A Complete Guide to Safe Animal Removal from Your Chimney
Eliminate animal access to your chimneys!
Many birds, animals and small mammals find chimneys to be the perfect hiding place or nesting location, especially in the spring. Sometimes animals like raccoons, squirrels, opossums, and others can enter houses through chimneys in search of a denning location where they can stay warm over the winter and raise their young until spring. When an animal resides rent-free in your chimney, a number of problems might occur. Animal infestations can cause a lot of harm to your chimney if they aren’t promptly removed.
Here are some tips for determining whether you have an infestation and how to deal with it.
Are you feeling that there is an Animal in Your Chimney? Here Are the Signs
There are a few indicators that may help you find the solution if you suspect that there is an animal in your chimney. The first sign of the animal infestations can be the noise coming from the chimneys. While occasional noises are nothing new for chimney owners, if the noise is regular, sounds like something is constantly scraping against the interior of your chimney, or even squeaks occasionally, there’s a good chance you have an unwanted animal within. These signs clearly show that you clearly need to call a Chimney sweep or an animal removal company at your place as animals in your chimneys can affect your family’s health and safety.
How do animals manage to get inside our chimneys?
The small animals often mistake chimneys as hollow trees. Animals get into the chimney while seeking shelter from rain, cold weather or while protecting themselves from their predators. They are very well adept in finding their way into the chimneys. The main entry point for animals is the damaged chimney cap. Animals like rats or squirrels try to bite on the damaged part of the cap to create a big hole for their entry. So keeping your chimney caps proper and intact is very important. If a top sealing damper is closed anytime the chimney is not in use, it functions similarly to a chimney cap.
What issues can animals cause inside the chimneys?
Animals can easily penetrate the chimney construction to nest or find refuge if the top of the flue is not shielded. Unfortunately, once inside, many creatures are unable to exit. They may scrape the flue liner as a result of their great disorientation in the dim confines of the little flue. Nesting materials and animal waste can also produce offensive odours and fire risks. This debris may partially obstruct the flue, hinder the normal escape of smoke and gas from the chimney, or catch fire when dried from errant sparks or embers.
How can you remove animals from your chimneys?
Never attempt to burn an animal out of your fireplace. Not only is it cruel to the animal because it could be burned or killed, but it also necessitates opening the damper, which could allow a panicked animal to enter the fireplace and ultimately your home. It’s time to deal with the unwanted hidden animal safely once you’ve established that they are present in your chimney. Another possibility is that a dead animal is lodged in your chimney. Although regrettable, it occasionally cannot be avoided. You might not even be aware of it until you smell something fishy or have problems extinguishing a fire.
Here are the things you can do for chimney animal removal:
- Squirrel
If you have a squirrel stuck above the damper, you can free it by lowering a thick enough rope that is long enough to reach the damper. It can be lured out of a live trap using peanut butter if it has fallen into your fireplace.
A one-way door will often be installed at the chimney exit hole as part of our solution. Our team will return after all animals have left your chimney, check to be sure all squirrels have left—including young ones—remove the one-way entrance, and install a chimney cap to prevent reinfestation.
- Raccoons
Raccoons pose a greater challenge because they are probably parenting their young voluntarily. They only need a reason to depart. That explanation can be given by obnoxious sounds (like music that is too loud) and potent smells (like ammonia). Set these out just before sunset for best results so that the raccoons can escape under the cover of night. However, it can take a few days for them to go.
- Birds
You’re likely dealing with a stuck bird if you hear flapping coming from your chimney. Make sure the fireplace is shut, and then let the fire in by opening the damper. Cover the bird with a cloth after you’ve opened the fireplace’s doors. In case the bird flies away too rapidly, you might also want to have some friends or family members stand behind you holding a bed sheet or a safety net to catch it. Take the trapped bird outside, where you can release it.
- Bats
Installation of bat cone excluders, one-way doors constructed expressly for bats, and/or specialised netting that allows bats to fly out but not back in are required to remove bats from a chimney. However, you must first check to see whether there are any baby bats there, or you risk making a large mess.
- Mice
Fix any brickwork, roof, exhaust vent, and other cracks so that mice can’t get back inside. Steel mesh should be used to fill the gaps since mice cannot chew through it. Put traps inside and outside of your fireplace after opening your damper. Avoid using traps that will kill mice since, as was mentioned before, they will be more difficult to remove and the odour would be intolerable.
Why is it necessary to get professional help to remove animals from your Chimney?
Some homeowners might try to clean out their chimneys on their own. Unfortunately, this could be harmful to the animals, your home, and you. Additionally, forcing animals into the firebox by opening the damper only acts as a way to expose your family to diseases spread by wild animals or to trap a bird, raccoon, or squirrel in your house.
A limited amount of brickwork may need to be removed in order to free imprisoned animals whilst they are still alive. This should only be carried out by an expert to avoid severe structural damage to the chimney.
About Us
Contact A Step In The Time Chimney Sweeps to get Animal Removal Service for your chimneys as we provide perfect professional Chimney Sweep Services to all our clients. With our services the cost to remove animals from the chimney is very less and we ensure that the animals don’t return back. Get a perfect solution for animal removal from chimneys with us.
