A messy attic results in dreadful consequences – pests’ infestation, damaged furniture, peeled walls, and the entire area littered with dirt and debris. Spending a little time and energy on cleaning your attic can prevent the roof space from turning into an absolute dump. Here’s a complete guide on how to plan and prepare for your attic cleanout.

1.    Remove all the Items

If your attic is filled with junk, you should start with clearing up the space. Take out all the bags, boxes, and containers stored in your attic. Place them aside or outside your attic.

2.    Clean the Place Down

Now that you have cleared up the space, it’s time to clean the attic itself. Vacuum or scrub the walls and flooring to get rid of all the dirt and debris. If your attic has been locked for ages, it’s most likely to be filled with spider webs. Use a broom or vacuum cleaner to remove them.

Use the mixture of water and detergent to mop the floor and walls of your attic. Throw all the fabrics – curtains, mats, etc. – into the washing machine.

3.    Clean the Attic Items

The next step is to clean up all the stuff in your attic. Dust them away, and if need be, wash them, too, with a hose. While cleaning, throw away old, broken, or unwanted items. It can be difficult to part from certain items, but make a genuine effort to keep only useful things. If you don’t want to dispose of certain goods but know deep down that you won’t be using them anymore, you can donate those items to charity.  In this way, you won’t feel guilty about discarding things that are close to your heart. Also, avoid storing your items in old storage boxes. Instead, use new and sturdy storage bins. 

4.    Check for Pests, Mold, and Damaged Insulation  

A cluttered attic is a thriving place for mold and undesirable pests’ activity. Some common pests found in attics are bugs, spiders, roof rats, raccoons, flies, squirrels, and even snakes! Apart from these pests, look out for mold and any spotty insulation. If you can’t deal with these common attic issues by yourself, don’t hesitate to call for professional help.

Conclusion

When it comes to how to plan and prepare for your attic cleanout, the entire process takes time and energy. Make sure you have both in excess. However, you can reduce the overall time and energy put into planning and preparing for attic cleanout by hiring Happy Junk Removal - the number one junk removal service company in Phoenix, Arizona. Give them a call now or request a free quote by clicking here! 

As the world is becoming more and more environmentally conscious, recycling is picking up the pace on a global scale. Yet, there are some naysayers that love spreading misconceptions about the restorative practice, bringing down its perception without reason. As a result, people teetering on the brink of becoming either proponents or opponents often find themselves in discussions over the issue but to no avail. Because of the vociferously spread misinformation about recycling, most people end up questioning the effectiveness of it shortly after becoming a believer. Considering this constant back and forth movement between recycling pro-and-anti-camps, we decided to rationally debunk the most pervasive myths regarding recycling goods.

Recycling Uses More Energy Than Making New Products

When the concept of recycling was novel, executing it was undeniably an uphill battle. But as the novelty of it wore off, people got more acquainted with the idea and developed advanced technologies and techniques to smartly recycle goods without consuming a lot of energy. According to the environmental protection agency, recycling aluminum cans saves up to 95% of the energy utilized in making new ones. Similarly, recycling steel and tin cans can conserve 60-75% of the energy used in manufacturing brand new containers. That's not all; recycling paper saves 60% while recycling plastic saves up to one-third of the energy required to produce original products.

Recycling Requires Too Much Effort And Sorting

Another common misconception regarding recycling that stems from the early days when technology wasn't adequately advanced is that recycling warrants meticulous sorting. But that's far from the truth. Yes, when the phenomenon first came about, it required tedious grouping that seemed never-ending. But those days are in the past now; you don't need to put in all that effort today. And ever since the arrival of single-stream recycling in the 1990s, the need to meticulously sort items before tossing them has diminished drastically. The systems responsible for recycling these days are ultramodern and can easily tackle multiple materials simultaneously.

Now you don't need to go online to find out if you need to remove staples from a paper before discarding the item into a recycling bin or whether you can recycle an envelope with a plastic window.

As long as you have the basics down, you don't need to worry about misplacing a recyclable. It will go through washing, shredding, crushing, and eventually be melted, so everything will be dealt with as needed.

Recycled Items Are Of Inferior Quality

​The question on the quality of recycled items is not new; perhaps it is the oldest issue that was raised with regards to recycling. With the advancement in technology, one might assume that this problem must not exist anymore, and while they'd be right to believe that, members of the anti-recycling camp don't want anyone to know that. Therefore, they continue to propagate this baseless idea. However, the fact is that manufacturers of recycled goods have improved their methodology a great deal since the early days, and now they make top-notch products with recycled materials all the same. In fact, various studies show that recycled paper now meets high-performance standards. Moreover, modern-day glass, plastic, and steel containers made with recycled products are even backed up by the FDA. Hence, you don't have to worry about the quality of recycled items.
 
Don't let groundless myths stop you from doing the right thing. Be a responsible global citizen and play your part in sustaining the environment by practicing recycling. And if you feel like you can’t do it on your own, hire a reputable junk removal company and let them do the job for you.