The work is done, the roof is closed and the winter passes quietly. Then August comes round again and a fresh cohort of young animals starts moving through Diss looking for somewhere to live.
Here is what that year looks like, and what is worth doing in it.
What has and has not changed
What has changed is the building: the openings are closed in steel, mechanically fixed, and that is a permanent repair to each point. What has not changed is the pressure. The local population is the same, the dispersal happens on the same schedule, and your roof is assessed exactly as it was last year.
That is the whole logic of proofing. It does not reduce the number of animals; it takes the property off the list.
The annual ten minutes
September, on a dry morning with low sun. Walk the whole perimeter, sight along the eaves line from each corner, zoom in on the closed points and on every junction, and photograph anything that has changed since last year's set.
- Mesh and closures intact, fixings sound, no fresh gnawing at the edges
- No new gaps at eaves, verge, soffit joints, ridge ends or junctions
- Nothing slipped or lifted on the covering after the winter's gales
- Gutter clear, from an upstairs window
- Trees: what has grown back towards the roof in twelve months
What changes is the rest of the roof, not the proofed points. Mortar cracks, a verge unit lifts in a gale, a soffit joint opens, a tile slips. That is what the annual look is for, and it is why one inspection is not the same as a routine.
The garden side of the year
Cut back anything that has grown towards the roof, keeping outside the main bird nesting season. Keep climbing plants off the eaves. Move anything that has accumulated against a wall over the summer — a log store, stacked pots, garden furniture — that gives a first step up.
If something does happen
Two facts settle what it is. When it started, and whether it is the same part of the roof. Activity in a different place, a year later, is a new animal finding a detail that has failed since — which is an ordinary maintenance matter rather than a failure of the earlier work.
Diss sits among a good deal of mature tree cover and open country, and properties on the edges of the town see the autumn dispersal most sharply. A high-pressure location does not make this harder to solve; it makes the annual ten minutes worth more.
The long view
A roof that is closed and looked at once a year stays closed indefinitely. The households that end up having this conversation repeatedly are almost always the ones where a detail failed quietly and nobody looked for three or four years.
Questions
Will it definitely come back?
The pressure comes back every autumn. Whether anything gets in depends entirely on whether there is a way in.
How often should I check?
Once a year in September, plus a look after any severe gale — that is what lifts verge units and slips tiles.
Does proofing need redoing?
The closed points are a permanent repair. It is the rest of the roof that changes over time.
Squirrel Control Diss
Squirrel control in Diss is £280 fixed cost. Proofing work, where it is needed afterwards, is £180. Call 01502 630 122 and tell us what you have heard or seen.
For squirrel control in Diss, call 01502 630 122, or read the Diss squirrel control page.