Note: This blog post is a sponsored conversation written by Lynn Smythe, the Founder and Chief Blogger for The Creative Cottage lifestyle blog. The opinions, thoughts, ideas and text are all mine.
“Each winter, about 21 million homes in the U.S. have rodents try to move inside. By sealing cracks in your foundation and repairing any gaps, you can protect your property and your health.”
Groundworks
Animals Home and Foundation Damage Infographic
Home & Garden is one of the more popular topics I cover on The Creative Cottage lifestyle blog. I recently came across a handy infographic from GroundWorks showing which animals cause the most damage to your home and foundation.
An interesting take-away was that mice and rats will gnaw on anything including walls, electrical wiring and even your personal belongings. They end up building nests, leaving droppings everywhere.
And don’t get me started on the nasty odor that results if one of those pesky rodents happens to die in your walls, crawlspace or basement.
Groundworks “Which Animals Cause the Most Damage to Your Home and Foundation” infographic.
Rats and Bats and Everything NOT Nice
Are you having a problem with animal and insect pests around your home and garden? My mom lives in an old, early 1900s house – it has 2nd floor dormers and an attic crawl space area. She’s always had a problem with bats occasionally finding their way inside her home – YIKES!
I, on the other hand, have had a problem with rats in the past. When I lived in Florida my last house had a raised block foundation. It was perfect for keeping my home from flooding during the rainy hurricane season but not so great from a pest point of view.
Rats and mice had easy access to the bottom of the house and found all kinds of creative ways to chew their way inside. The worst case was one extremely hot summer when one rat (or possibly multiple rats, but I don’t want to think about the details) was looking for an indoor source of water.
The pesky critter ended up chewing its way through the floorboards, through the walls and eventually ended up in the back of the kitchen pantry. That’s where the water heater and all the hoses for the dishwasher were located. And, you guessed it, it managed to chew it’s way through one of the hoses, creating a HUGE mess the next time we went to run the dishwasher – UT OH!
Make Rats and Bats a Thing of the Past
We quickly had to devise a way to prevent the pesky critters from gaining access to our home and wrecking havoc through our entire home and garden.
If you are dealing with pesky rodents and other pests in your home, it might be time to call in the help of an expert. Many foundation repair experts will perform a free initial inspection of your foundation, basement or crawl space to help you learn what steps you can take to secure these areas and protect your home.
Check out the Groundworks Which Animals Cause the Most Damage to Your Home and Foundation infographic to learn more. One animal/pest I didn’t see mentioned is peacocks. Don’t laugh – in south Florida wild peacocks are EVERYWHERE! From a tourist’s point of view, you might think oh, how cute, peacocks!
But let me tell you, they make a mess of your lawn and garden. They are also infamous for landing on your roof and picking off the bits of gravel to aid in their digestive process. Not sure if having to replace the roof because of peacock damage was covered on my homeowners insurance policy!?!
Let’s Keep in Touch
Do you have any tips or tricks you’d like to share? Leave a comment on this post or shoot me an email: info@thecreativecottage.net and I just might feature your story in a future blog post.
Take care,
Lynn Smythe
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