New Roof No Problem for Squirrel in Monroe, NJ

I got a call from a homeowner out in Monroe, NJ who was hearing noises in their attic during the day. The homeowner told me that they literally just had their roof and gutters repaired. When I did my inspection, I saw that 3/4 of the house’s drip edge was not installed, or not installed properly leaving a large gap, between the fascia and the roof edge. If you plan on having your roof and gutters repaired, it's important to make sure it is done properly and that there are no gaps. If not done properly, you're going to have a lot of extra "guests" in your home.

After a full inspection of the homeowner's property, I discovered that they were having a squirrel problem. How did I discover that? Well, a squirrel came out of the access point (usually that's a giveaway).  Squirrels are like electricity in some ways — they take the path of least resistance. The squirrel was able to exploit the gap into an easy access point into the attic. Fortunately, this homeowner called me as soon as he started hearing the activity. Now it’s time to evict the trespasser before it has time to set up camp.  

I’m using a “positive set” in case the intruder is a nursing mother, or if it’s a female teaching her young to forage. The reason why it is called a "positive set" is that the set essentially covers the entire access point, leaving no room for the intruder to use any other access point, and forces the squirrel out of the attic and into the set — so we are "positive" that we'll catch it.

After installing the positive set I also secured hardware cloth tightly over the hole, making sure there were no gaps. Additionally, I set up a couple of traps on the roof, in case the squirrel isn’t in the fascia and tries to get back in. Once the squirrel has been caught, we will relocate it and I’ll repair the hole in the soffit.