It can be exciting to see some of your local critters in your yard now and then. It’s not so exciting when those critters become regulars or when they get comfortable enough to try and call your house their own.
Many animals can have a negative impact on the quality of your home. They can cause damage if they get inside or simply because they’re too large to effectively maneuver through the area. If you do find yourself confronted with a creature that you can’t encourage to move away from your home, you may end up having to repair significant internal and external damage.
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The critters you’ll most want to be on the lookout for when trying to protect your home include:
- Skunks – What smells worse than skunk spray? Not much. If a skunk gets scared too close to your home or gets stuck inside your space, you may find yourself contending with this unpleasant odor for months at a time.
- Rodents – The category of rodents is broad. You may find yourself contending with ambitious squirrels, lost rats, hungry mice, or curious chipmunks. All of these critters can tear into your insulation, nest throughout your home, and eat at your electrical wiring until your power goes out.
- Snakes – Snakes can’t do much damage to the structural supports throughout your home, but they can clog your pipes if they find the wrong spot to make their home. A snake in your home can also put your family’s health at risk, as frightened snakes may lash out against pets, little children, and any adult who might approach them.
- Raccoons – Raccoons are mischievous and dangerous if they make their way into your home. These creatures, like rodents, can play in your insulation, reproduce everywhere, and rip apart your structural supports, wiring, and utilities without a thought for the trouble you’ll have to go through to repair your belongings.
- Bears – Bears’ size makes them a danger both to you and to your property. If a bear feels too comfortable near your home, he can make himself comfortable on your front porch or destroy your belongings in an attempt to find food.
- Pigeons – Pigeons can nest in your gutters and disrupt the flow of rainwater through them. If you don’t clean your gutters regularly, these and other birds’ nests may cause water to splash down onto the perimeter of your home, where it can run straight toward your foundation.
- Deer – Deer are generally gentle creatures as long as they’re not provoked. Like bears, it’s their size that makes them a danger to your belongings and home.
- Groundhogs – Groundhogs live in burrows and love to make themselves at home in places where most of their natural predators won’t approach them. As such, you’re likely to find many underneath your home. These critters can dig burrows up to 45 feet long in the soil under your home, and unfortunately, they can destabilize your foundation in the process. If you don’t fill up a groundhog’s burrows, your foundation may start to slip or sink.
- Bats – Bats don’t pose a physical threat to your home or its structural supports. Instead, bats are a health hazard. If a bat or troop thereof gets into your home, you’re at risk of exposure to new types of bacteria and guano.
- Woodpeckers – Woodpeckers like to try and find meals in all manner of exposed wood. If you don’t protect your structural supports or provide local woodpeckers with another target, you may find yourself having to repair hole-riddled supports.
- Vultures – Vultures, like many corvids, love shiny objects. If the shingles on your roof catch their eye, or if you have a unique lawn ornament, these birds may dive-bomb your yard. They can tear shingles off of your roof and make a nuisance of themselves if they’re not taken care of quickly.
Luckily, you don’t have to undertake the task of protecting your home alone. While foundation, basement, and crawl space representatives can’t clear critters out of your home for you, they can help you overcome the damage that may have been done to your space. They can also connect you with representatives from animal control so that you can ensure that all of your unwanted guests are back out in their natural habitats.
If you want to start clearing out your home and repairing animal-induced damage, the experts in Fargo, North Dakota and Rush City and St. Cloud, Minnesota can help. The team from Innovative Basement Authority will inspect your home and provide you with a free quote on the services you may need to restore your previous quality of life.
