Hanging Tree Branches Invite Squirrels into Home

An inspector at Champia Real Estate Inspections offered a homeowner tips when squirrels started chewing his home’s siding to get rid of the nuisance.

With the suggestion that he spend thousands of dollars to replace the siding with cement siding, he told our inspector that he needed a better, cheaper answer.

Most of the home had a brick exterior. But the back of the home had wood siding, which squirrels seemed to love.

Our inspector once lived in a house with cedar siding. Squirrels randomly chewed holes in the siding and nested in the attic and walls. This created a costly nuisance to fix. His solution offers you a cheaper alternative to replacing all the homeowner’s siding with cement siding.

First, a tree service company trimmed all the tree branches away from the home. This also helps prepare a home to pass an inspection by a certified inspector from Champia Real Estate Inspection, as detailed in tips from the National Association of Home Inspectors.

Then came the time to hire a pest removal service. That crew set live traps in the attic and on the exterior of the house. But while our inspector saved money by agreeing to relocate the squirrels himself, that was a pain. To keep the same squirrels from moving back into the attic and walls, you must drive quite a few miles away to set them free. Don’t assume the pest removal firm will agree to let you handle this task, however.

If you want to know if your home either has or had a pest problem, Champia can help. Schedule a termite, rodent and pest evaluation and rest easy.

Now that he had a squirrel-free house, repairs were made to the damage they had caused. To keep the squirrels away, tree trimming should be scheduled regularly. And whenever a squirrel tries to take up residence in the home, it’s again time for live traps.