You may have enjoyed the somewhat humorous story reported in this column three weeks ago.  The seemingly unbelievable story about a groundhog that had broken into our home was true.  Only the name of the groundhog had been changed to protect the guilty.

Shortly after being discovered, our little (actually fat) intruder returned to the darkness of our crawl space via the same vent he had compromised a few minutes earlier.  Then our real work began.  The first order of business was to get him out of the crawl space.  Fortunately he decided to exit the same way he entered.  Then we turned our attention to clean-up of the damaged and soiled HVAC ducting under our home.  Finally, we focused our attention on preventing a future attack. 

In addition to having a funny story to tell, what did we learn from our experience with the wild?  We learned plenty and some of it may be of interest to you:

  • When it comes to paying for the experience, the burden will probably be all yours (in our case more than $2000). Most homeowner insurance policies exclude coverage for damage caused by “birds, vermin, rodents, insects or domestic animals.”  And even if your policy pays the claim, a deductible probably applies. 
  • Prevention is the key.  Inspect your home and its perimeter for signs of animal activity – now!  Animal tracks, excrement, scratch marks, offensive odors and other indicators may be indicators that you have a guest living in your crawl space, attic, garage or shed.  In our situation, we saw evidence that groundhog was not the first uninvited guest to visit our crawl space.
  • Check the outside of your home for holes or openings near the foundation, under steps or porches and crawl space access door.  Animals of all types can find their way into your crawl space or home by way of the smallest openings.   One common point of access is under the HVAC unit on the outside of the home. The groundhog entered our crawl space through a narrow opening under the HVAC unit where the metal chase protected the main trunk line entering the crawl space.
  • Don’t encourage visitors from the wild.  Garbage cans should be closed at all times, even when empty. A weight should be placed on top of the cans because animals can open the lids. Garbage should not be put outside or by the curb until the morning of pickup. Skunks and raccoons will attempt to knock over the can and scavenge around inside, scattering your trash.
  • The best way to remove most wild animals outside the house is to place rags that are soaked in ammonia or mothballs around holes, garbage cans and any area you feel trafficked by wild animals. This does not actually hurt animals, but rather drive them away. 
  • If you believe a nocturnal animal (skunk, possum, raccoon, etc.) has entered your home, keep doors and entrances to this room blocked so that the animal does not migrate through the house. Next, leave a bright light on in the room and set up a small radio. The bright light and noise from the radio will usually cause the animal to move outside the residence.
  • If you are not capable of handling your intruder, it pays to get help from a company that specializes in animal removal, such as Trapper Jack, Wildlife Specialist.  The firm’s expertise lies in the humane trapping and removal of nuisance wildlife; and they are licensed and fully insured.  They operate under the laws of the TWRA (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) and will relocate animals that are captured to a habitat away from your home.

Originally posted May 16, 2010

Ann Hoke leads the award-winning team at Ann Hoke & Associates (affiliated with Keller Williams Realty).  For more information or comments, contact her at 397-4024 or ann@annhoke.com.