Tips to Help You Keep out Pesky Squirrels this Winter

Squirrels, like most animals, just want to be warm, to have a nice pleasant place to sleep and to have plenty of food to eat. Unfortunately, as winter rolls around, all those things become more difficult to achieve, and many of these pests have to turn to nearby homes in order to stay healthy and comfortable. While it might not be an issue to shelter a squirrel or two if they are on their best behavior, that won’t be the case.

Squirrels burrow through insulation, they chew up sheetrock and do damage to wood. Everywhere they go they leave behind unpleasant waste and a bad odor that you’ll want out of your home as soon as possible. The moment that you’re invaded by a squirrel you’ll wish that you took the time to fight and keep them out, and we’re here to help you do just that. Here are a few tips to aid you in squirrel-proofing your home this winter before they invade your home.

Block Entrances

Walk around your home and look for any entrances into it. This could be holes under eaves, it could be sections of your flashing that have come away, it could be large cracks in your foundation or any exterior gap in your home that’s creating a passageway into your house. Find these spots and seal them up using wood, spray foam or caulking. Just make sure they are sealed up tight and that a squirrel will not be able to get in through the space that you leave behind.

Examine your Attic and Nearby Trees

Squirrels love to enter homes through the attic and that’s the very first place you should start when working to prevent the little guys. Look around your attic for any soft spots or holes that could admit a squirrel. Adult squirrels can climb through a space about the size of a fist, so make sure there are no holes around that size or larger, or you could find yourself with one of the little guys crawling around your attic space in the near future. Seal up any vents that you have into the space by installing a thick metal screen that a squirrel can’t chew through.

The trees around your home are also a cause for concern if they are too close to the house. Squirrels will jump from nearby trees and onto the roof of your home, where they will begin working to gain entrance into your attic. Add a band of sheet metal around the base of the trees near your house, about eight feet up off the ground. This makes it impossible for the squirrels to climb the tree, and should help to keep them out of your attic.

If you get a squirrel in your home, immediately call pest control to come and help you get rid of them. If you don’t yet have one at your house, don’t wait around until you do. Instead, get in touch with pest control experts to help you prep your house for this sort of problem. They can help you close gaps and take care of other issues that could allow a squirrel to get inside.