For the past two weeks since we returned from a trip we heard a scratching noise in the wall almost above our bow window. It wasn't continuous and didn't occur at night. We thought it was something that was trapped in our leaf guard gutters. I pulled off several covers to look inside and the gutters looked clear. While I had one cover off I heard the noise and determined wit was coming from the soffit. Our soffits are totally enclosed with perforated vinyl panels held in place by the F-channel, one nail in each panel into the fascia and the aluminum fascia panel. In other words not easy to get into.
With some effort and carefully levering the aluminum fascia out just enough to be able to remove one panel. I placed my game camera up in the soffit hoping to capture the critter in a photo. After 24 hours I pulled the SD card from the camera and looked at the files on my computer. Here was what was photographed.
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Now that I knew what was in there, I started a search for how it was getting in. I determined that the vinyl corner pieces of our siding left a clear path for a small athletic critter to gain access to the soffit area. Here's what the corners look like.
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There are 6 of them on the house. I had previously discovered this and had fitted some ethafoam blocks up into the opening. It didn't take long to find one of the corners open and chunks of foam on the ground below.
I first determine that the squirrel wasn't currently in the attic (late at night). Then I stuffed 5 steel wool pads up into the cavity. It was a really tight fit. 10:00 next morning i found shredded steel wool on the ground. Score one for the squirrel.
My second attempt that evening was to spray some "Critter Stop" foam up into the corner piece. I even adhered a thin piece of aluminum to the exposed bottom of the foam. It was blocked solid 6-8 inches up the corner. I went outside at 8:00 am and got there just in time to see the tail disappear up the corner piece. Squirrel 2 Lee 0.
My next and current attempt was to fabricate a heavier piece of aluminum that would slide up into the folds of the corner molding and glue it in place with some polyurethane glue. I also fabricated some aluminum piece that would deter the Squirrel from chewing through the vinyl to get in.
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The folded piece looks like this.
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Here's what it looks like when installed.
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Hopefully, The aluminum will stop it. I've also set a live trap baited with peanut butter to remove the squirrel from our property.
Time will tell.