20 May

What Damage Can Squirrels Cause to Your Property

What Damage Can Squirrels Cause to Your Property

Squirrels might look cute and friendly, but they can do major damage to your home. If you want to avoid sky-high repair bills and dangerous structural damage, you should learn to recognize the signs of squirrels and call in the squirrel removal Toronto expert if you have to.

Squirrels don’t come and knock on the front door when they want to get inside. Instead, they chew their way in or find a vulnerable area of your home to exploit. Generally, they come in through insulation or a pre-existing hole in the attic. Once they’re up there, squirrels will cause tons of structural damage and compromise the integrity of your home. Worst of all, they are very difficult to remove.
Squirrels like invading homes because they offer safe, warm and predator-free places for them to have their babies and rest up for the winter. Squirrels prefer attics because humans rarely go into them, and they are good places to escape the elements and make nests.

If you have a squirrel infestation in your attic, watch out. They are capable of having multiple litters and able to gnaw through just about everything, including support beams and wiring. Since squirrels love to keep their teeth sharp,  you can bet that they will be cutting them on beams and other elements up in your attic. This can cause major headaches for you.

Squirrels can cause damage to your property in a number of different ways.

• Squirrels will gnaw through wood and puncture parts of your support beams. At best, this is a cosmetic issue. At worst, it could damage the structural integrity of your home.
• Squirrels will also cut their teeth on plastic pipes, gutters, and shingles, leading to drainage problems and leaks. Water damage in your attic will cause boards to swell.
• Squirrels are notorious for gnawing through wiring. This is dangerous for both you and the squirrel.  Not only could it cause problems with electrical shorts, but you are also at a greater risk of having an electrical fire once the inside of wiring is exposed.

A squirrel infestation is both costly and dangerous if you ignore it. Since Ontario has strict laws about killing or harming wildlife, you should not try to get rid of the squirrels on your own. Once you realize that you have a problem, the best thing to do is call in wildlife professionals who are skilled at removing the squirrels and can manage your situation in a humane and quick manner. You absolutely do not want to be sharing your home with these critters, so make sure that you act quickly if you determine that there is a problem. Waiting to call in professional help could seriously compromise the structure of your home, exasperate the problem by leading to more squirrels or nests, and cause you a greater headache. Even if the squirrels don’t gnaw through wooden beams or wiring, their leavings will still cause problems to your attic and home. Don’t try to handle it yourself. If you suspect that you have a squirrel problem, call in the professionals right away.