Animals are one of the most common reasons to discover damage to your home. Although there are many ways that you can end up with damage in your home, animals are by far one of the most common reasons to discover damage. Here are 13 animals that may exist around your home that can cause a surprising amount of damage overall.
Which Animals Cause the Most Damage to Your Home Created By: Ohio Basement Systems
- Skunks
The biggest problem with skunks is pretty obvious: the smell. If that smell gets into your home or your HVAC system, it can linger for months. Removing skunks without startling them is the best fix for this.
- Rodents
By far one of the most common and most damaging pests in your home, rodents can be a seriously damaging problem. Not only can they carry disease and leave droppings everywhere, but a dead rodent in your structure will smell gross and become a health hazard.
- Snakes
Due to their ability to sneak into extremely small spaces, snakes can show up just about anywhere in a home. Not only are they sometimes poisonous all by themselves, but they can also invite larger predators inside.
- Raccoons
Those opposable thumbs aren’t just for climbing – they’re also for causing chaos. Raccoons are well-known for causing mayhem all over a home. They can tear out insulation, carry disease, and rip out wiring.
- Bears
You might assume that because they cause so much damage in the wild, bears also cause a lot of damage in urban areas. As a matter of fact, bears tend to cause very little damage in urban areas. They mostly tend to be annoying.
- Deer
The biggest problems that deer can pose is the fact that they can become very comfortable around humans, but still retain their innate skittishness. This can result in a deer slamming into a home’s window or door because it sees its reflection.
- Squirrels
Even if there’s a pretty small opening in a home’s structure, a squirrel can get inside. Plus, squirrels tend to want to create nests, which means they’re prone to chewing through wiring and baseboards when they want.
- Chipmunks
Chipmunks are essentially like squirrels, but smaller. That means they can get into even tighter spaces than squirrels can. Plus, the list of diseases that chipmunks can carry can often be even longer than that of squirrels.
- Groundhogs
Structural integrity should be near the top of your list if you’re worried about groundhogs. They can create five-foot-deep tunnels below your home. This can eventually cause the home’s floors to lose structural stability.
- Pigeons
If you live in a city, you’ve come across pigeons before. Aside from the droppings, the biggest problem pigeons can cause for a home are their nests. They can seriously damage your home by nesting in the gutters and preventing proper drainage.
- Bats
Most of the time, bats don’t cause structural damage. What they can do is leave droppings all over open areas in and around your home, which can damage the structure, invite in moisture, and cause pests to roam wild.
- Woodpeckers
If woodpeckers are pecking at the wood in your home, it’s actually a sign that something’s wrong. This usually means that the woodpecker can hear insects in the wood, which means you should call an expert as soon as possible.
- Vultures
Though most homes never have to deal with vultures, they can love to mess around with vinyl and plastic. That means vent seals, window caulking, and pool covers are all at risk around vultures.
Conclusion
Clearly, it’s important to pay attention to animals all around your home. However, it’s just as important that you make sure you’re thinking about the different ways in which animals can impact your home. Make sure you’re thoughtful and proactive and you’ll be less likely to see issues with your home due to animals.