Squirrels in ridge vent

Squirrels in the ridge vent is a very common problem that is seen throughout the United States in every type of home and building, Squirrels chew into homes in various areas that includes but is not limited to facia boards, soffit, gable vents and ridge vent.

Squirrels are a type of rodent, their front teeth always grow, so they have a very great desire to chew on everything.  A squirrel can chew through anything made if wood in a matter of minutes. In order to protect your home from squirrels chewing you should have a wildlife exclusion performed, more information can be found on wildlife exclusions here.

a wildlife exclusion is the process of completely sealing your home from squirrels, rats and other home invading animals that want to make your attic, walls or crawlspace their home. these animals have many types of problems that go along with their presence, some of the problems we will outline below.

Problems associated with squirrels

There are many problems that are associated with squirrels such as wildlife disease, electrical fires, soiled insulation, and a leaky roofs. All these problems can occur in the presence of squirrels. The only sure way to eliminate these types of problems is to rid your home of the squirrel infestation what you have.  I have provided links to different situations in which squirrels cause and you can find that information here.

the most common type of problem with squirrels is health hazards associated withtheir fecal and the fire hazard that they present when they chew on wiring and other electrical componets that can cause a fire in your home or building.

Ways to handle squirrels in Ridge vent,

There are several ways to handle the problem that is associated with squirrels in the ridge vent, one way in which all homeowners should start would be to rid the area of all the problematics squirrels. This starts with a trapping program, most trapping programs is a multi-day trap setting program that focuses on eliminating problem squirrels from a given area.

Depending on the operator these programs can range in time frame between three and 10 days. This is the first step to riding your home of these pesky animals.

After the squirrel trapping program has been performed a wildlife exclusion should be done to the home, all contaminated insulation should be removed from the attic portion of your home to eliminate all contaminated insulation and possible wildlife diseases.  This is often a very dirty nasty process, some wildlife control operators do not perform this service, you must find a complete wildlife control company that handles this type of situation.

Call a professional

You should focus your efforts on finding a very qualified wildlife control company that performs all of the steps of the wildlife removal process in house, you should never hire a company that subcontracts any work.

The reason for this is often times quality is compromised because of a lack of communication between the animal control company and a contractor, this is a very tedious process in which all aspects of the job should be done in sequential order. This often becomes very difficult working with several different types of subcontractors.

These are questions that you should ask any wildlife control company that comes to your house for an inspection:

•  Do you do all the work? 
• Do you own all the equipment that is going to be used at my home?
• Do you have general liability insurance?
• Do you carry Workmen's Comp. insurance on your employees?

There is nothing wrong for asking for proof of all this information.  I have heard of companys telling homeowners they have this insurance and equipment only to find out afterwards they do not, this can be a very expensive lesson for a homeowner!

If you are looking for a wildlife control company you can find a list of companies that we recommend here.