My house is being "eaten"!

[JB4310]

Flying squirrles are nocturnal.

I didn't know that, only seen one once when I was a kid, and it was dead, but I do remember the loose flaps of skin between the legs.

It's a bit tenuous to get up onto that peak with a 12-12 pitch roof, and I don't want to leave the ladder up while supported by the FEL- the loader bucket does slowly creep down.

Had a bit of a panic last night after I moved the tractor off the lawn, but went back up the ladder one more time to try to get our cat to do his job. The feet on the ladder started sliding backward on the wet grass.... Fortunately, they stopped after about 18". Guess I won't try that again. Had an opportunity to change my pants after that one!:ashamed:

You could separate the ladder (or get a 16 foot single section of ladder) and get one of those ridge hooks at the top of the fly section and climb the bottom section up to the edge of the roof. push the hook ladder up over the peak.

Lindemann 109001 MISC Ridge Hook#

That's how we climb steep roofs, just a little tricky pushing the ladder up, but some of the ridge hooks have wheels. With a hook ladder you can leave it up for as long as you need to assess the situation/ make your repairs.

As far as the ladder sliding backwards like that, that's the number one way people fall from ladders, never seen one go over backwards (except in Animal House). You have to flip the feet back and stake the sharp edges into the ground. Also never step on the rungs above the roof, even leaning hard over the top tends to try and push the bottom out.


JB.

 

[Carl_NH]

The sticky pads work - slide several under the tabs of the shingles to hold them in place, or attach to a wire or fishing line and drop the line over the ridge to the other side then you can pull it down once "caught".

We have cedar clapboards over 1/2 plywood also and after 15 years along the roof line where the dormers meet the roof the clapboards got spongy and rotted. There was flashing under them so nothing could enter the house, but the suggested method I understand now is to keep the cedar shakes 1/2-3/4" above the shingle line.

Once any critter moves in its real tough to get them out and then keep them out especially red squirrels - they will chew a new way in once you close one avenue.

Good luck with this.

 

[EddieWalker]

I use mothballs. They get into wall cavities and I've had to deal with them in bathroom vanities. Mothballs are cheap, and you just dump the entire box of them in the hole.

After a few days, I seel up the holes with metal flashing, or metal cover plates for elextrical boxes. They already have the holes in them and they work great for this. Replacing wood doesnt work since they just eat a new hole through the wood. Caulking and foam are also worthless. Metal seems to be the only thing that has worked for me with 100% success.

Eddie

 

[dieselbeef]

a rat trap will catch a squirrel..or a rat if thats what it may be. peanut butter will work for either animal...

 

[chopped]

FYI home depot hook. I reccomend it.
Ladder Hook with Wheel-2481 at The Home Depot
HMM in the description it says this.'''2 Ladder hooks required for setup ''
I have used the one alone and we had one time a 12 pich roof ,with three of us..combined weight id say of800 lbs..

 

[JamesHW]

"SIP" ... Structural Insulated Panels... So THAT's what it's called. Thanks, SLOWZUKI! Back when this house was built (1986), I don't think that term had yet been coined; at least I'd never heard of it. Kinda like my "water-source" heat pump...which is now apparently called a "geothermal" heat pump. Oh, well. Time marches on

I think when I first heard about them they were called "stress skin panels".

Hearing your story makes me think when we put up our barn house in a couple of years (Upstate NY) we might go ahead and use the SIPs I've heard about that come with a metal surface (chew on that varmint!)

 

[Combustix]

If your not a big cat fan go to a shelter get yourself 1 or two barn cats. Don't need to be friendly with them. Just a little food and water in the last week my two have gotten two critters which were bigger than one of them. 4 bats 3 moles 11 shrews and two many field mice parts to count whole mice. Best system I have ever used. I do lose birds in the summer but I have to look at it as training

 

[not2old]

You may be able to put a good dose of Ammonia in there in the evening, then patch the hole in the morning. Not very many critters can stand Ammonia.

I've had excellent results driving away racoons with ammonia. I hung tin cans full of it in the trees they were using to access the roofs in a townhouse project I was maintaining. They left and never returned.

 

[JB4310]

I use mothballs. They get into wall cavities and I've had to deal with them in bathroom vanities. Mothballs are cheap, and you just dump the entire box of them in the hole.

After a few days, I seel up the holes with metal flashing, or metal cover plates for elextrical boxes. They already have the holes in them and they work great for this. Replacing wood doesnt work since they just eat a new hole through the wood. Caulking and foam are also worthless. Metal seems to be the only thing that has worked for me with 100% success.

Eddie

The moth balls worked to keep a hungry early spring squirrel out from under my hood, (chewed wires right down to the main harness, if he went any further I would of really been in trouble ).
The only problem is they disappear/evaporate after a period of time, which I didn't realise. Thought it might look a little weird to a service tech seeing empty women's stockings hanging under my hood if I brought the Jeep in for service

FYI home depot hook. I reccomend it.
Ladder Hook with Wheel-2481 at The Home Depot
HMM in the description it says this.'''2 Ladder hooks required for setup ''
I have used the one alone and we had one time a 12 pich roof ,with three of us..combined weight id say of800 lbs..

That's pretty much the one I use, been using them for 30+ years and yeah we only use one on a ladder.

I usually carry a 40 footer, a 24 footer and a 16 foot single with the ridge hook, on my truck at all times. I can access any roof I come across with these 3 ladders, even 3 family houses. I prefer the HD type 1A Werners.

JB

 

[irvingj]

Success at last!

After 3 days, re-positioning the traps and adding a dollop of peanut butter to the sticky trays, I got a (the?) mouse. Yes, it's a very inhumane trap, but I had to get that thing out of there.

This afternoon, I'll spray some ammonia around the entrances, then figure out how to replace the foam that's been chewed away. Not sure yet how deep it goes, but if not too deep, a couple of those spray cans of foam ought to work.

Finally, maybe some copper wool, then some means of blocking the gap in the cedar shingles. I'm leaving the traps up today just in case there was more than one mouse up there.

Thanks to all for all the suggestions & advice!