The most useful thing any household can do about a loft noise costs nothing, takes about a minute a day, and settles the majority of cases before anybody comes out.
It is a diary, and this is how to keep one that is actually worth reading.
What to record
Five columns, on a phone note or the back of an envelope. Every entry, every time:
- Date
- Time, as precisely as you reasonably can
- Where — which room you were in, and which part of the ceiling it seemed to be above
- What kind — thump, running, gnawing, rolling, scratching, squeaking
- How long — seconds, or minutes
Add the weather if it is notable, and note the quiet periods too. A silent morning is data.
How long for
Three days is usually enough to see the pattern. A week is better if the noise is intermittent. Do not wait a fortnight to call — start the diary and call, because the diary is useful at the point of the visit rather than instead of one.
How to read it back
- Plot the times. Two clusters, around first light and late afternoon, with quiet overnight, is a squirrel. Activity concentrated between midnight and four is not
- Look at the room column. If it is always above the same room, there is a nest or a route there. If it moves about, you are hearing travel
- Look at the kind column. Gnawing that is always in the same place is the entry point or a damage site. Rolling means caching
- Look at the gaps. Several quiet days followed by a return is entirely normal and does not mean it has gone
- Look at the duration. Brief bursts are squirrel; long continuous stretches point elsewhere
Bring the diary to the phone call. Reading four or five entries out settles the species and usually the elevation in about a minute, which is a great deal more than any general description achieves.
Why it beats guessing
Memory smooths things out. Ask anybody a week later when they heard the noise and the answer is ‘mostly mornings, probably, and sometimes at night’ — which contains both a squirrel and a rat and settles nothing. Written at the time, the same week produces a clean pattern.
It is also the only way to tell whether the work has succeeded. A diary kept before and after gives a real comparison rather than an impression, and it is what makes ‘it has gone quiet’ a statement rather than a hope.
Keep it going afterwards
A few lines a week for a month after the work, then a note next autumn if anything returns. That short record is what makes it possible to say whether a new episode is a second opening or a new animal, which are different problems with different answers.
Questions
What if the noise stops while I am keeping the diary?
Record the silence and keep going. Gaps of several days are ordinary and do not mean the roof is empty.
Do I need to be precise about the time?
To the nearest half hour is plenty. It is the pattern that matters, not the minute.
Is a phone recording useful?
It can be, though loft noise records poorly. The written pattern is generally more use than an audio clip.
Squirrel Control Thetford
Squirrel control in Thetford 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 Thetford, call 01502 630 122, or read the Thetford squirrel control page.