How Do I Get Rid of Squirrels in My Attic Permanently?

Getting rid of squirrels in your attic permanently takes two things done in the right order. Every squirrel has to come out first, and then every opening they used, or could use, has to be sealed with material they can’t chew through. Skip either one and the problem comes back. Trapping without sealing leaves the door open for the next squirrel, and sealing without trapping locks a squirrel inside your house.

Remove Every Squirrel Before Anything Gets Sealed

The order matters more than anything else on this job. A squirrel that gets closed inside an attic doesn’t settle down and wait. It chews its way back out, many times straight through the ceiling into the living space. That’s why the biggest mistake homeowners make is calling a roofer or handyman to patch the hole. The hole gets sealed, the squirrel is stuck inside, and now it’s doing more damage trying to escape and is much harder to catch.

Young squirrels change the timeline too. Squirrels raise young more than once a year, and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s guide to Texas squirrels notes that young gray squirrels stay in the nest for about six weeks after they’re born. If there’s a litter in the attic, those young squirrels have to be accounted for before the house gets sealed.

Store-bought traps cause their own problems. A squirrel that gets into a cheap trap, breaks it and gets out learns to avoid traps, and it becomes much harder to catch after that. Homeowners who do catch a squirrel often don’t know what they’re legally allowed to do with it next, since squirrels are game animals in Texas and there are rules on relocating trapped wildlife.

Seal Every Entry Point With Material Squirrels Can’t Chew Through

Squirrels gnaw through soffits, roofing material and push their way through vents. The weak spots they go after are soft roof connections, where the soffit runs into a roof transition and meets the shingles or tile, along with the vents on the roof. Permanent means every one of those spots gets closed, not just the hole the squirrels happen to be using today.

The material is what makes it last. We close soffit-to-roof connections with 23 gauge aluminum, the same metal gutters are made of, bent on-site with a metal brake and painted to blend with the house. Vents get secured with hardware cloth and custom metal fabrication. We don’t use spray foam, because it gets brittle in Texas heat after about a year, and we don’t use steel wool, which rusts and falls apart in a couple of months.

Repair What the Squirrels Damaged

Squirrels gnaw on wiring, which creates a fire risk, crush attic insulation and chew on structural beams. Once the animals are out, we clear out the nest material, droppings and urine, replace damaged attic insulation, and repair damaged soffits, fascia boards and roof openings.

How We Handle It

The Critter Team provides squirrel removal services that cover the full job from inspection through humane trapping, cleanup, repair and exclusion. Our inspections start the way owner Mike Garrett does them, by listening first. We ask what you’re hearing, where and when, then inspect the outside of the house from the foundation to the peak of the roof and chimney before going into every attic space. Our technicians are Ridge Guard Certified Installers trained in advanced metal fabrication, and every exclusion job is backed by a written warranty with one-year and three-year options.

So How Do You Get Rid of Squirrels in Your Attic Permanently?

You remove every squirrel first, including any young, and only then seal every entry point with metal that holds up to chewing and Texas weather. After that, the damage gets repaired. Trapping alone is temporary. The wildlife exclusion work that follows the trapping is what makes it permanent.