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  • From: Steven Champeon <schampeo AT hesketh.com>
  • To: internetworkers AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [internetworkers] Squirrels in my attic
  • Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:05:50 -0400

on Wed, Apr 19, 2006 at 07:59:29PM -0400, DonBartholf AT aol.com wrote:
> To the matter at hand...
>
> 1. Figure out where they are getting in. They are rats with bushy tails and
> can squeeze in small openings so look closely.
> a. you can sit in the yard with a beer and watch
> b. look in the attic during the day for lotsa light coming in through a
> hole
> c. all the above

In our case, they ate through a rotted corner eave - we had to fix the
eave and the cause (loose downspout passthrough).

> 2. Chase them out of the attic or wait until the heat of the day when they
> will be foraging
> 3. Prevent them from returning by closing the entry
> a. They will not like losing their home and will try to chew their way
> back in.

Yep. Or, if they're inside when you try to cover the hole, they may well
scare the crap out of you and nearly knock you off your ladder.

> b. Reinforce the original entry with steel wool, hardware cloth or the
> like

Tip: aluminum isn't sufficient. They chewed through four-deep sheets of
flashing after I covered the hole the first time. Then they chewed
through the wood on the box I mounted temporarily over the hole (which
was itself covered in flashing). But you /can/ get rid of them. One
thing I found very effective was the spray-in expanding foam insulation
they use to seal window frames with; they apparently really don't like
that stuff. But you have to make sure you get all the holes.

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