Photo Album: Squirrel Damage in Cliffwood, NJ
Traps set up on roof and exclusion traps over entry point
Upon inspecting the roof to find the access points used by the wildlife to enter the attic, I noticed that the gutter guards were made of vinyl. and not of metal. Squirrels may look cute, but they are gnawing rodents whose razor-sharp teeth are capable of grinding through most building materials. The can tear through vinyl like it was butter, and sure enough, there was a hole chewed through the gutter guard at one of the seams. There was another squirrel "renovations" where a hole was made through the fascia board at the small gap between the roof plywood and the fascia. Fascia boards and soffits are common entry points because they are often loose or rotting from water damage. Also, that gap between the fascia and the roof is often exploited by wildlife. Homes are built with this gap to allow roofs to "breathe;"otherwise, parts of the roof can tear off in a bad storm.
Traps set on roof for squirrels in Cliffwood, NJ.
A squirrel or squirrels used the hole in the gutter guard and the gap in the fascia/roof line as its starting point to access into the attic. I was confident that there wasn't any wildlife in the attic during my inspection, I placed an exclusion over the access after cutting away the damaged gutter guards. I also placed three traps on the roof near where the squirrels were finding their way inside .
Permanent exclusion of Squirrels in Cliffwood, New Jersey
At the first site check, tape that I placed over the exclusion was not disturbed, further indicating that there there were no squirrels still in the attic. You don't want to make any exclusions permanent until you are positive that all of the wildlife is out of the house. No squirrels were caught in the traps, so I spruced up the bait with some liquid peanuts. I also made sure all traps were set and the exclusion was not moved, and there were no signs of any animals trying to get around it. On my second site check, there was a pick-up - a squirrel was caught in the trap. I safely relocated the animal to a location far away from the home, and reset the traps. I wanted to be positive that there were no more squirrels hanging around the roof looking to get inside the home. The exclusion was still not disturbed, so I was even more confident that there was no wildlife inside the attic. On my third site check, there were no trapped squirrels, and no further signs of wildlife activity. The exclusion was still not disturbed. This time, with no signs of any wildlife activity in the attic or on the roof, I pulled the one-way exclusion and the traps. I made the temporary one-way exclusion permanent by covering the access with aluminum trim coil, and I filled all of the screw holes with silicone (photo 4). Finally, I recommended to the homeowner that the vinyl gutter guards be replaced with metal ones that would not be tempting for wildlife. After seeing the damage to the vinyl guard, the homeowner stated that he was going to replace of his gutters this coming spring. The homeowner was pleased with our methodical approach for eliminating squirrels from his attic. The outcome of this wildlife job could not have been any better.