Raccoon Removal in Norcross, GA
Heavy footsteps overhead at night, like a dog got into the attic? In Norcross that's usually a raccoon that eats behind the restaurants and sleeps in an old chimney, soffit or apartment attic. Call us and tell us about the job — we will confirm the local crew for your county before any work starts.
Raccoons in your Norcross home
Norcross raccoons eat well. The dumpster corrals behind the Buford Highway restaurants and markets are refilled every day, and raccoons are smart and strong enough to work lids, tip containers and pull bags apart. A raccoon with that kind of food nearby doesn't need to travel far to sleep, so it looks for a den in the closest old building: an uncapped chimney on a house near downtown, a rotted soffit on a ranch, or the long attic of an older apartment complex. Their front paws work almost like hands, and they can pull open a weak spot that a squirrel would never get through.
People describe the sound the same way: it's like a dog walking around up there. In spring you may also hear high-pitched chattering, which means there are kits. That changes everything about the job. The raccoon is a rabies-vector species with strict rules in Georgia, the babies have to be found before anything is sealed, and the raccoon's toilet area has to be cleaned out. Here is how our wildlife crew handles it.
Georgia law: removal, not relocation
Georgia lists the raccoon as a rabies-vector species, along with the skunk, fox, bobcat and coyote. Under O.C.G.A. 27-2-10, a trapped raccoon can't be driven somewhere else and let go. The legal outcome is removal, not relocation. The rule exists because moving raccoons spreads rabies and other diseases into new areas. It's one of the main reasons raccoon trapping is work for a licensed pro, not a weekend project with a trap from the hardware store.
Finding the kits first
Raccoon babies are usually born from late winter into spring, and an attic or chimney is exactly where a mother wants to raise them. The kits stay hidden for weeks and can't leave on their own. If the mother is trapped or shut out and the kits stay behind, they die inside, and the mother will often tear the building apart trying to get back to them. Pros use cameras to look into tight spaces and find the kits, then either remove the whole family together or remove the mother first and recover the young right after.
Chimneys on the older houses
Many of the older homes near Norcross's historic downtown still have their original masonry chimneys, and a lot of them have no cap or a damaged one. To a pregnant raccoon, a chimney with a smoke shelf or a closed damper is a dry, safe den that's easy to climb down. If you hear noise or chattering in the fireplace, don't light a fire to drive her out. Kits can't escape the smoke. Once the family is out, a proper steel chimney cap is fitted so it doesn't happen again.
The latrine and the roundworm
Raccoons use the same spot as a toilet over and over, and in an attic that means a soaked, matted patch of insulation and stained drywall below it. Raccoon droppings can carry Baylisascaris roundworm, whose eggs are hardy and dangerous to people, especially children. That's why raccoon feces is removed and the area sanitized by someone with the right protection. Usually only the fouled insulation around the latrine needs to come out, not the whole attic, so ask the pro to show you what's actually contaminated.
Apartment attics and the whole roofline
In an older apartment building with a long shared attic, a raccoon that breaks in through one soffit can wander over many units. The noise may be reported by a tenant who lives far from where it got in. A proper job covers the whole roofline: every soffit, vent and roof edge is checked, the animals and any kits are removed, and every weak spot is reinforced. Patching just the part above the unit that complained gives the raccoon another spot to try a few doors down.
Sealing so it stays sealed
A raccoon that has already pulled its way into a building will test the repair, so the seal has to be stronger than a squirrel job. Pros use heavy-gauge steel mesh, metal flashing and a solid chimney cap, fastened to sound wood, not rotted trim. Around your own property you can help by keeping garbage cans latched, bringing pet food in at night and closing off the space under porches and decks. The restaurant dumpsters will still be there, so the building seal is what really keeps raccoons out.
Common raccoon questions in Norcross
There's a raccoon in my attic in Norcross — what should I do?+
I'm in an apartment or condo — can a raccoon be removed?+
Is it legal to trap and relocate a raccoon in Georgia?+
There are baby raccoons in my attic — what now?+
Why are there so many raccoons around the corridor?+
How much does raccoon removal cost in Norcross?+
Other Norcross problems that come with raccoons
Our wildlife crew handles these closely related problems — the ones that most often turn up with a raccoon issue.
Got more than raccoons in Norcross?
Raccoons are rarely the only thing using an attic or yard in Norcross. See everything we handle locally on the Norcross wildlife removal hub, or jump to Georgia wildlife removal.
Want the background before you call? Read our statewide guide: Raccoon in the attic: babies, rabies law and what happens next.
One call to your Norcross raccoon crew
The longer raccoons stay in the attic, the more they chew and the bigger the cleanup. Call us and tell us about the job — we will confirm the local crew for your county before any work starts.
- Local to Gwinnett County. Georgia DNR-compliant handling — call to ask about licensing and insurance.
- Humane exclusion. One-way doors and steel sealing, not poison.
- Done right. Removal, exclusion and cleanup.