The Great Squirrel War of 2012
For the past couple of months we've been battling a squirrel determined to nest in our attic. We've had birds in our soffit before, and, except for the mess, I'm pretty much happy to let nature take its course in that regard.
Squirrels, however, are another matter. The basic issues with them are, first, they are simply large rats with fluffy tales, and second, they can destroy wood in a matter of seconds and wiring in a matter of, well, seconds.
So, keeping them out of your attic is pretty important.
The problem really began when we bought the house in 1998. The first winter we discovered what had not been disclosed - the roof leaked. So, in the spring of 1999 we had the roof re-done. The roofer did a good job, with the exception that the drains were broken. In Vancouver-area homes built in the 70s it's not unusual to have drains located on the roof itself, that pass through the soffits, and then connect to pipes that take the water to buried drains. When a roof is replaced, it is evidently pretty easy to completely mess these up.
I'm not the most motivated of handymen, so the broken drains never really meant much to me. About five years ago I discovered that the constant wetness might actually be damaging the wood - weakening it if not rotting it and that was about when the birds started becoming interested in this one drain as a rental property. The opening between the drainpipe and the soffit was just large enough for them to squeeze through, and the soffit vent (a simple 2-inch wide mesh strip) was torn due to the re-roofing, so there was easy ingress for any observant bird.
Our bird tenants have come and gone over the years, and we were happy to watch (and listen) as new hatchlings made their way into the wide world, only to return the following spring to take up residence again.
In about February, a squirrel got wind of the availability of this property, and so came for a look-see. Every time I observed it, I made noise and chased it away. But I couldn't be there all the time, and this squirrel (unlike another which was easily scared off from an opening at a different drain some ten years ago) seemed to be smart enough to simply remain still until the noise stopped.
So I waited for the squirrel to vacate before attempting to block up the area long enough to do a proper repair. We had company so my first quick-fix was to just cover the hole with duct tape. That worked for a couple of hours. But when I saw it ripped open, I wasn't sure whether the squirrel had come from the inside, tearing its way out, or the outside, ripping its way in. I had to wait until I was absolutely sure before making my next jury-rig attempt.
When the time came, I used a tuna can, jammed up into the hole, to block it off. That worked, but the squirrel managed to squeeze into the area on the other side of the drain. So, that meant I needed to jam up a soup tin into that spot.
Those worked for a couple of days and I was beginning to think I would be able to leave things as they were until a nice sunny day.
Well, squirrels can chew. They have an infinite capacity for chewing, it seems. And while it wasn't able to move the tins, the rodent did dent them. But more importantly, it knew that the wood beside the tins could be chewed, and that is exactly what it did.
The soffit vent mesh was torn back, and the original hole (about 3 inches across) was now about double in size.
So, a second tuna can was put up, along with some habanero peppers, which we'd read somewhere on the Internet might be a deterrent.
That seemed to work, but made the squirrel more interested in chewing surrounding wood, which it did for quite a while.
Cans are unsightly, though. They lack curb appeal. So I decided that a better temporary fix would be to weave a screen of stainless-steel wire (a spool of which I keep in my tool box) over the area. That was beautiful. The gaps in the screen were small enough to keep squirrels and birds out, but I knew that an interested rat might be able to squeeze through, should it be so interested. Ultimately, the plan was (and still is) to cover the area with some flashing. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I should have left the cans.
The squirrel chewed at the edge of the wood between the wires until a staple holding the wire in place was freed, allowing the squirrel to push through the wire. Damn!
For the next three days I was back to chasing the squirrel, pounding on the ceiling, crawling into the attic with a tambourine at one point to try to scare it off. (A large man with a tambourine in a dark space... sounds like a horror story.) But, if it could have, it would have just given me the finger and told me to stop making so much noise.
I knew by then that it left around 7 in the morning (I guess the morning commute was rough, so it had to get up early) and didn't generally return until about 4 in the afternoon (home early from a hard day at the forest). I had to enlist the help of some higher-tech technology. And, in the meantime, the birds were also showing interest again, and actually got into a couple of skirmishes with the squirrel. I think the birds might actually have been winning.
I have several dead or half-dead computers. One of them is a nice HP Sempron tower (circa 2004). It has a sleek, black steel cabinet with an easy-to-remove side-panel with vent holes, about 15-inches square.
In short, HP has built the perfect jury-rig squirrel guard. Here's a picture of it installed. You can see some of the stainless-steel wire from the earlier attempt going out past the panel, as well as some of the chew marks.
It's been more than a week now, and we are squirrel-free, despite attempts at ingress over the first three days after the panel was installed.
The birds continue to show interest, however, so even though the war has come to an end, we continue to stand on guard, as all true Canadians should.
Squirrels, however, are another matter. The basic issues with them are, first, they are simply large rats with fluffy tales, and second, they can destroy wood in a matter of seconds and wiring in a matter of, well, seconds.
So, keeping them out of your attic is pretty important.
The problem really began when we bought the house in 1998. The first winter we discovered what had not been disclosed - the roof leaked. So, in the spring of 1999 we had the roof re-done. The roofer did a good job, with the exception that the drains were broken. In Vancouver-area homes built in the 70s it's not unusual to have drains located on the roof itself, that pass through the soffits, and then connect to pipes that take the water to buried drains. When a roof is replaced, it is evidently pretty easy to completely mess these up.
I'm not the most motivated of handymen, so the broken drains never really meant much to me. About five years ago I discovered that the constant wetness might actually be damaging the wood - weakening it if not rotting it and that was about when the birds started becoming interested in this one drain as a rental property. The opening between the drainpipe and the soffit was just large enough for them to squeeze through, and the soffit vent (a simple 2-inch wide mesh strip) was torn due to the re-roofing, so there was easy ingress for any observant bird.
Our bird tenants have come and gone over the years, and we were happy to watch (and listen) as new hatchlings made their way into the wide world, only to return the following spring to take up residence again.
In about February, a squirrel got wind of the availability of this property, and so came for a look-see. Every time I observed it, I made noise and chased it away. But I couldn't be there all the time, and this squirrel (unlike another which was easily scared off from an opening at a different drain some ten years ago) seemed to be smart enough to simply remain still until the noise stopped.
So I waited for the squirrel to vacate before attempting to block up the area long enough to do a proper repair. We had company so my first quick-fix was to just cover the hole with duct tape. That worked for a couple of hours. But when I saw it ripped open, I wasn't sure whether the squirrel had come from the inside, tearing its way out, or the outside, ripping its way in. I had to wait until I was absolutely sure before making my next jury-rig attempt.
When the time came, I used a tuna can, jammed up into the hole, to block it off. That worked, but the squirrel managed to squeeze into the area on the other side of the drain. So, that meant I needed to jam up a soup tin into that spot.
Those worked for a couple of days and I was beginning to think I would be able to leave things as they were until a nice sunny day.
Well, squirrels can chew. They have an infinite capacity for chewing, it seems. And while it wasn't able to move the tins, the rodent did dent them. But more importantly, it knew that the wood beside the tins could be chewed, and that is exactly what it did.
The soffit vent mesh was torn back, and the original hole (about 3 inches across) was now about double in size.
So, a second tuna can was put up, along with some habanero peppers, which we'd read somewhere on the Internet might be a deterrent.
That seemed to work, but made the squirrel more interested in chewing surrounding wood, which it did for quite a while.
Cans are unsightly, though. They lack curb appeal. So I decided that a better temporary fix would be to weave a screen of stainless-steel wire (a spool of which I keep in my tool box) over the area. That was beautiful. The gaps in the screen were small enough to keep squirrels and birds out, but I knew that an interested rat might be able to squeeze through, should it be so interested. Ultimately, the plan was (and still is) to cover the area with some flashing. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
I should have left the cans.
The squirrel chewed at the edge of the wood between the wires until a staple holding the wire in place was freed, allowing the squirrel to push through the wire. Damn!
For the next three days I was back to chasing the squirrel, pounding on the ceiling, crawling into the attic with a tambourine at one point to try to scare it off. (A large man with a tambourine in a dark space... sounds like a horror story.) But, if it could have, it would have just given me the finger and told me to stop making so much noise.
I knew by then that it left around 7 in the morning (I guess the morning commute was rough, so it had to get up early) and didn't generally return until about 4 in the afternoon (home early from a hard day at the forest). I had to enlist the help of some higher-tech technology. And, in the meantime, the birds were also showing interest again, and actually got into a couple of skirmishes with the squirrel. I think the birds might actually have been winning.
I have several dead or half-dead computers. One of them is a nice HP Sempron tower (circa 2004). It has a sleek, black steel cabinet with an easy-to-remove side-panel with vent holes, about 15-inches square.
In short, HP has built the perfect jury-rig squirrel guard. Here's a picture of it installed. You can see some of the stainless-steel wire from the earlier attempt going out past the panel, as well as some of the chew marks.
It's been more than a week now, and we are squirrel-free, despite attempts at ingress over the first three days after the panel was installed.
The birds continue to show interest, however, so even though the war has come to an end, we continue to stand on guard, as all true Canadians should.
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