It’s common for animals to cause a pretty significant amount of damage to your home. Although you might think of home damage as being most common in terms of concerns like structural damage and weather-related damage, these aren’t the issues that you should be the most concerned about. Rather, you should definitely be the most concerned about animal control problems. Here are some of the most common animals that can cause damage to your home.
<
Which Animals Cause the Most Damage to Your Home Created By: Ohio Basement Systemsul>
Rodents
When it comes to home damage, rodents reign supreme in terms of the most common. That’s because you can find rodents in many different climates and many different areas. They can also cause a lot of different types of damage, including structural damage and bringing in pests.
Skunks
The main reason that skunks can be such a huge deal is because it’s so easy for skunks to cause damage. When skunks are startled, they’ll release their stink, which can linger for months, especially if it gets into home areas like your HVAC system.
Bears
It might surprise you to learn, but bears are surprisingly common to see as pests in more rural cities. In these cities, it’s common for bears to just tip over trash cans and sometimes try to get inside homes, making them less dangerous than you might expect.
Snakes
Snakes tend to be able to get into even very small areas, making them great at infiltrating homes. If you haven’t gone through and weatherproofed your home, you might see snakes move in, especially during the cold winter months. Because snakes are cold-blooded, it’s common to see them become bolder during the winter as they look for warmth.
Deer
As with bears, deer tend to be a problem only in more rural cities. However, in these cities, deer tend to become comfortable around humans while still retaining their innate shyness. This can lead to them ramming into doors and windows because they’re startled by their reflections.
Raccoons
Because of their opposable thumbs, raccoons tend to be very good at causing chaos. This is true both outside of homes and inside them. Inside homes, raccoons tend to rip out wiring, remove insulation, and leave droppings all over the place.
Squirrels
In terms of amount of damage, squirrels tend to be one of the more prominent animals. Whether you have a gap in your foundation, ductwork, or chimney, a squirrel can get inside and really cause chaos all throughout the home. It’s especially common to see problems if the squirrel tries to nest inside your home’s crawl space.
Chipmunks
Chipmunks can sometimes cause even more damage because they’re smaller than squirrels. Aside from this element, however, chipmunks typically cause the same types of damage, bringing in disease, pulling out wiring and insulation, and eating through the walls.
Groundhogs
Most areas don’t have groundhogs, which means the areas that may have groundhog problems tend to be relatively sparse throughout the country. However, when they do have these problems, they can be pretty extreme. Groundhogs love to burrow and can dig underneath your home’s foundation. If this happens, it can weaken the foundation and cause serious overarching problems for your home.
Conclusion
There are many different ways that animals can cause problems with your home. Some of them may leave droppings, which can attract pests and spread disease. Some might try to burrow into your home, which can cause structural damage. Still others can pull out wiring and insulation, which you’ll need to repair after they do so. No matter what, animals can be very dangerous to your home. This is exactly why it’s so important to deal with animals in and around your home as soon as you notice them.
