You heard something thumping around in your attic last night. Perhaps you assumed it was caused by the house settling, or thought it would work its way free of itself, as it will not. Opossums in attic Orlando, and raccoon infestations are among the more expensive wildlife issues that Central Florida homeowners experience, and the serious damage remains concealed until it is up to the brim.
Key Takeaway:
- Homeowners in Florida can end up paying $10,000 or more to replace attic insulation and repair the roof to stop a raccoon family from nesting.
- In warm Florida, where nesting activity has no off-season and electrical wiring is used for dry nesting, these systems are a direct fire hazard and are also chewed or displaced by raccoons or opossums.
- National Fire Protection Association reports that 20 to 25% of house fires are not known to have been caused by anything, with an estimated 20% of those fires being due to wildlife or rodent damage.
- The round worm Baylisascaris procyonis is spread through the handling of raccoon feces, which release eggs that can damage the nervous system if inhaled, especially by children and those with weakened immune systems.
- Opossum waste is found throughout the attic floor, is widely distributed, and is known to carry two diseases that can reach living rooms via HVAC returns or lighting penetrations: Leptospirosis and Salmonella.
How Raccoons Destroy Your Attic
A raccoon can be a strong, hardworking animal. They don’t fit through an opening, they rip, pry, and tear through soffits, fascia boards, and roofing materials and enlarge the openings sufficiently to allow them to bring nesting material in.
If it enters, it is rapidly destroyed. For one nesting season, a raccoon rips through the insulation, reducing its R-value. As they keep running the same tracks over and over, they compress the batt insulation. The cost of repair for a single family of raccoons in Florida after a nesting season is estimated to cost $10,000 or more.
What Opossums Leave Behind
Opossums inflict another type of damage. They move more slowly and with less aggression towards structures, but often they defecate all of the time, and there is no set site, so waste skyrockets over a large area of your attic floor! Leptospirosis, Salmonella, and other diseases are found in their feces. Dried fecal matter is released into the air when the home is disturbed during HVAC repair or attic inspection and is inhaled.
The Fire Risk Nobody Mentions
Raccoons make wires pull and redirect during nesting, and opossums, during normal foraging, gnaw wire insulation, which creates electrical hazards. In each case, the result is that bare copper conductors are sitting against dry nesting material.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, 20-25 percent of house fires investigated have no specific known cause, with an estimated portion being from the damage caused by wildlife and rodents. Attic wildlife is active year-round in Florida’s warm climate, and there is no off-season for this problem.
The Health Hazard in Your Air
Your attic is not airtight. It communicates with the living spaces in the building by recessed lighting, HVAC return,s and plumbing penetrations. Raccoon and opossum nests above you allow those contaminants to be drawn into your house’s air supply.
Raccoon droppings are a source of the roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis that spreads by eggs in dried feces, which are wind-distributed in the air. They can be poisonous to the brain if inhaled. Kids and people with compromised immune systems are at the greatest risk. No matter what you read about removing contaminated insulation, Wildlife removal Orlando in the field explain that removing it, even for the purpose of spot cleaning, is not enough as it must be completely replaced.
What to Do If You Suspect Wildlife
Don’t go unless you are accompanied. Animals will be scattered on the wall when disturbance occurs in the nest, spreading contaminants. The correct order: check the status, species identification, humane removal, seal all access areas, and replace the contaminated material(s).
Leading into a book is seldom easy. Raccoons take advantage of broken eave vents and roof returns. Opossums fit through openings as narrow as three times! Professional inspection includes the entire roof line, including where the noise was heard.
FAQ
Can raccoons and opossums in the attic make you sick?
Yes. Eggs of the raccoon roundworm can not come in through inhalation and lead to severe nervous system disease. Leptospirosis and Salmonella are carried by opossums. Fleas and ticks are brought inside areas via both of these animals.
Will raccoons leave on their own?
Unlikely. In the absence of active removal and exclusion, established den sites are used year after year by female raccoons.
Do I need to replace insulation after an infestation?
In most cases, yes. Urine and feces-saturated insulation will not be sanitized, only removed.
How do I know if it’s a raccoon or an opossum in my attic?
Please pay attention to weight and timing. Raccoons are active at dusk and dawn, are heavy with movement, and make sounds of rolling and chattering. Opossums are noiseless, more subdued, and prefer dragging over thumping their movements.
Does homeowner’s insurance cover wildlife damage in the attic? Damage caused by animals is usually not covered with the normal type of policy, but would be treated instead as a maintenance problem and not a loss.
