Almost all of our clients don’t, and that’s okay. If you stumbled onto this blog with questions, you’re in good hands.
Is This Common?
Pest Control is such a niche realm, but funnily enough, everyone has a story about it: “ants ravaging my kitchen” or “squirrels in my chimney”. Insects and wildlife love getting into homes and who blames them? Your home is temperature controlled, has no predators, and has easy areas to store food. While their intentions may be good, their results are not.
Here are some of the most common issues:
- Noise Disturbance. We’ve already touched on being kept up at night. The usual culprits getting into homes are active throughout the night: raccoons, bats, mice, and flying squirrels. People call in all the time saying how they can’t sleep – and who doesn’t love their sleep?
- Damaging The Structure. Raccoons specifically love to use their hands and pry open soffit vents, roof vents, or pieces of wood to get inside a home. They can cause some serious repair work to be needed.
- Reducing Effectiveness of Insulation. Insulation can become compromised as it’s constantly being walked on. Insulation needs volume to effectively insulate. Animals trample and nest on top of the insulation rendering it worse than before.
- Paranoia. Is it one bat? Is it 30 bats? is it 10000 bats? As a homeowner, knowing who you’re up against is the first problem you want answers to.
Diagnosing your Home with NOISE
Diagnosing based on noise alone is an easy way to start. When animals are on drywall, or within walls, the noise they can generate can be pretty loud. Our rule of thumb is that animals sound one step larger than what they are. Mice/bats sound like squirrels, squirrels sound like raccoons, and raccoons sound like there’s a dance party in your attic.
Take a look at our Removal of Wildlife page to gather more information about what animal you suspect is in your home.
Diagnosing your Home with DAMAGE
If judging the noises you’re hearing isn’t enough, head to the outside of the home. Look for any holes down low and up high on the structure. Mice and bats need about 3/8ths of an inch to get inside. Squirrels will exploit wood or vents and their gaps can be the size of a baseball. Raccoon entries are even harder to miss because of the size they need. Look for broken vents or debris scattered around.
Animals typically exploit a single area to get into, but you can’t just tackle that single area. If they are locked out, they’ll look for similar entry points to get back into what they call home. You need to seal EVERY area that is like the first.
To gather more ideas or information, look at our Sealing for Wildlife Prevention page.
Let Wingman Help!
We’ve helped thousands of homeowners in the Brighton area, and throughout our entire service area. Not everyone is handy, and that’s when it’s time to call in the professionals. If you’ve attempted to get them out yourself or just want it done right the first time, let us help.
We’d suggest starting with a Wildlife Inspection to get started. We diagnose the home with who’s inside, and a solution to remedy the situation. You’ll receive plenty of photos of what we see, and an itemized list of the areas that need to be protected. We’ll trap and seal the animal out for good, so you can finally have a restful night’s sleep.
To schedule any other service for your home or business, call Wingman Pest Control at 810.923.3364 or contact us online today.