How To Keep Wildlife Out Of Your Home

Tips to protect your home from wild animals

Although you’ll watch wildlife abundantly run and jump through the woods, once their presence is of in and around your home, their presence becomes problematic for you, the homeowner.

Of course the #1 problem is destruction of your property, another issue many homeowners don’t think about is the fact that many wild animals carry diseases such as Rabies.

From the latest data available, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that “Wild animals accounted for 91 percent of reported cases of rabies in 2017.” Raccoons being the second most frequently reported carrying rabies.

What does "exclusion" mean?

Merriam-Webster defines Exclusion as: “the act or an instance of excluding” and Excluding is defined as “to prevent or restrict the entrance of.”

Wildlife exclusion & prevention

When excluding wildlife from your home, many methods are used depending on the situation and which animal it may be. Some methods include:

- Installing one-way doors
- Setting live traps inside/outside
- Installing Chimney caps, Dryer vents, Screening, Wire mesh
- Installation of Critter Guard, box out attic eaves

Here at Summit, we do whatever we can do make sure we provide a long term solution to you wildlife concern. Once we determine the problem, we will choose the best exclusion option that will fix the situation that may be a part of this list.

Roof vents

More of a common entrance than you may think, roof vents are easy access to not only birds, but pesky raccoons and squirrels as well. If you think your roof vent may be protected, it probably is not. There might be a flimsy plastic screen on it that wildlife will easily be able to manipulate and break through.

Summit will install a high quality stainless steel Roof Vent Guard (RVG) to protect your home from damaging wildlife!

Chimneys

Many times wildlife will find their way into your chimney, but cannot find their way out. If you hear chirping or any sounds coming from your chimney, be sure to call Summit to come out and take a look. When we remove the wildlife from your chimney, we will install a chimney cap to prevent further entry of other wildlife.

Gutter/roofing

From weathering, gaps can occur in your fascia board between your gutter and edge of roof. Wildlife like to use this as an easy entry into your attic. Summit will come out fix the damage, seal the hole, then install Critter Guard on your gutterline.

Louver vents

Generally made out of low quality material, louver vents are an easy target for wildlife for a home to invade. Summit will come out and screen your louver vetns off with a high quality stainless steel screen to prevent wildlife from entering through your louver vents.

Soffit vents

Soffit vents make for a great spot for squirrels to build their nest. We’ll make sure no squirrels or other wildlife infiltrate your soffit vents!

Plumbing stacks

Similar to chimneys, plumbing stacks also are known for wildlife finding their way in, but not knowing how to get out. Luckily Summit is here to help you when this problem occurs and also to prevent it. We’ll install metal screening to make sure this does not happen.

Conclusion

Preventing wildlife from entering your home and causing damage by installing various exclusion methods is the best long term solution for Wildlife Exclusion & Prevention.