Squirrels may look innocent scampering around your property, but the facts tell the true story: these pesky critters wreak havoc on your home’s siding and roofing. From chewing through wires, nesting in your attic, and digging holes in your roof, as a homeowner, it’s vital that you take the necessary steps to prevent squirrel damage. Here’s how:
Common Signs of Squirrel Damage
How to Spot Squirrel Damage on Your Roofing, in Your Attic, and Around Your Property
Squirrels nest in attics where they find inviting perks: wood and insulation to gnaw on, and a safe place to raise their young. Here are some sure signs squirrels are penetrating your roof and likely lodging in your attic:
- Do you hear tiny feet shuffling in your ceiling or attic?
- Is there evidence that you have new leaks due to breaks in your roofing?
- Have you noticed an odd odor inside your home?
- Have you heard crackling noises inside your walls?
- Have you seen animal droppings, tears in your attic insulation, or other peculiar things in your attic?
Chewed roofing materials display evidence of squirrel activity. Here’s how they harm your roof:
- Their razor-sharp teeth can bite right through roof shingles and make your home vulnerable to expensive moisture damage.
- They can chew holes in your roof that open the door for other pests to enter your home.
Utility wiring damage is easy to spot, and can occur when squirrels nest in tree branches and damage utility cable pulley systems. When these pesky critters walk on utility wires, they add too much weight to the wires, causing troublesome issues. As a result, your internet may go out, and the risk of fire increases.
Squirrel urine can soak through your ceiling or walls, causing costly damage to your home.
Garden and fruit trees are extra inviting to squirrel damage, thwarting your efforts for a bountiful harvest. Unfortunately, squirrels eat common fruits and vegetables like corn, kale, spinach, apples, mangoes, peaches, plums, and more.
How to Spot Squirrel Damage on Your Siding
Squirrels are excellent at climbing, and their sharp nails can dig into your siding—particularly if it’s wood. Their biting ability is so powerful that even aluminum siding doesn’t deter them from damaging your exterior. Their strong jaws don’t seem to take no for an answer when it comes to your siding.
- Do you see random holes in your siding? They may be a sign of squirrel damage.
- Is your siding frayed or damaged?
How to Prevent Squirrel Damage
Just because you had squirrel damage in the past doesn’t mean it has to happen again. Here’s how you can prevent these pesky creatures from invading in the future.
On Your Roof and in Your Attic
Keep squirrels from invading your home and degrading your property value. Here’s how:
- When your roof shingles need repairing, don’t put it off. Take care of them promptly to avoid bigger problems (with squirrels!) down the road. Any holes squirrels create need to be fixed quickly to prevent them from returning to your home and trying to make it theirs.
- Cover your roof vents to ensure your home is fortified from squirrel invasion.
- Use wire meshing to cover the openings in your chimneys and prevent squirrels from penetrating.
- Install a drip edge to your roofing system. This piece of metal slides under your first row of shingles and hangs over the edge of your fascia. It helps water drain into your gutters and makes it harder for a squirrel to burrow between your shingles and fascia.
- When you aren’t using your fireplace, close the flue to keep squirrels out of your home.
- Inspect your attic on a regular basis. Look for obvious signs of squirrel intrusion including wet attic insulation, gnawed attic boards, and moist insulation.
- Anti-squirrel strobe lights can be installed in your attic to deter squirrels from entering. They stay away from flashing lights.
- Trim your trees so squirrels can’t access your roof by leaping from them to your housetop. Branches should remain at least eight feet from your home to keep squirrels off your roof.
- Clean out your gutters. When leaves, debris, and even toys clutter your gutters, squirrels have all they need to build a nest. Prevent them from making their way into your attic by keeping your gutters clear of debris.
Around Your Fruit Trees and Garden
Some people cover their fruit trees and vegetable gardens with harsh chemicals to keep squirrels at bay. The problem is, there are harmful effects on humans from all those toxins. Instead of covering your fresh produce with toxins, build a wire mesh cage around your garden to keep squirrels at bay. Add a metal collar up to ten feet tall around the trunks of your trees to keep squirrels from climbing them and partaking of their fruits.
In Your Yard
If you’re tired of dealing with squirrels on your property, take your bird feeders down. Rather than dishing up a delicious meal for the local squirrels in your beautiful bird feeder, remove it and your yard will likely become less inviting than others in your area. In addition, spray your yard and roof with squirrel repellent.
Replace Your Damaged Roofing and Siding
Once you ensure squirrels are no longer living in your attic, it’s vital to get your home exterior repaired (or replaced!) so a new squirrel family doesn’t reenter your home.
Don’t underestimate the importance of upgrading already damaged roofing and siding when squirrels have invaded. Fortify your biggest investment with durable new materials you can rely on.
At Safe Harbor, we install James Hardie siding and replace your roofing using top manufacturers such as GAF, CertainTeed, Owens Corning, and Decra.
Contact us for a free estimate.
