Usually yes, and it is worth being straightforward about where the exceptions are rather than promising a blanket answer.
Here is what closes cleanly, what needs a repair first, and what genuinely cannot be dealt with as proofing.
What closes cleanly
- Discrete openings at a soffit joint, a corner, a board end or a vent — meshed and mechanically fixed
- Open or perished eaves, closed with metal eaves closures or mesh along the run, with ventilation kept
- Failed verge mortar, repaired and closed
- Missing dry-verge or dry-ridge caps, replaced
- Gaps at a roof-to-wall junction, closed and dressed in
- Damaged or missing grilles at vents and penetrations
What needs a repair first
Where the material itself has failed, closing it is not the answer and saying so is more useful than meshing over it.
- Rotten fascia or soffit. Anything fixed to soft timber comes away with the timber
- Perished underlay along a whole roof edge. That is a roofing matter as well as an opening
- Slipped, cracked or missing tiles. Re-lay them rather than mesh under them
- A failed valley or flashing. Water first, animals second
- Extensive mortar loss at ridge or verge
What cannot be dealt with as proofing
- A shared roof space where the entry is on a neighbouring property. Closing your own openings does not close theirs, and this needs the building treating as one
- Thatch. A quite different construction requiring specialist treatment, usually wire netting over the whole roof by a thatcher
- A roof in genuinely poor overall condition. At some point the honest answer is that the roof needs work rather than closures
- Anything that would block essential ventilation without an alternative path being provided
- Externally visible alteration to a listed building without the right consent
The honest position. Proofing closes openings in a sound roof. Where the roof is not sound, proofing is the second job and the repair is the first — and being told that plainly is worth more than a closure that fails next to whatever it was fixed to.
What proofing is not asked to do
It is not asked to keep animals off the roof, which is not achievable and is not the objective. Squirrels will continue to use the roof, the gutter and the ridge of a proofed house, and it does not matter in the least. The objective is that they do not get inside.
The cost
£180, priced on the property rather than per opening, which is why closing three or four points is one job rather than three or four. It is separate from the £280 control work because not every property needs it.
Questions
Can every roof be proofed?
Most can. Thatch, shared roof spaces and roofs in genuinely poor condition are the real exceptions.
Will it stop them being on the roof?
No, and it does not need to. The objective is that they cannot get inside.
What if the boards are rotten?
They want replacing rather than covering. Anything fixed to soft timber comes away with it.
Squirrel Control Newmarket
Squirrel control in Newmarket 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 Newmarket, call 01502 630 122, or read the Newmarket squirrel control page.