Squirrel Removal in McDonough, GA

Squirrels in your McDonough home

McDonough hands squirrels two easy targets. On the older streets near the courthouse square, mature hardwoods hang over roofs that have been weathering for decades: loose fascia boards, rotted soffit returns, a gap where flashing has peeled off a brick chimney. Out in the newer subdivisions across Henry County the trees are younger, but the houses come with openings of their own, mainly unscreened gable vents and the small construction gaps left where one roof plane meets another.

Sound is usually the first clue: light running and scratching, loudest early in the morning and again in the late afternoon. What matters more is what the squirrels do up there. They chew wiring, flatten and tunnel through insulation, and gnaw trim and siding to widen their way in. In an older McDonough house, where some of the wiring may already be decades old, chewed insulation on a live wire is the risk to take seriously.

Why the streets near the square stay busy

Big old trees carry a lot of squirrels. Around the square, the hardwoods are tall enough that limbs reach over two-story roofs, and every limb that touches a roof is a ramp. Trimming them back is worth doing, but it won't finish the job alone, because a squirrel can climb brick, run up a downspout or jump from a fence. The lasting fix is a roof with no way in, and on an old house that means checking fascia, soffits, chimney flashing and every spot where wood trim meets masonry.

New subdivisions, new openings

A newer house in one of McDonough's subdivisions isn't safe just because it's new. Builders often leave small gaps where a roof return meets the siding, where a lower roof butts into a wall, or behind a gable vent that was never screened. Georgia's building codes ask very little of these out-of-sight spots, so squirrels find them within a few years, once the trees around the lot have grown up. The inspection covers these places the same way it covers the old homes downtown.

Babies change the order of the work

Georgia squirrels usually have young in spring and again in fall, though the timing drifts from year to year. A mother locked out while her litter is still in the attic doesn't give up. She chews a fresh hole beside the patched one and does more damage than the original entry ever did. So a pro confirms whether there are babies before closing anything, and times the exclusion so the whole family is out first.

Flying squirrels keep night hours

If the noise starts after dark instead of at dawn, the animal may be a southern flying squirrel. They live in McDonough's hardwoods as well, often in small groups, and they squeeze through smaller openings than a gray squirrel needs. Removal works the same way, out first and then sealed, but the inspection has to hunt harder for the narrow gaps they use.

What not to try first

Mothballs, ammonia-soaked rags, strobe lights and a radio left playing in the attic don't drive squirrels out for good, and mothballs should never go around or inside a house for an animal problem. Patching the hole yourself is riskier still if young are inside. Poison is the worst choice of all: a squirrel that eats it can crawl into a wall cavity and die, swapping a noise for a smell.

How the pro clears and seals the attic

The pro maps every opening on the house, puts a one-way door or live traps on the active entry, and checks traps daily until the squirrels are gone. Then every gap, used or not, is closed with metal: hardware cloth, steel flashing, vent guards. On an older McDonough home that can mean securing trim that has pulled away from the brick. Fouled insulation comes out where needed, but a good pro won't push a full replacement the attic doesn't call for.