During the cold season, raccoons, squirrels, opossums, and other wildlife animals may move indoors. They usually find refuge in your home because they can have warm shelter against the natural elements and they can access food and water when the weather gets colder.
However, the presence of these wildlife creatures can cause damage to your home’s attic, chimney, or deck. Not only that but they can also bring serious health risks by biting and carrying diseases like rabies. Because of this, it’s important to know how to get rid of them when you encounter wildlife intrusions to avoid some problems.
Below are a few ways to keep your home free from wildlife:
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Seal The Holes In The Attic
To protect your home from wildlife intrusions, it’s important to check your attic and look for any holes that can serve as entry points for unwelcomed animals during the winter season. If you find some small holes, you can use caulk to seal them. But, in case there are larger holes, using hardware cloth can be an excellent sealing option.
However, if you’re living in an area where raccoons and squirrels are intruding homes when the weather gets colder, then a hardware cloth may not be enough. To protect your attic against raccoons, a steel mesh can be a perfect material for sealing any holes. For the squirrels, you can utilize solid aluminum flashing.
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Install Animal-Proof Chimney Cap
The chimney is another part of your home where wildlife animals can gain access to the inside. Because of this, it’s also crucial to check the chimney from time to time. If you see some potential entry points, make sure to install an animal-proof chimney cap to keep wildlife away from your home. By doing this, you can rest knowing your property is safe from the risks associated with wildlife intrusions during the winter months.
However, if you suspect nuisance wildlife has gotten inside your home through your chimney, then it’s time to contact a pest control professional from reliable service providers like pestcontrolmanchester.org. They have the necessary experience, skills, and tools that can help trap and remove the animal from your home without getting hurt in the process.
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Cover Your Trash Cans
Another way to protect your home from wildlife animals is to cover up your trash cans. Sometimes, you may not know but some of these animals are already digging through the trash cans near your property. When these containers are too close to your home, then there’s a high chance they would find a way into your home.
Due to these circumstances, it’s best to cover up your trash cans by making sure there are lids on them. Also, it would make sense to keep a safe distance between your trash cans and your home to avoid attracting pests from going inside your property. Doing so can ensure your home would be wildlife-free at all times.
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Make Sure Your Yard Is Clean
When leaf files, brushes, and other debris accumulating in your yard, there’s a huge possibility that wildlife animals and other pests would find refuge in there, whether for a warm shelter or food. However, when this happens, these animals would also more likely find some ways to go inside your house and wreak havoc there.
To avoid this situation, it can be an excellent idea to clean your yard at all times, which is one of the winter house cleaning tips to remember during cold months. You can tackle the yardwork by hiring a cleaning professional or doing the job on your own. If you have a compost pile in your yard, avoid throwing meat scraps in there and make sure to cover it with some protection against any pests.
Lastly, you need to keep a distance of at least 20 feet between your home and the firewood in your yard. This is to increase the odds of keeping your residential property free from wildlife intrusions, especially during the cooler months.
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Trim The Trees That Are Located Near Your Home’s Foundation
Apart from cleaning your yard, you also need to keep the trees trimmed at all times. Sometimes, the squirrels and other wildlife animals would use the trees and branches to get easy access to your home through your rooflines, attic, or chimney. For this reason, it’s best to cut back long branches and tree limbs and ensure a safe distance of at least six to eight feet from the rooflines and your home’s foundation.
Bottom Line
During cold months, wildlife animals and other pests would find their way to your home’s indoors for a variety of reasons. That’s why as you get ready for this season, keep the ways mentioned above in mind to make sure your residential property is wildlife-proofed. In doing so, you can have peace of mind knowing your home is safe from damage and the whole family is protected against any health risks associated with wildlife intrusions.
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