We all love to admire nature outside our windows. While you may enjoy watching birds, squirrels, prairie dogs, and rabbits, they may be damaging your home without your knowledge. Unwelcome animals around your home can tear up your grass, shrubs, trees, and gardens. Additionally, these animals can cause damage to your home’s foundation or crawlspace in the process.
Signs of Animal Damage Around Your Home
Animals like prairie dogs, squirrels, raccoons, and armadillos like to dig, chew, burrow and explore. This unwanted exploration can be under your home’s foundation, garden, and all over your property without detection. These burrows loosen the ground underneath your property, which can lead to long-term damage to your home’s foundation. Here are a few signs of animal activity to look for on your property.
- Suppose you have noticed digging under your deck or porch, small patches of torn-up grass, or holes around your yard. This can be a sign of prairie dogs or armadillos, as these animals love to burrow and dig.
- Hearing noises in your attic? Squirrels or racoons have probably taken a liking to your home and are nesting. Raccoons will come out at night, while squirrels are most active during the day.
- If you have long underground burrows in your grass or garden and have noticed flowers are eaten, chances are a woodchuck, also known as a groundhog, has made your lawn his home. Smaller burrows and disappearing flower bulbs may be a sign of chipmunks or moles.
If these animals are left alone to burrow underneath your home, over time, the ground underneath your foundation will loosen, which can cause settling to occur as well as create the possibility for cracks to form. Settling and cracks are sure-fire ways to damage not only your foundation but your home’s walls, ceilings, and the structural integrity of your home.
How to Keep Your Home Protected
Most animals seek shelter near or in a home because there’s an available food source: a garden, pet food, bird food, or garbage in garbage cans. While it’s tempting to want to feed these adorable creatures as they scurry around your home, you absolutely should not feed them! This will only encourage them, and their buddies, to stay and cause more damage.
To secure possible food sources:
- Protect your garden with a fence. Chicken wire will work nicely!
- Ensure you use garbage cans with lids that can seal tightly. If this alone doesn’t do the trick, you can weigh down the lid with heavy objects to keep animals from digging for food.
- Use a bird feeder with a seed catcher tray and make sure to frequently sweep up the residue underneath.
- Keep pet food indoors! Try to avoid feeding your pet outside, and make sure no food is left outside.
Noticing Signs of Foundation Damage?
Call your local pest control specialist if you think you might have unwanted animals living in or around your home. If you see any holes or digging around your foundation, WTX Foundation Repair can provide a free consultation to assess your foundation and determine if any repairs are needed. We offer a 100% lifetime warranty to ensure your home is protected for decades to come, so contact us or visit our website for more information about our services!