Squirrel Nests

Sorry, but this post will make some renters NEVER want to buy their own home.  But don't worry, I just have terrible luck, you will be fine!  When we first moved into our house, some mornings I could hear something running above me.  Our bed is really close to the roof, so I assumed it was the squirrels in our backyard running on the roof top.  Then in the summer I didn't really hear anything so I didn't give it much thought.  Then in the late summer our neighbor asked, "have you gotten the squirrel problem in your attic under control?"  I was kind of confused about that until this fall when I have been hearing all kinds of craziness in our attic.  We tried to handle it ourselves and Paul even shot one with a BB gun.  But to no avail I decided it was time to call in the professionals.  We did a lot of research and feel confident that we have a fair and honest company now.  But guess how much?  $1,625 and that is just to have them trapped and relocated and then have our house squirrel (or any other animal) proofed.  I guess the housing codes in Georgia are not very strict and you can have up to a 4 inch gap between your gutter and roof.  Ours is about an inch which is apparently plenty of room for squirrels to get in. 

The professional found 2 "nests" (how gross does that sound) and he believes that I most likely only heard things occasionally in the beginning of the year because it was just the mom, then she had 4-6 babies, and now the babies are big enough that I hear them running around like a normal toddler would.  The worst part is that they mess up all the insulation and that is the big cost.  To remove and blow in new insulation he said it is about $4,000 for the square footage in our attic.  He also said that this has been going on for way longer than we have lived here, thanks home inspector!  And of course this also is not covered by our insurance (wish we had Allstate, have you seen the raccoon one?) Not to mention that we haven't even fixed the foundation crack yet.  I was so depressed yesterday that I just slept all afternoon.  I guess I am suppose to learn that you don't need anything fun in life but the bare essentials.

Three positives:  1)  We found a good company (you should have heard the other quotes) who offer a 2 year warranty and if any animal gets in they cover the total cost.  We can also pay $95 and extend the warranty another 2 years. 2)  Usually the squirrels chew on the electrical wiring which is very costly to repair and can cause fires but our sweet squirrels spared us that misery and 3)  Apparently "roof rats" are a big problem in Georgia too, so thank goodness we don't have those!  They carry lots of diseases and their bodies can be 4-6 inches and their tails can be 6-10 inches.  The professional said they can climb up anything but glass because of their enormous claws.  They are also much more destructing.  Just writing that makes me shiver!  

So with all that said, we never would have bought this house with the foundational and squirrel problems.  We moved in thinking that all it needed was some new paint and carpet.  We looked over our home inspection and the professional we talked to said a good one is 20-40 pages or something like that and ours was 24 pages, so I just don't know how we were suppose to know whether he did a thorough inspection.