asthma, bronchitis or other breathing issues, which is why we handle every removal the same way regardless of who’s asking. The suit is the part people never think about. It is a disposable coverall taped at the wrists over the top of your work clothes, worn with a full-face mask, in a roof that is already baking. You cook in it, so the heat-stroke risk on a fibreglass removal is a good deal higher than it is on a job where nobody needs a suit at all. Cellulose Fibre Insulation isn’t itchy, so there is no suit and usually only one bloke up in the roof instead of two. If you want the full breakdown on particle size and what’s actually airborne once a batt’s disturbed, see are fibreglass batts safe and the best insulation if you have asthma.
Mould under fibreglass batts and pest contamination
A fibreglass batt holds onto water once a roof leak gets into it rather than shedding it. The batt itself has no ability to stop mould growing near it or around it either. I have lifted batts off a ceiling and found mould growing underneath them on the plaster, where the water had been sitting trapped under the batt with nowhere to go. Our Cellulose Fibre Insulation is borate-treated. Borate is the same mineral the timber industry uses as a preservative to hold fungal growth back, so mould has a much harder time taking hold in it. Herrera et al. 2005, PMID 16282166 — sodium-polyborate-treated cellulose fibre insulation precluded five fungal species for 124+ days ↗ NPIC (Oregon State University / US EPA), Boric Acid Technical Fact Sheet — registered wood-preservative and pesticide uses of boric acid and its sodium borate salts ↗ Batts that are soaked or mouldy come out, get bagged and go to the tip. Rodents in the batts are a different call, which I go through above. Most of those roofs get topped over rather than emptied.
How we contain it on the way out
On top of the mask and the disposable suit, we seal off the room below with plastic before we open the manhole, bag the old batts as we go rather than throwing them down loose, and carry the bags out through the house sealed rather than shaking them out anywhere near your living space. It’s slower than just ripping batts down and chucking them through the manhole. But it’s the difference between the dust staying in the roof and the dust ending up in your lounge room.
What goes back in
Once the roof’s clear, what goes back in is your call. Most customers go with Cellulose Fibre Insulation, the borate-treated plant fibre that rats and mice can’t nest in, or polyester batts where a batt still suits the job. If you’re still weighing up fibreglass against the alternatives first, our full buyer’s guide is at fibreglass batts, what you’re actually buying. If you want a price on genuine Pink Batts or Earthwool while you’re deciding, see Pink Batts and Earthwool quotes in Brisbane.
Do you have fibreglass batts in your roof now? We can quote to remove them or fix your insulation so there's nothing small enough to be breathed deep into your lungs.
If you’d rather have nothing up there small enough to be breathed deep into your lungs at all — unlike the 10 to 20% of fibreglass batt fibre the industry’s own national code puts under the 3-micron respirable size — the two products that don’t have that problem are Cellulose Fibre Insulation (a plant fibre) or polyester batts. Get a quote →
Old fibreglass batts slumped and pulled apart, with lumpy gaps opening up between the timber joists. This is the state most of our fibreglass removal jobs are in by the time we’re called.
Correct respirator and PPE on every job. We wear the same standard of protection pulling out somebody else’s fibreglass as we do handling our own product.
Why we don’t cut corners on removal
Asbestos-rated masks on every fibreglass removal.
Pulling out old insulation is the dustiest, dirtiest part of this trade. Old fibreglass is itchy and throws fine fibre dust everywhere the moment you disturb it. The manufacturers’ own safety sheets tell you to wear a P2 dust mask just to handle a fresh batt. Once it’s decades old, settled and full of who-knows-what, a flimsy paper mask isn’t enough.
So on removals our crew wear asbestos-rated respirators, not throwaway dust masks. In older Queensland homes you genuinely don’t always know what’s been disturbed up there over the years. A few hours in a roof full of old fibre dust isn’t worth anyone’s lungs. We’d rather be over-careful than have a regret.
If there’s any chance of asbestos
Super-6 sheeting, old fibro and some pre-1990 materials can contain asbestos. If there’s any doubt, stop, don’t disturb it, and get it tested by a licensed assessor before anyone goes up. We won’t touch suspected asbestos; that’s a licensed removalist’s job, not an insulation crew’s.
Getting the house ready to sell
Topping over old insulation when you are selling the house.
Selling is one of the times people ring up wanting the whole roof emptied. On most of those houses a top-over does the job for a lot less money. There are two things worth knowing before you decide.
Why a top-over is a good buy before a sale
Pumping Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the old batts stops the smell coming down through the ceiling. It costs a good deal less than a removal and it hands the buyer a ceiling insulated to the current code R-value. It also keeps an R2 batt out of a landfill. That batt cost somebody money and it still works, so putting it in a skip loses its value to society overnight.
What the building and pest inspector might say
A top-over is not what most inspectors are used to seeing. Every so often one looks at pumped Cellulose Fibre Insulation sitting over the top of batts, doesn’t know what he is looking at and writes something up about it in his report. If the building and pest inspector has any problem with how we’ve done the job, get him to give me a call and I’ll explain why.
Electricians, plumbers and what the roof looks like afterwards
The other one is the tradesmen who work in the roof after us. An electrician will pull a batt out from under the Cellulose Fibre Insulation, kick it along to get where he is going and leave that corner looking ugly. He does exactly the same thing in a roof that has nothing but batts in it. Don’t buy your insulation for your electrician or your plumber. Buy it for how well it works for you and the environment.
My offer to your building and pest inspector
“If the building and pest inspector has any problem with how we’ve done the job, get him to give me a call and I’ll explain why.”
Peter Johnson
Owner / installer, Comfort Zone Insulation Team®
What it costs
What it costs in Brisbane: the real bands.
I don’t publish a flat removal rate because every roof is different: what’s up there, how much of it, and how hard the access is all move the number. A tight two-storey with no manhole takes a lot longer to clear than a low-set with an easy hatch. What I can tell you plainly is the direction: a top-over costs less than a full removal because there’s no vacuum-out and no tip fee, so on most roofs I’ll price it both ways and tell you which one your house actually needs.
Send me a couple of photos from the manhole (or just your address if you don’t have any) and I’ll tell you whether removal is even necessary, then give you a fixed-price quote with no deposit and no price increases on the day.
Straight answers
Insulation removal: the questions I get asked most.
Do I have to remove my old insulation before adding more?+
Most of the time you don't. My preference is to leave the batts where they are and pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of them. You keep whatever R-value the batts still have, we fill every gap around them, the ceiling comes up to the current code R-value and it costs you less because there is no vacuum-out and no tip fee. Removal is worth paying for where the rodent infestation is extreme, where the batts are soaked from a leak, where they have broken down into loose debris or where the ceilings are coming down anyway. Send me a couple of photos from the manhole and I'll tell you which one your house needs before you spend a cent.
Can you pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of old fibreglass batts?+
Yes. On most batt roofs that is what I recommend. Pumping over fills the gaps around the batts and packs out the runs the rodents live in, so they can't get back into them and they stop living in the roof. The borate treatment in our product settles through the old nesting and takes the rodent smell out of the roof at the same time, which is what stops new rodents being drawn back up there. You keep the R-value that's left in the batts, the ceiling comes up to the current code R-value and you save the cost of a removal and a skip. An R2 batt that still works is worth more in your ceiling than it is in a landfill.
Should I pull the old batts out and put new batts back in?+
That's the job I steer people away from. If you pull rodent-fouled batts out and lay fresh batts without dealing with the smell that's already in the roof, the smell stays in the timber and the plaster. A rodent walking past smells it, reads it as where rodents live and comes straight back up, so the new batts fill with rodents fast and you've paid for the lot twice. If the batts are coming out, put Cellulose Fibre Insulation back in. If they can stay, pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top of them.
I'm selling the house. Should I remove the old insulation or top over it?+
Topping over is a fair call when you're selling. It stops the smell, it costs a lot less than a removal and it saves an R2 batt from going to landfill and losing its value to society overnight. Two things to know before you decide. A building and pest inspector who hasn't seen a top-over done before can flag it in his report. If that happens, get him to give me a call and I'll explain why we've done the job that way. The other one is electricians, who pull a batt out from under the cellulose fibre and kick it around the roof, which can leave it looking ugly. They do the same to plain batts. Don't buy your insulation for your electrician or your plumber. Buy it for how well it works for you and the environment.
How much does insulation removal cost in Brisbane?+
It depends on what's up there, how much of it, and how hard the access is. A tight two-storey with no manhole takes a lot longer to clear than a low-set with an easy hatch. I don't publish a flat removal rate because every roof is different. Send me your address and I'll have a look, tell you whether removal is even necessary, and give you a fixed-price quote, with no deposit to pay.
Can Cellulose Fibre Insulation be vacuumed out and reused?+
Yes, Cellulose Fibre Insulation can be vacuumed out and reinstalled, which makes it one of very few insulations that doesn't automatically become landfill the day you renovate. If you're having ceilings replaced, we can vacuum the cellulose fibre out, do the work, and pump it back in afterwards. Old fibreglass and rockwool, by contrast, generally come out, fill a skip and go to the tip.
Is it safe to remove old insulation yourself?+
I'd be careful. Old fibreglass is itchy and dusty. The manufacturers' own safety sheets tell you to wear a P2 dust mask when handling it. On removals our crew wear asbestos-rated respirators because in older Queensland homes you genuinely don't always know what's been disturbed up there. A few minutes in a roof full of old fibre dust isn't worth the risk. If there's any chance of asbestos (Super-6, old fibro), stop and get it tested before anyone goes up.
How do I know if my fibreglass batts need removing rather than topping over?+
Send me a photo from the manhole. A batt that's gone flat, shrunk away from the joists or left gaps you can see the ceiling through has lost a lot of the trapped air that made it work. I see batts get to that state anywhere from about five to ten years in, sooner if the roof's been used for storage or someone's been up there kneeling on them for wiring or plumbing work. A slumped batt like that is still not a reason to pay for a removal. Whatever R-value it has left is worth keeping. Pumping Cellulose Fibre Insulation over the top fills the gaps it has opened up and brings the whole ceiling to the current code R-value. The batts that genuinely need to come out are the ones in an extreme rodent infestation, the ones soaked through by a leak, the ones that have fallen apart into loose debris and any roof where the ceilings are being replaced anyway.
Still deciding? Read top over vs remove your old insulation →
Worried about a damaged ceiling? See what to ask before you book a removal →
Watch it being done
Insulation removal jobs from our channel.
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Old insulation got to go? Let’s have a look.
Fill in our simple online form and I’ll tell you whether your roof needs a removal or whether we can pump Cellulose Fibre Insulation straight over what’s up there. You get a detailed fixed-price quote within 48 hours for most houses. No deposit, no day-of surprises. Servicing Brisbane & SE QLD.
Peter Johnson
Owner / installer · Comfort Zone Insulation Team® · Since 1986