smell in office

[drbromboz]

We have a smell in our dental office. We noticed it when we started using the heating system when it got cold. We have had dead rats in the drop ceiling area in the past and it kind of smells like that. They have gotten in through the A/C area on the roof. We put trpas up there when we smelled the smell, but nothing is in the traps. You can't crawl around in the drop ceiling area. So my question is what type of person can clean out a drop ceiling area. There are rat droppings. Just trying to figure out who to call. Thanks

[Marc]

Your air conditioning contractor can open the rooftop package (AC) unit (if that's what it is) to inspect it but to clean it out may also require the attention of a hygienist, depending on the severity of the issue.

Marc

[Tom Raymond]

Your air conditioning contractor can open the rooftop package (AC) unit (if that's what it is) to inspect it but to clean it out may also require the attention of a hygienist, depending on the severity of the issue.

Marc

That's a specialist, not the dental hygenist[:-monkeyd

Tom

Sorry Marc, sometimes I can't help myself.

[Marc]

Ohh, I love the jokes.

Marc

[Mark P]

When a heating system is first fired up after setting for a season of non-use it often smelles. It is the dust and stuff that gets in there. Once it has burned off it goes away. If it does not go away after a day, call you're local HVAC contractor.

[Mike Lamb]

So my question is what type of person can clean out a drop ceiling area. There are rat droppings. Just trying to figure out who to call. Thanks

Good question. I suppose someone who can remove the tiles without breaking them, can keep the office clean and debris contained as to not make a mess. And ideally, is a rat /pest specialist.

I'm not a rat pro but when you use poison to kill them they often die in a place you can't see and remove them and they stink big time. You will also see big fat ass rat flies that nest and hatch in the corpse flying around. I think you are better off with the big rat traps that you can easily check and replace as needed.

A pest guy should be able to tell you where they are likely entering the office. Do you share the building with a restaurant or a Petco? If you have a neighbor with rats you are screwed.

And where is the cold air return for the HVAC? If it's above the drop ceiling, it can make for unhealthy IAQ and you should get an HVAC pro to move the duct somewhere into the habitable areas.

[Marc]

You don't clean suspended ceiling tiles of rat droppings/urine, you change them. As for the insulation laid upon it, may have to change that too if the infestation is bad enough.

Marc

[Jim Katen]

We have a smell in our dental office. We noticed it when we started using the heating system when it got cold. We have had dead rats in the drop ceiling area in the past and it kind of smells like that. They have gotten in through the A/C area on the roof. We put trpas up there when we smelled the smell, but nothing is in the traps. You can't crawl around in the drop ceiling area. So my question is what type of person can clean out a drop ceiling area. There are rat droppings. Just trying to figure out who to call. Thanks

If I were you, I'd call this guy:

http://tampa.crittercontrol.com/aboutus/

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Mike Lamb]

To clarify, if an air return is in the suspended ceiling space which it may be, besides being a very bad location, you may be circulating rat rot odor through the HVAC duct system.

Good luck, Dr. Bombaz. Don't you guys wear masks anyway? Smelling the inside of some people's mouths might be worse than what's dead in the ceiling.

P.S. I apologize for eating Oreo cookies on the way to my appointment.

[hausdok]

Besides the smell, I'd be worried about possible health affects to my employees.

Hanta Virus has been linked to rodent droppings. If I were you, I'd close the office, tear out the ceilings, put up new ceilings and insulation, do a serious cleaning, and get up there on the roof, remove the carcasses from the HVAC system and steam clean all of that rooftop unit.

Of course, that's just me.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[drbromboz]

Thanks everyone, Mike I'll probably do exactly what you said, because we found the rat in some unlikely place up there in the insulation, not in one of the traps. But this is ridiculous. I need 1. The type of person (what job does this) that can inspect the whole area and see exactly where the rats get in besides the roof. 2. Then clean out the insulation and tiles (what kind of person/job does this. 3 Does anyone know someone in Clearwater Florida that can take care of this. Really enjoyed the jokes, very funny bunch of guys. Thanks.

[drbromboz]

I mean Hausdoc I'll probably do exactly what you said about cleaning the whole things out. I like your picture.

[hausdok]

Hi,

Thanks, that hatch is 10" high by 20" inches wide and the crawlspace wasn't much deeper. I got my somewhat corpulent self in there and managed to get through it anyway.

Around here (Seattle) we have a host of rodent control companies that also do crawlspace cleanup. I'd bet that you've got something similar down there; just make a few phone calls to a few exterminators. I'll bet they've each got a raft of names for that kind of thing.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Mark P]

Besides the smell, I'd be worried about possible health affects to my employees.

Hanta Virus has been linked to rodent droppings. If I were you, I'd close the office, tear out the ceilings, put up new ceilings and insulation, do a serious cleaning, and get up there on the roof, remove the carcasses from the HVAC system and steam clean all of that rooftop unit.

Of course, that's just me.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

Last year I did an inspection for a medical researcher that specialized in diseases like hantavirus (I forgot what the field is called). Anyway, I asked her specifically about Hantavirus and what other types of diseases I might be exposed to in the St. Louis area. She told me that Hantavirus is only found in the Western states and I should not worry about it. Doing a quick search on the web I found the following

“As of July 2007, six states had reported 30 or more cases of Hantavirus since 1993 - New Mexico (69), Colorado (49), Arizona (46), California (43), Texas (33), and Washington (31). Other states reporting a significant number of cases include Montana (25), Idaho (19), and Utah (24). With only 7 cases, Oregon has a notably lower attack rate overall and relative to population, compared to other Western states.â€

[drbromboz]

Hi Marc and Hausdoc etc. You are the ones who referred me to a "hygienist" to help solve my office smell problem. I told you we have a "dental hygienist" and that was pretty funny because that is not what you had in mind. So everyone had a good laugh. So I took your good advice and hired Critter Control and a building inspector and an environmental guy. That is working out great so thank you. But a funny thing happened along the way of this adventure. We had a pest control guy come in before any of these specialists came in, to look for what was causing the smell. We smelled a rat, hah. Anyway he didn't find anything, so our dental hygienist decided to climb up on the counter and look around past the ceiling tiles herself. And our "hygienist" (dental) found a huge rat and another half eaten one. So our joke in the office was it took a dental hygienist to find it not the pest control guy. So I saw hausdoc's photo of himself hanging out of the crawl space and so I took a piture of our dental "hygienist" getting the rat. It looks alot like hausdoc! javascript:insertsmilie('[:-monkeyd') Our whole staff had a great laugh about the whole thing and wanted me to email you her picture. Thanks a lot for being there. Vicki and the gang and Dr. Bromboz's office in Clearwater Florida.

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[hausdok]

Very Kewl!

That photo reminds me of the Chinese restaurant in Seattle that I inspected where I got curious about the water stains on the ceiling tiles above one of the dining rooms. Turns out, it wasn't rain that was staining the ceiling - that was the local rat colony's bathroom!

Yum!

I can't name the restaurant here but you can bet your bottom dollar that I'll never eat there again.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[john_opwin]

You start it in the off-season. So first of all clean that mess. There is not a rat problem...

[drbromboz]

Mike, interesting about the Chinese restaurant, there is one next door to us. Why do the rats like Chinese food so much?

[hausdok]

I think they like anyplace where someone isn't careful about their building maintenance and keeping their waste bins tightly covered. I don't think it has anything to do with ethnic food.

Of course, there might be little velvet rope lines up on the roof leading to those holes with tiny little rat maître d's standing there in a cummerbund, for all I know.

I don't want to know. I'm more afraid of a rat than death. I don't mind snakes, scorpions, spiders, or anything else that's alive and can move under it's own power; but if I see a live rat, my legs start imitating a Carl Lewis 100 meter dash and I'm outta there.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike