Squirrels tend to cause massive damage if they are in your home. These little creatures gnaw at anything, including cables and wooden parts of your roof.
But keeping squirrels at bay is a difficult thing to do. So, if you are searching for how to keep squirrels off roof, you are at the right place.
Read on and find out ways you can use to deter squirrels.
Why do Squirrels Love the Roof?
Squirrels love the roof because they need to keep their young ones safe. Squirrels usually puncture small holes through the woodwork of your roof to gain access to the attic and underlayment.
Once they do this, they gain access to a nice quiet place to sire their young ones. Also, they can use the space near the ridge vent within your roof to keep their young ones safe for the required time.
Squirrels have lived in human settlements for a long time. Many people believe that squirrels like to live in tree branches and other places.
However, unlike other animals, squirrels tend to stay in human settlements. This tendency to stay close to humans has developed over a long time.
But you should keep squirrels out of your roof. This is so because you do not want to deal with squirrel damage on any part of your roof. One squirrel can drill very many small holes within the structure of your roof.
What Damage do Squirrels Cause on the Roof?
Squirrels cause a lot of damage to your roof. This is why you should always keep squirrels off your roof. When squirrels land on your roof, they may begin to chew on the roof decking.
Over time, this animal would have started boring holes through your roof decking and soffit. When this happens, you may end up losing the entire roof.
Apart from boring holes through your roof decking and other parts, these animals cause additional problems. If they find their way through to the attic, they pose a bigger danger.
These small chewing animals will chew the wiring in the attic of roofs. They then destroy the insulation on the wires.
Insulation on the wires is important for keeping a home safe. When it is destroyed, the whole home is exposed to the risk of fires. Because of this damage, you should get rid of these critters from your roof.
Why should I Keep Squirrels off my Roof?
You should keep squirrels off roof because of many reasons. The main one is possible squirrel damage on your roof. Squirrels and other rodents build their nests on roofs during the warm weather. Once they are fully established on your roof, they can cause massive damage to the house.
These critters can damage the fundamental parts of your roof. This is because of their chewing tendency. The small and cute animals can chew off important parts of your roof decking.
They also peel off the shingles of your roof. They end up boring holes through the roofing parts, thus damaging your house.
You should also keep squirrels off your roof to prevent damage to the items in the attic. Once these small animals find their way to the attics, they begin to chew at anything.
This may include the wires and other items. Thus, getting rid of these critters off your roof and even the attics is necessary.
15 Ways To Keep Squirrels Off The Roof And Out Of Soffits
We have learned how important it is to keep the critters off your roof. Now it is time to look at how you can do this. There are many ways of getting rid of squirrels.
Your choice of a specific method depends on the circumstances. Here are some of the most effective ways of getting rid of squirrels.
1. Find and Seal All the Possible Holes that the Squirrels are Using to Get into the Roof
Take a day or two to watch how the squirrels get to your house. These animals can fit through very small holes. Take your time to search for the holes.
If you spot the holes, you would have made the first step of getting rid of them. Next, seal all the holes carefully. You can use newspapers or cardboard at this stage.
Wait for a day or two and then return to observe the holes. Also, watch the behavior of the animals during this time. You are likely to sport one or two sealed holes that would have been disturbed.
Mark these holes. They are the main entry holes. Seal the main holes with galvanized steel mesh to stay safe from these critters.
Search for additional holes and repeat the process. This method is effective because it prevents squirrels from entering your home. This spares you the losses associated with possible squirrel damage to your roof.
2. Cut Back Overhanging Branches
The effectiveness of the method you chose depends on how well it keeps squirrels away. Also, the method does not have to harm these cute animals directly. At times, all that you may have to do is cut overhanging trees and branches.
Squirrels are excellent climbers and jumpers. They can easily take advantage of long tree branches to access the roofs in the yard.
Squirrels cannot fly, but they can jump very long distances. This is the reason why some people talk about flying squirrels. Identify the branches on overhanging trees in your yard.
Trim them methodically by ensuring a minimum distance of about eight feet. This should be the space between the branches and the roofs.
This simple action will keep your home safe from even flying squirrels. The climbing animals will not access your house by jumping from the top of overhanging trees.
3. Install Squirrel Guards
Squirrel guards are small devices that prevent squirrels from accessing your home. As such, squirrel guards are placed near the access point. These are the sections of your home where the critters find a way to enter the roof.
The access point may be via poles or overhanging trees. The squirrels can easily access the roof by climbing up the poles and jumping onto the roof. From there, they can start chewing at the shingles and drill holes.
You can install pole guards or line guards to keep off these rodents. If you put the guards on electric poles, ensure they are about four to five feet from the ground. These metallic devices effectively stop squirrels and other pets from accessing your home.
The animal will be unable to maneuver around the metallic guard and climb poles. This will keep the rodents away from your chimney, roof, and electric poles. The method will also keep rodents off your house and tree branches near your house in the yard.
4. Covering Wires and Cables
Squirrels love chewing on wires and cables. They do this to control the rate of growth of their frontal teeth. This behavior is common among all rodents, including rats. One humane way to prevent squirrel damage and keep your home safe is to cover all the wires and cables.
You can cover all the cables and wires in the attics and other places in the home. Use a large enough rubber tubing to do the job. The rubber tubing should be about an inch in width.
You can then use cable ties to secure the one-inch-wide rubber tubing. Alternatively, you can use slim PVC pipes to fasten the rubber tubing around your cables and wires.
The effectiveness of this method is that it prevents the animal from chewing the cables. Also, the animal is unable to climb on the wires. If it tries to climb on them, it falls because the slim PVC pipes covering keeps rolling.
5. Set Up a Drip Edge
A drip edge is also known as a drip cap. This sheet metal comes between the shingles and your roof’s fascia. The original purpose of installing a drip edge or drip cap is to channel rainwater into the gutters of the roofs.
This piece of sheet metal is usually installed between the edge of the fascia and the first row of shingles.
A drip edge can effectively keep squirrels off your roof. Squirrels usually get through access points and burrow holes between the shingles and the fascia.
They then use the holes to get to the attic of your house. Once there, they make their nest and continue chewing on wires, cables, and other items.
Get a licensed professional to install the drip cap on your roof. The professional will then secure the sheet metal with either nails or cement. This simple step will keep squirrels off your roof completely.
6. Use Scarecrows
Some birds of prey feed on squirrels. These are usually large birds, including hawks and owls. Squirrels are very much afraid of such birds.
This is because the birds feed on adult and young squirrels. So, these critters quickly keep their young ones out of danger whenever they detect birds of prey.
Small animals cannot differentiate between a scarecrow and a real bird of prey. So, if you purchase large life-sized plastic dolls, the squirrels will mistake them for the real birds.
You can then place the dolls at strategic places near or on your roof. These should be the access point of the squirrels. It may be in the chimney, on poles, or anywhere else where they use it for climbing.
Once the squirrels detect the scarecrows near the nest, they will likely evacuate their young ones. You can place them even on electric poles. This means they will keep off your roof as long as the scarecrow is visible.
7. Use Repellants
Like all other animals, Squirrels have developed a sense of fear for predators. Squirrels can sense predators by smelling their odor. Once they sense the odor of a predator, the squirrels will run off and avoid the area completely. This is the logic behind using repellants to control squirrels.
One of the most common predators of squirrels is foxes and coyotes. These animals are constantly hunting for squirrel nests. They can effectively destroy families of squirrels because they are for excellent food. Besides, they can climb up tree branches when hunting for squirrels as food.
Repellants are chemicals that mimic the smell of urine from predators. Spray repellant all over the yard around your house. This should even be on any main tree near your house or electric poles.
The squirrels will sense the smell and run away. They will not even attempt to climb any tree with the scent of urine.
8. Remove Feeding Opportunities
Squirrels live near humans for two reasons: food and shelter. These small animals like to build nests near human settlements. They feel safe when they are near human settlements.
Also, they have an endless supply of food if they can access it from your house. So, if you feed the squirrels in your home, they will stay there.
One effective way to keep squirrels off your roof is by removing their feeding opportunities. If you block their access to food and shelter, they will migrate from your house.
Ensure they have nothing to eat always. They will soon climb down the roof and disappear from your yard.
9. Buy Fox Urine for Squirrels
Squirrels, raccoons, and other animals fear foxes. They detect foxes and other predators by their smell. Buy a bottle of fox urine for the squirrels in your home. Spray the urine on the ground around the yard and near tree branches.
The squirrels will detect the smell and believe that a fox lurks nearby. They will then run away, scampering for safety.
10. Install a Strobe Light in the Attic
Rodents, including squirrels, are scared of strobe lights. You can keep them away from the attics by hanging the strobe lights. Ensure the strobe lights are about two feet above the lower surface of the attic.
Also, ensure the strobe lights overlap inside the attic. This simple step will scare all the squirrels from building their nests inside your attic.
11. Install Traps with One-Way Doors in your Attic or Hanging from your Soffits on the Outside
When squirrels invade your roof, they are likely to stay in the eaves. However, you will occasionally hear them making noise when you stand under the soffit.
So, if you install a trap in your attic or under the soffits, you are likely to get them. Remember to bait the squirrels with orange peelings. They are likely to be attracted to the trap hanging under the soffits.
Also, ensure you make the traps large enough. This will prevent the squirrels’ tails from being caught in the trap.
Once you have set up the traps, remember to check them. If the traps have squirrels inside, collect them. Then, release the trapped squirrels far away from the house.
Squirrels are intelligent animals. If you let them get lost near the yard, they will find their way back. Take your time and move miles away from your home before releasing them. This way, you would have solved the problem.
12. Hire a Wildlife Removal Expert to Remove Squirrels from Your Roof
Occasionally, you may have to accept that you have done your best to control squirrels. Once all your tactics have failed, it may be time to accept the need to get professional advice.
A wildlife removal expert can help you get rid of squirrels from your roof. The expert is not likely to develop new ways of dealing with the problem.
However, the chances are that they will do things better. They may detect new access points on a tree nearby. They may also block access to food within your home. Such improved steps can effectively drive off all the squirrels.
13. Routinely Check your Roof and Clean It
Strobe lights work well against squirrels. They illuminate the dark sides of the attic where squirrels like to hide after climbing your roof. But strobe lights are not the perfect solution to the problem.
One-way trap doors also work well, keeping squirrels off the roof. But they are not the best method of doing this. Also, squirrel guards may fail at times. The best approach is to use a combination of methods.
Also, you may routinely check your roof and clean it. This is a very good way of denying the squirrels food and shelter. You can identify the nests of squirrels when you check the roof.
You can also detect and seal the holes that squirrels use to get to the roof. Ensure you clean your roof regularly.
Conclusion
How to keep squirrels off roof is an important question. These small animals can be quite dangerous. There are many methods that you can use to achieve this. You can use squirrel guards of repellants. You can also install a ridge vent to keep squirrels off. Call a wildlife removal expert if all these methods fail.