Vents and soffits
Gable vents, roof vents, and the seams under the eaves. A torn screen is an invitation that still breathes.
Wildlife exclusion in Columbus, OH It came back because the opening is still there.
Exclusion is a plain sequence. The animal leaves, and the opening gets closed with something it cannot chew through. Skip the second part and you are renting the attic by the month.
Where do animals get in?
Edges and chimneys
Fascia that has pulled away, a chimney with no cap, and the slot behind a gutter where drip edge is missing.
Ground level
Deck skirts, crawl-space doors, shed floors, and the place a utility line enters. Not every guest climbs.
Foam is not the repair
Spray foam fills a gap and looks finished. Squirrels, raccoons, and mice chew it out. We use foam as a seal beside metal, not as the metal.
Where teeth are involved, the outside layer is hardware cloth, a real vent cover, flashing, or a chimney cap. The material matches the hole and the animal. A pretty patch that fails in a month is not the cheaper one.
The hole you noticed is rarely the only one
If one gap worked, the next one might work next week. We walk the roofline and the ground-level openings, not only the spot in the photo. You hear what we found in normal words.
A one-way door helps when a single animal can leave and nothing young is stuck inside. It is the wrong tool for a nest of squirrels, and it is the wrong tool for bats during Ohio's restricted dates. We would rather say that on the visit than discover it after a seal.
The usual gaps have names
Missing drip edge leaves a builder's gap between the roof deck and the fascia. Eave and fascia seams open as a house settles. A ridge vent moves air, and the plastic in it is not a wildlife barrier unless a metal ridge guard covers it. At the ground, a buried rat wall stops tunneling under a deck or foundation.
Those are the spots we walk on Columbus roofs, including new ones in Powell, Lewis Center, and New Albany. The guides explain each gap. The inspection says which of them your house actually has.
Birds are a separate calendar
Some fluttering in a vent is starlings or sparrows. Chimney swifts are protected while they nest. We do not cap a flue that still has a family in it.
If you hear wings in the chimney in summer, say so. The cap goes on after the nest is done, the same way bat exits wait for the Ohio window.
What makes a repair hold?
- The animal is out, including any young that cannot leave yet.
- The opening is closed with metal where chewing is likely.
- The other gaps get the same look, so next month is not a repeat visit.
- You know what we did, and what is worth watching when the season changes.
Common questions
If you trap it, is the job finished?
Not while the hole stays open. Removal and exclusion solve different parts. In Ohio, raccoons, skunks, and opossums cannot be relocated anyway. Closing the opening is what keeps the next one out.
Do you seal every crack?
No. We close the ones an animal can use, and the weak spots they are about to enlarge. A bat fits a thumb-wide gap. A mouse needs less. A raccoon will widen a soft soffit. The inspection builds the list.
Does a new roof already keep them out?
Not by itself. A ridge vent is built to move air, not to stop teeth. Missing drip edge leaves a slot behind the gutter. We look at those spots even on a roof that is a year old.
The longer explanation, with sources, is in the guide Preventive wildlife seal-up.
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