Preventing Animal Damage to Your Home with GroundWorks
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by GroundWorks. Any opinions expressed are my own.
I am excited to pass along this important and useful information, if you're located in an area with lots of wildlife. Or, as in our case, you live in a suburban location but do occasionally see animals in your area.
It's important to know about which animals are more often associated with damage to your home, foundation and more. See our post on Preventing Animal Damage here!
Preventing Animal Damage to Your Home with GroundWorks
We love being outdoors, enjoying nature, and of course seeing animals in their natural habitat around us. We do live in a suburban area but have plenty of birds, squirrels, and small rodents around us.
Even in the city limits, we have friends and family that also have deer and other wildlife on their properties. While we love seeing animals around and leave them to themselves, sometimes animals can also cause damage to home and foundation. This is a common problem, and you might not be aware of which animals are more often the cause!
See Common Animal Species that Cause Damage:
You can view the entire info-graphic here, but the ones at the top of the list we deal with are rodents and squirrels!
Squirrels are busy little guys and fun to watch, but they sure can do some damage to our bird sanctuary! My husband and I love to sit outside and watch birds in our DIY bird sanctuary pictured below. The squirrels love it too– mainly for all that free and delicious birdseed! Unfortunately, squirrels in larger numbers can also cause damage to things like electrical wiring, duct work and more.
They are surprisingly determined to get into the birdseed bin, so we have had to keep it tightly closed up in a large bin. Even then, if something else is in their way they can still do damage to trim work and door edges.
It's a good idea to have any food (or other things squirrels may want) kept well secured. If squirrels think they can access it, chances are they will try!
Rodents that Cause Animal Damage to Homes and Foundations:
According to GroundWorks, rodents can also be a big problem for home and foundations. Skunks and rodents are at the top of the list!
They can chew and dig around– especially at ground level. During the colder months, we typically will see a field mouse now and then inside the house.
Of course most of us are aware that rodents can cause damage and spread disease, but you might be surprised to learn how fast they can take over! We had to remove things out of our garage the mice wanted. That included anything made of paper or cardboard, and of course our pet food. Here are a few tips to prevent mice around your house, especially during colder months:
- Seal up holes, especially under baseboards and around doors.
- Put away pet foods, birdseed and other gardening seeds
- Store dry goods like grains in glass or hard side storage- remember you can store grains in the freezer if needed.
- Store pantry foods up off ground level, and in containers rodents can't easily get into.
- Keep floor and counter surfaces clean
In the garden, we keep rodents away from our plants using broken egg shells! I feel like it's easier to prevent a rodent problem than deal with rodents already in our home.
Snakes
After rodents, snakes are also at the top of the list from GroundWorks for Animal Damage to homes. Snakes can get into duct work and pipes, and easily get into basements if you live where there are larger snake populations.
Keep doors closed as a general rule. Address things that draw snakes to your property, such as large piles of stone or wood, or areas that don't drain well.
As you can see our garden is prone to flooding, which is one thing snakes love to find. If needed, address structural issues and flood prone areas of your yard if you're seeing snakes. We don't want any animals around that could catch us by surprise and potentially harm ourselves or pets.
In conclusion, I hope this post about preventing Animal Damage has been helpful and you can use some of the information. Be sure to head over to the info-graphic at GroundWorks for more detailed tips.
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