There is a gap between hearing gnawing and finding out what it did, and the gap is usually months. That delay is the single reason this problem gets underestimated so consistently.
The sequence, with the timescale
- Week one. Noise starts. Gnawing among it, but nothing visible anywhere in the house
- Weeks two to eight. Damage accumulates daily. Still nothing visible. This is the period in which most of the cost is incurred
- Months two to four. The first symptom appears — a circuit trips, a ceiling stains, the house feels harder to heat
- Later. The full picture emerges when somebody finally goes into the loft, usually the following summer
Why nothing shows up sooner
- Cable damage is silent until it is not. Partially stripped sheathing carries current perfectly well
- Water is absorbed. A breached roof covering puts water into insulation, which holds a great deal before anything reaches a ceiling
- Heat loss is gradual. Damaged insulation costs a little every day, which registers as the weather or as prices rather than as an event
- Pipework leaks quietly. The same absorption problem
- Nobody goes into a loft. Most households look once a year, in summer, for the suitcases
Which makes gnawing the most actionable sound in the roof. The thumping is what wakes you up; the gnawing is what is spending your money. Hearing it is the earliest warning anybody gets, and it arrives months before the evidence.
What to do the week you hear it
- Note where and when, particularly whether the gnawing is always in the same place
- Look from the hatch at the cable runs along the joists nearest the hatch and towards the eaves
- Check for electrical symptoms — flickering, tripping, dead sockets, any smell of burning. Those do not wait
- Call. £280 for the control work, £180 for closing the roof
The other direction: finding damage with no noise
The lag works both ways. A loft inspection in June that turns up weathered gnaw marks, grey dusty droppings and flattened insulation is a record of last autumn. There may be nothing there now — and there is still an opening, because something got in.
That situation is the cheapest version of this whole subject: an empty roof and a closure job, with no animal to deal with first. It is worth acting on rather than filing away, because next autumn's cohort will find the same way in.
Why this argues against waiting
The instinct to give it a week or two is understandable and it costs more here than in most household problems, because the damage is invisible and continuous. Nothing about waiting produces information after the first two or three days of noting times.
Questions
I hear gnawing but nothing is wrong in the house. Is it urgent?
It is the earliest warning available. The damage is happening now and the symptoms arrive months later.
How long until something goes wrong?
It varies enormously. What is consistent is that the sound comes long before the consequence.
Found old damage but no noise. Anything to do?
Close the opening. Something got in, and the way in is very probably still there.
Squirrel Control Stowmarket
Squirrel control in Stowmarket 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 Stowmarket, call 01502 630 122, or read the Stowmarket squirrel control page.