News Reports

Keeping critters out: Now's the time to take steps to keep wildlife out of your home this winter

By Marci Laehr-Tenuta

As temperatures slowly creep down the thermostat, critters and insects are creeping into homes.

Arm yourself before they invade. Local experts say there are several things you should do in the fall to keep unwanted, furry house guests from moving in for the winter.

Mostly importantly, you should take care any entry points now, before it's too late, said Traci Jansen, who co-owns Animal Damage Control with her husband, Joe Jansen.

"Once the weather starts hitting 40 degrees at night consecutively, that's when (animals) are going to go into hibernation," she said. "All of these animals come in the winter time looking for a warm place to stay. That's when they invade. There's nothing you can do in the winter time. You're basically stuck with them until the spring."

Just about the only thing a pest control company can do in the winter is to figure out how the animals got in, and stop any more from getting in, Jansen said.

How they get in Construction gaps, rotted wood, unprotected vents, piping, chimneys and cracks in the basement are all entry points into your home for critters.

Skunks most often invade your property under porches or decks, said Ron Willis, the owner of R&A Pest Control. They also like window wells. Willis has been in the business for 25 years, first with Orkin and for the past 10 years on his own.

Raccoons, squirrels and bats like to crawl through the roof into the attic. "They'll tear a hole in your roof," Willis said of raccoons. "Squirrels will chew right through your soffit."

Raccoons also are known to use chimneys as a way into a home, or as a place to nest.

Jansen said homes in the West Racine and Downtown area are often prime targets. These are neighborhoods with a lot of mature trees growing next to older homes, she said. Roofs that are separating from the house, peaks and dormers, and older wood all make great places for animals to sneak in.

"If a squirrel chooses your home, he can make a hole in your soffit in a day," Jansen said.

Mice often gain entry into homes through attached garages, according to Willis. They enter when the garage door is open, and then find a gap in the wall to the home, or even gnaw their way through.

Get them out first If you think you have an animal living in your home, don't immediately plug up the house. You could end up trapping them inside.

Wes Dresen, owner of a local Critter Control franchise, said sealing up an attic space without having it checked for animals is a mistake a lot of homeowners make.

"A mistake a lot of people make it just to close up a hole," he said, perhaps because they don't see anything in the attic.

As a professional, he often can't see a raccoon or bat in an attic space at first glance. "They're terrific at hiding, he said. "Any gap that you can fit a matchbook in, a bat can curl up and hide in."

If you seal a space without having removed a critter, you're sealing the animal in, along with their smell. If an animal is still in there, and you close up the area up, they can do terrible damage. If they die, you'll also have the smell of a dead animal in your house for months.
"They get pretty smelly," Jansen said.

Doing the deed To get rid of mice gaining entry from your garage, you can place traps or poison on both walls of the garage, on either side of the garage door. Willis said mice will enter the garage and then find the wall with their whiskers to run against, for security.

If you have small children or pets, you should probably invest in an automatic trap instead of snap traps or poison, Willis said. The automatic traps allow the mice to enter, but they can't get back out. They are a little more expensive than snap traps or poison, but they won't snap fingers and toes or hurt your children and pets.

For larger animals, like skunks, raccoons, bats and squirrels, you should call a professional. "It's highly dangerous (to try and get them out yourself) when talking about these animals," Jansen said.

In particular, people should never try to remove bats themselves, she said.

"If you have bats you have to hire a professional," Jansen said. "They can turn on you at any time and bite you."
Her pest control company can inspect your home from attic to basement for bats, which isn't an easy task.
"Bats can curl up and hide in the smallest place," she said.

They'll find out if the home has a small or large colony living in it and give the homeowner a quote to get them out. If they're hired, they will get rid of the bats, clean out all the bat droppings and reinsulate your attic.

Finally, they will also batproof the house, which includes sealing up all the tiny little openings around the attic and installing a one way vent, which allows animals to get out, but not get back in.

Other animals, like raccoons, skunks and squirrels, can be caught with live traps, Willis said. His pest control company will take the animal away to be euthanized or released in an area where he had permission.

Cleaning up Dresen said feces left behind by an animal is a calling card to others of its kind. Which means even if you have gotten an animal out of your attic, if you don't have their left-behind messes cleaned, more will invade.
Also, the waste from some animals, such as raccoons and bats, can cause health problems for people, Willis said.
"It needs to be cleaned with the right equipment," he said. "Feces and urine are very dangerous."

And many insurance companies will cover the cleaning, Willis said, including the cleaning and disinfecting of insulation.

Prevention Once you've got all the critters and their debris out, it is important to safeguard your home against more intruders. Trapping is the easy part of the job, Dresen said. "It's making it so they can't come back that's difficult," he said. "That seems to be where people fall short."

Dresen said there are several products on the market that homeowners can use to reduce the risk of having their home be invaded by animals.

But the most important thing you can do to prevent animals from getting in, is to trim the branches on trees away from your home, he said. Raccoons, squirrels and all sorts of creatures use branches to climb onto your roof and tear in.
In order to keep animals from getting into your home underneath porches, decks and overhangs, Dresen recommends using hardware cloth. He suggests homeowners dig a 6-inch trench next to their house and place the wire mesh next to the house and in the hole. "Then push the dirt back over it," he said.

Burrowing animals are known to dig straight down, Dresen said. If they hit the mesh, they won't be able to get through it, and they don't know enough to try and get around it.

The hardware cloth can also be used in places where a home has construction gaps, which mice often use as an entrance to your home. "Mice can't get through it either," Dresen said.

Dryer vents, which are typical places for birds, mice and other little creatures to get in, should be covered with vent guards, Dresen said. However, typical bird guards that have screens on them don't allow lint to escape, and can cause a back up in your dryer.

Tubular dryer vent guards called dryer vent closures, allow lint to get out without letting animals in.
Bird guards can be a great solution, Dresen said, for bathroom and kitchen vents.

Another area of concern can be the PVC pipes from a high efficiency furnace that stick out from the side of a home. Left uncovered, they can be a haven for birds' nests and bees. Small, circular guards called crown vents can be attached to the end so nothing can enter the piping, Dresen said.

The crown vents can also be used to cap off stack pipes too, he said.

Chimney caps made of stainless steel are a great way to keep raccoons and other animals from getting into your home to nest. However, Dresen warns that many chimney caps sold at hardware stores are made of milled steel, which will rust and can leave streaks on your chimney, and become useless in a few years time.
If you invest in a chimney cap, he recommends using stainless steel, which won't rust and will probably outlast the house.

Roof vent guards are extremely important, Dresen said. Roof vents with aluminum and plastic covers do very little to keep animals out. "Raccoons open roof vents like soda cans," he said. "Squirrels will chew right through them. They can make a heck of a mess of power vents."

Steel roof vent guards, which look like a small cage, can be secured over the roof vents to protect them and keep animals out.

Another great product on the market is called copper stuff it, Dresen said. The pliable copper mesh can be stuffed into just about any construction gap or small opening in a home, and then caulked into place to keep animals out.
"Animals don't like the feel of copper on their teeth," Dresen said.

He said it works especially well in small gaps on roof lines when used with a silicone caulk that expands and contracts with the changes in the weather. "Copper stuff it is a really good product," he said.

Finally, to fill in very small cracks, expandable foam can work well to keep animals out, Dresen said.