Living side by side with the animals in Appomattox, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach, and even the Outer Banks isn’t as easy as it seems. If you don’t take steps to protect your home, these critters can attempt to make their way indoors and cause structural damage in the process.
Skunks may not be able to cause a lot of structural damage around your home, but that doesn’t mean you want them near your property. A skunk is best known not for its might but for its smell. If a skunk sprays near your property, you may find yourself contending with that smell for months to come. If the smell sticks, it can lower the value of your property and make it more difficult for you to sell your home.
All manner of rodents, from squirrels to chipmunks and mice to rats, can make your home much less pleasant to live in. Not only can these critters leave droppings throughout your space, but they can also chew away at the wires in your walls and tear into your insulation. You’ll want to do what you can to get rid of these critters as quickly as possible, or else they may cause significant and expense wall damage.
Virginia is not known for its snakes, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be on the lookout for the critters. Snakes, like skunks and other smaller animals, can’t cause significant structural damage to your home. They can, however, crawl into your pipes. Snakes who make their way indoors can also curl into dark corners and put your family’s home at risk, should a child or a pet accidentally stumble in their direction.
Raccoons present perhaps the most mischievous threat to your home of all of the critters noted here. Raccoons, like rodents, can cause structural damage to your walls, where they can tear up your insulation, chew your wires, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. They can also make themselves at home in your attic and claim such territory for themselves. It’s best, if you have new raccoon neighbors, to collaborate with local animal control representatives before you take steps to start fixing up the mess in your home they may otherwise leave behind.
Bears, like snakes, don’t often make themselves at home in the Virginia area. Even so, you’ll want to keep a wary eye out for these larger visitors to your yard. Bears can pose a significant structural threat to your home solely based on their size. These critters can smash your front porch up without so much as a thought, and they’re much more difficult to deal with than a wayward squirrel.
Pigeons, funnily enough, used to be considered prized companions to those individuals who kept them. Nowadays they pose more of a threat to your home’s structural integrity. Pigeons and other birds can happily nest in your gutters, making it more difficult for you to control the flow of water away from your home.
Deer, like bears, pose a threat to your home in terms of their size. While not malicious, these critters can still stomp all over the outdoor structural supports you have in place, should they grow brave enough to approach your home.
Groundhogs love little more than digging. A groundhog that goes unchecked in your yard can establish up to 45 feet of burrows in the soil beneath your foundation, severely destabilizing your foundation in the process.
Bats can’t cause too much damage to the structural supports inside of your home, but that doesn’t mean you want them to make themselves comfortable. Instead of a structural risk, bats instead pose a health risk to you and your family, as they can expose you to germs and guano.
Woodpeckers make themselves at home in welcoming wooden structures where they can just as easily find lunch as they can a safe night’s rest. As such, your unprotected wooden front porch or support beams may seem like inviting real estate.
Vultures are another brand of critter that’s not so common in Virginia. Even so, these birds can make an appearance. Like many corvids, vultures love shiny objects. They will happily pull the shingles from your roof and the trinkets from your yard if they appear entertaining enough.
While the professional foundation and basement repair contractors serving Appomattox, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, Roanoke, Virginia Beach, and the Outer Banks can’t remove these critters from your home, they can help you fix the damage they’ve left behind. You can reach out to the experts at JES today for a free quote on the services you may need to restore your home’s value after an animal invasion.
Groundworks Editorial Team
