Critters come with the turf for home inspectors.
Get a few home inspectors in a room and, pretty soon, you’ll be hearing their snake,
spider, skunk, mice and raccoon stories.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk
It’s first-hand experience homeowners can put to use.
After years of inspecting homes, here are a few “inside scoops” on handling the
animals you do not want moving in.
First, make the house yours – not theirs. Secure your home against intruders. Close
their doors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racoon
Taking away invitations to animals to drop in, and slamming the door on their entry
points, is a more effective, and safer, strategy than bombing your home with
chemical sprays and gasses. Who knows what’s in that stuff? And it’s pretty hard to
believe chemicals killing unwanted animal guests are just fine for people living
there, and their pets.
It’s a nice bonus that animal-tight home is more energy
efficient too.
Start with the cracks in your foundation. Sealing cracks makes good sense, not just
for pests, but also to prevent water penetration.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse
Repair any holes. Screen the ones you need to stay open, such as gable vents and
crawl space vents.
Repair or replace warped or loose trim, siding, and any other entry points. Make
sure corners of the roof line are closed and weather-proof above gutters.
Don’t think for a minute that new construction is animal proof. Plenty of homes
built in the boom years, only a few years ago – in every price range – were put up so
fast that they are dotted with easy entries.
Keep vines off of a home. Vines are expressways for animals to cruise in.
Shrubs, tree branches, and other plants should be about a foot away from a house
walls or roofing. Think about how branches and shrubs move in storms. Be sure
links and branches won’t get blown into the siding or the roof.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racoon
Be on the alert for signs an animal got in anyway, despite the repairs. Look for
animal droppings in basements and attics. Poke around the attic every once in a
while. Look for light coming in. Where you see light, you see a beacon for animals.
They sense the heat coming out and smell the food cooking. That’s like inviting
them over.
Many animal intruders follow walls in the basement. Chewing, on wood, cardboard
boxes, or papers, is another sign.
Strolling around your home once a month or so is a sensible habit. You get to enjoy
your plants and the change of season more than way anyhow.
Spring, or as early as April (late March, last year), is the time to start evicting any
unwanted house guests. Bats that are dormant all winter start hunting up food
around that time. (Termites tend to swarm that part of the year too.) Bats only
need an opening around a quarter of an inch wide and about an inch long to get
inside. Usually they slide in along the roof line. Where bats are going in and out,
the opening is smudged and you usually find droppings nearby. (They sparkle
when they’re smashed.) Once they get inside an attic, bats usually live inside walls.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bat
No matter the season, openings in homes don’t have to be very big. An opening
the size of a dime is just the ticket for mice and chipmunks. And we haven’t even
started talking about bugs here. A rat only needs a hole a little bigger than a nickel.
Keeping your nose on alert is as important as keeping your eyes open. Bats tend to
poop in the same place, making mounds. It does not take many bats to start to
smell the mounds. Bird often build nests at attic gable vents, or inside soffits. The
bigger piles of hay and grasses for nests reminder most people of the smell of a
barn or hay loft.
Let’s not forget the sounds. Scurrying sounds in the attic often announce squirrels
or birds. Bats inside walls make similar fluttering and scratching noises. None of
the, will go away quietly, most of the time. They have to be evicted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse
Garbage cans always should be kept securely closed, unless you’re really
interested in inviting furry friends to your buffet. Putting out garbage cans out on
the morning of pick up is a good idea. Finding a garbage can open, turned over, or
spilled out tells you an unwanted animal guest has been dumpster diving in your
home. Chances are good that critter is still around.
Wood piles should be well away from the house. Same for compost heaps, leaf
piles, and the like. They’re all Club Med for wildlife.
As our cities and suburbs keep creeping out into the farms and woods, it is
inevitable that lots of wildlife will get displaced. Some will come nosing around for
food and shelter.
Around 30% of Americans used pest control services last year (2012), according to
the National Pest Management Association. That was a big increase from 2004,
when only 20% of Americans put pest control specialists to work on their homes.
But not all pest control contractors are born the same. Have second thoughts
about a contractor if you find anyone applying toxic chemicals with their bare skin
exposed and no eye protection.
Deer in the yard are a breeze — even when they are beheading plants and nibbling
shrubs or trees – compared to trying to run off raccoons, mice, skunks and snakes.
Those critters like pretty much everything people like. The same food, the same
temperature, the same roof over their heads in the rain.
An ounce of prevention is worth a summer of cures, and way better than drums of
chemicals.
If it starts to feel like a losing battle, your home inspection probably has a few more
tips. And the names of skilled, safe pest control experts in your area.
Never hesitate to call your home inspector for advice.