Which Animals Cause the Most Damage to Your Home and Foundation?

Wildlife visitors are nice on occasion. It’s when those critters make themselves at home in your home that their presence becomes a problem. Unfortunately, some of the critters native to the Ohio area are as likely to cause foundation problems as the area’s rainstorms and snow run off. After that damage appears, it’s up to you as a homeowner to collaborate with animal control and local foundation, basement, and crawl space repair contractors to retain the overall value of your home.

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Outdoor Animals And Your Home

The different animals that make your tenure as a homeowner more difficult are many and varied. Some of these animals can only cause aesthetic or artificial damage, while others can compromise the structural integrity of your foundation and wooden supports.

As you’re cultivating your yard’s ecosystem, try to keep an eye out for:

• Skunks – While some domesticated skunks have had their stink glands removed, wild skunks remain a problem for homeowners across the nation. If a skunk ends up startled near your home, the smell they release to defend themselves can make its way into your HVAC system and stay in your home for months.
• Rodents – Mice and rats alike, when domesticated, are cleaner than their reputations suggest. It’s the wild rodents that can cause the most damage around your home. Both mice and rats will make themselves at home in your insulation, where they can make nests and have babies all year round.
• Snakes – Snakes prove dangerous near your home due to the health hazard they represent, as opposed to any structural damage they may cause. Snakes are cold-blooded and may want to move indoors as the weather starts to cool. Whatever you do, do not try to remove a snake from your home on your own; instead, if you spot one in time, reach out to your local animal control for guidance. After the snake has been removed, a contractor in your area can inspect your pipes and HVAC system for baby snakes, eggs, or other unwanted invaders.
• Raccoons – Raccoons live to cause chaos. If a raccoon makes its way into your home, you risk losing your insulation, your wiring, any waterproofing measures you have in place, and more.
• Bears – Cleveland, OH, may not see as many bears as other parts of the country, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to deal with them on your property at some point or another. Bears make dangerous neighbors. Their size makes it easy for them to damage the property in your lawn and around the perimeter of your home, and their claws make them too dangerous for an untrained homeowner to approach.
• Deer – Deer are more of a threat to your garden than they are to your foundation, but that doesn’t mean they can’t cause trouble. If a deer grows too used to your presence around your home, it may settle on your front porch or knock over property you have in your yard.
• Squirrels and chipmunks – Squirrels are rodents, like mice and rats, but their capacity for destruction rivals that of raccoons. These critters, as well as their smaller chipmunk cousins, can wreck your wiring, severely damage your insulation, and compromise the structural integrity of your walls.
• Groundhogs – Groundhogs can put the stability of your foundation at risk if you don’t move to catch them before they get comfortable. These critters love to make burrows beneath facilities that make them feel safe. These burrows can give your foundation and the soil underneath it the room it needs to sink if it’s struggling to support the weight of your home.
• Pigeons – Pigeons will nest in your gutters if given half a chance. Those nests can block the flow of water through your gutters and cause it to pour down onto the perimeter of your home instead.
• Bats – Bats can’t cause much structural damage throughout your home, but they can bring diseases and bacteria indoors.
• Woodpeckers – Woodpeckers, should they get into your home or make a perch near a window, will enthusiastically tear into your wooden supports while searching for bugs. The holes they leave behind make your supports more susceptible to water damage and eventual decay.
• Vultures – Like bears, vultures aren’t especially common in Cleveland, OH. However, these birds are attracted to shiny objects and will often make off with your shingles or home accessories, if given the chance.

If you believe your foundation, basement, or crawl space has suffered damage due to the behaviors of an animal in the area, you can reach out to a local contractor for repairs. The experts at Ohio Basement Systems can walk through your home and provide you with a free quote on the repair services you may need.

Do note that if you want to get rid of a critter plaguing your yard, you should get in touch with animal control. Only after the critters have left you in peace can you pursue home repairs without the fear of things immediately falling back into disrepair.