Suburban Raccoons

It is one thing to find out that you have raccoons in your attic or somewhere else in your home, but then you find out that the damage they caused is not covered by your home insurance, at least not in our case! We were furious that we had this problem of raccoons in our attic to start with. We focused on getting them out and blocking them from ever getting back in. But once we had a solution, we made repairs. Our home insurance coverage does not cover damages caused by raccoons. There was this small paragraph that was part of the fine print. It denied any coverage for damage caused by rodents and specifically raccoons. It turns out that Insurance Coverage for Damage from Raccoons is not available from many companies.

Now maybe we do not have home insurance from the right company. But if you are reading this and you have a raccoon problem, do not assume that your home insurance covers you. Call your insurance company right away. Find out if you are covered or not. Better to know as soon as possible rather than after all of the work is done and you have a large bill to pay. Ours would not cover the damage. Or even the repairs that would keep them out permanently. We did the right job of removing them, as you will read later in this post.

What did it Cost to Keep Them Out

In our case, it was not too bad. The cost for someone to come and install heavy-duty wire mesh across all potential openings in our attic was $600. It could have been worse. It took him a couple of hours and he came back one more time, which I will explain a little bit later. So for two trips, it costs $300 a trip. We have not had any problems since. He also repaired the entrance for us under the eave of one of our home’s roofs. I guess it is worth it. However, knowing what he did, I could have done the work myself. The cost would have been maybe $25 in materials. So if you are handy and not afraid of getting on the roof, here is what you do.

What is the Solution to Keep the Raccoons Out?

First, you block all possible entrances with strong gauge chicken wire, screw nailed into the roof, and sealed so water cannot get in.  There is no way raccoons and squirrels will get past this.

This is important. If the raccoons have babies in your attic, you must wait until they are mobile and leave the den independently. If you do not, they will either die in there, stink up your house, etc., or the parent raccoons will tear your roof apart to return to the den to their young. Wait until they are old enough to travel on their own.

Once they are old enough to travel, install your wire mesh with a one-way trap door that only opens out, so they can get out but not back in! This is the second trip that I spoke of earlier. Once you are sure they are out of your attic, you can remove the trap door and install the heavy gauge wire mesh across the opening so they can never get in again.

You can try to have your insurance coverage for your home pay for the damage the raccoons caused. However, there will probably be fine print that says this damage is not covered, so you are on your own. If you successfully get them to cover the damage and repairs, let our readers know which insurance company you are with.

Read our other posts about dealing with raccoon scat and droppings and cleaning up your attic after raccoons have been in to build a den.

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