If I had to pick one thing a homeowner could do to keep wildlife out of their home, it would be installing a chimney cap. The number of animals and birds that can gain entry from an uncapped chimney flue is amazing.
I have removed gray squirrels, flying squirrels, bats, crows, ducks, seagulls, woodpeckers, assorted small birds, raccoons, cats and mice.
With the exception of raccoons, most of the time these other animals and birds will not be able to get back out. You may think, I keep my fireplace damper close so they wont be able to get into my house and that's good but it's not the only consideration.
Once an animal goes down a chimney flue, there are four possibility's for it.
1 It could go by an open or missing damper and gain entry into your living room. I have see many flue fireplace dampers over the years that did not shut properly due to soot and ash or rust.
2. It could exit the flue out a small door called a clean out usually at the base of the chimney and located in the basement. That little door is sometime missing or loose.
3.The third way is the draft regulator on your heating unit. Oil fired boilers and furnaces will have a little swinging door in the flue pipe that connects the boiler to the chimney. Squirrels will pop right out that little swinging door and enter your basement. Also, consider a woodstove or opening in the chimney, (thimble) that used to have a woodstove but now has a pie plate over the hole or just insulation shoved in place.
4. It could just stay stuck in the flue until it is removed or dies.
An Animal in the chimney call is fairly common for us. In the spring raccoon sows will have their littler right on the fireplace damper, sometimes going unheard and unnoticed until the pups actually start to chatter and whine. By then there will be feces and urine and the resulting odor to deal with as well.
In the winter, birds and squirrels will seek the warmth at the top of the chimney, sitting on the chimney crown and sometimes, the carbon monoxide causing them to become disorientated and fall down the flue.
A gray squirrel is maybe the worst case scenario though. Once that squirrel is in your home, it will chew around door and window frames,
anywhere it see's light from the outside. If you are away at work, by the time you get home it is not unusual to see a whole floor or story of a home's windows and doors ruined.
This does not even take into consideration the damage from ice, rain and freeze, thaw cycles to the tile flues. Weather can destroy clay flues in just years and the repair cost can be very high.
The above thoughts are why I consider a chimney cap the first line of defense when it comes to wildlife and your home.
Lenny Gorski
Shoreline Wildlife
http://www.shorelinewildlife.com/
