Yes, and how badly depends a great deal on what the loft is insulated with. Soham has examples of most of the common types, and they behave quite differently.
Mineral wool batts and rolls
By far the most common, and the most attractive material of the lot from a squirrel's point of view: soft, dry, easily teased apart and endlessly available. It is compressed along running routes, excavated into a nest bowl, shredded for lining and pushed off the joists into heaps.
It also loses its performance completely once compressed, because it works by trapping air. A flattened track through a roll is not insulating along its whole length.
Loose-fill materials
Blown cellulose, mineral fibre or vermiculite. Easily displaced, and the damage is harder to see because the surface reflows — an animal moving through loose fill leaves less of a permanent track than it does in a batt, which means the disturbance can be significant and still look tidy from the hatch.
Older vermiculite is worth a separate note: some material of a certain age was found to contain asbestos contamination. Where a loft has loose granular fill of unknown age, the sensible course is not to disturb it and to have it identified first.
Rigid boards
Polyisocyanurate or polystyrene boards, usually at the rafter line rather than the ceiling. Not attractive as nesting material, and readily gnawed — squirrels will work through board to make a route, and the gnawed fragments end up scattered. Where boards form part of a warm-roof construction, a hole through one is a thermal and condensation issue as well as a cosmetic one.
Sheep's wool and natural materials
Excellent nesting material and correspondingly popular. Otherwise the damage pattern is the same as mineral wool.
Spray foam
Applied to the underside of the roof rather than laid on the ceiling. It is resistant to being nested in, and gnawed foam is difficult to repair properly. It also creates its own well-known complications for roof ventilation, inspection and mortgage valuations, quite separately from anything an animal does.
One thing applies to all of them. Whatever the material, contamination is what usually decides its fate rather than physical damage. Soiled insulation does not clean, and a nest bowl holds scent that advertises the site to the next animal along.
What to look at from the hatch
- Flattened tracks running towards the eaves
- A hollow or bowl, with bare plasterboard visible at the bottom
- Batts pushed off the joists and heaped against the eaves
- Loose fibres scattered well away from where they belong
- Fragments of gnawed board
- Droppings sitting on the surface
Questions
Does it matter which type I have?
It affects how the damage looks and how it is put right. Soft materials are nested in; boards are gnawed through.
My loft has old granular fill. Anything to know?
Do not disturb loose granular material of unknown age until it has been identified. Some older vermiculite carried asbestos contamination.
Is spray foam safer from squirrels?
It is less attractive as nesting material and brings its own separate complications for ventilation, inspection and valuation.
Squirrel Control Soham
Squirrel control in Soham 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 Soham, call 01502 630 122, or read the Soham squirrel control page.