Suburban Raccoons

He is on top of the world and surveying his domain!  This is a raccoon chimney for sure. This guy seems quite comfortable perched atop a warm chimney. Surveying his surroundings before he heads out for the night to look for food. He is probably spending his days in the chimney somewhere where it is dark and warm. It can be a major problem for home owners with this kind of situation. The raccoon is possibly doing damage to the chimney and also blocking the chimney from working properly. Carbon Monoxide could be building up inside the house. It could make the occupants very sick or even kill them.

There is an easy solution to this problem of raccoons in your chimney. However the first step is to make sure that they are out of your chimney. Most consumers will hire a professional to remove them and so they cannot get back inside the chimney.

They might still sit up on top, but that is not as big an issue as being inside the chimney. We cannot emphasize this enough regarding the safety of the occupants of the home. If your furnace cannot exhaust the gases from combustion out the chimney, they will need to go elsewhere and that is usually inside the home. This is serious and can cause you to become very sick or in the worst case, kill you from carbon monoxide gases which are odorless and colorless.

Solutions for Raccoon Chimney Problems

Once the raccoons are out of the chimney, install a heavy gauge wire mesh over the top. This will prevent them from getting inside the chimney. It still allows the smoke and exhaust gases to leave the chimney. It should not impede the chimney in any way. This mesh should have been installed by the builder of your home, however like many things, especially on older homes, they go missing or deteriorate over time. do a check right now and make sure that you have something covering your chimney.

At the same time heavy gauge wire mesh should be installed over any potential entry points that could be used by raccoons or other animals to get inside your home or your attic. You may as well bite the bullet and do it now, since these pests will just look for another home and your house is the nearest thing available.

While it may be expensive to hire professionals to do the job for you, avoiding raccoon chimney problems and raccoons in your attic will save you a great deal of money in the long run. The damage they can do is extensive and it could cost you thousands of dollars in repairs if not looked after properly.

We have lots of other posts on this site that talk about dealing with raccoons in homes and attics. Also some of the precautions that should be taken when dealing with damage caused by them and the danger to your health. We recommend that you review all of this information prior to doing any of the work yourself.

For more posts about health risks associated with raccoons, click here.

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