How Do Bats Get Into Your House?
There are many ways that bats can get into your house. Bat colonies are a wonderful thing for our environment, but it becomes an issue when bats decide to take up residence in your house. It can cause chaos and health issues for both you and your family once the bats get into your house.
Where you live can contribute to whether bats might be a concern for you. Bats are much more common in rural or countryside settings. Bats get into your house for safety and rest during the sunlight hours of the day. If you sit outside your house, you might see the bats leaving at dusk and returning into the house at dawn.
The surprisingly least common way that bats get into your house is through an open door. In rare cases, bats can fly in through open windows. The lights that we have on our porches attract bugs, which are a favorite hunting target for bats. Bats will then come to feast on them. When you walk in or out, the bats can mistakenly fly into your house.
Another way that bats can get into your house is if the fascia board, which is just below the gutters of your roof, has even a small gap for them to enter. Bats are relatively small, so it doesn’t take much of a crack for them to get into your house this way.
Bats can also get into your house through the chimney. If the cap has been harmed by weather or tree branches, or there are cracks in the mortar the bats will take advantage of the ideal dark environment. especially when it comes time for them to have their babies. Fall and spring are when it is most common to find them here.
Among all the ways that bats can get into your house, however, the most common is through the attic. Various cracks and gaps along the roofline allow the bats access to the attic. Warm temperatures and a solitary space make this the perfect place for bats to live.
If you have bats flying around in your house, you most likely have them in your attic or walls. You do not want to try to catch a bat because you will probably injure it or even perhaps yourself. The best thing that you can do if bats have gotten into your house is call a professional!
The Dangers of Having Bats In Your House
Bats in your house can be a very hazardous and destructive thing. The presence of bats in your house can cause health problems and expensive structural concerns.
The health concerns mostly come from bat guano, or droppings. Bat guano can carry a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum that can cause a lung infection in humans if the droppings dry out and the dust becomes airborne. If the infection spreads beyond the lungs to the rest of the body, it can be fatal.
Rabies can also be a concern for you, your family, and your pets when there are bats in your house. Rabies can be contracted through a bite from an infected bat as well as contact with its fur, guano, urine or blood. While it is rare, there is no reason to take that chance of a terrible infection.
When it comes to the destruction of your house, bats can do this in a variety of different ways. Bats leave behind their guano, or droppings, urine, and chew through insulation and wiring. They can scratch inside your walls, and the odor of their presence can last for an extensive amount of time.
Bats living in your house will leave droppings when they squeeze back in, along with a greasy film that can stain the exterior walls of your house. Once the bats are back in your house, piles of droppings will allow for bacteria to grow. The odor from the bat droppings can become overwhelming as well.
The bat droppings can also be a place for mold to begin to accumulate. The mold then can spread causing respiratory infections and destroying the walls of your home.
In the colder months, bats will burrow into and chew through the insulation in your house, trying to find warmth. This will add to your heating costs and the repair costs once the bats have been removed.
Wiring is another thing can that be destroyed when you have bats in your house. Bats can chew through the wiring of your house and attic, which can become a fire hazard and cause devastating damage.
Bats can also make the cracks and gaps in your roof, shingles, and walls much worse. Bat’s urine can weaken the structure of both the roof and walls, which can be a large expense to repair. As the bats enter and leave each day, they widen the gaps, encouraging more bats to come inside and expand the colony in your house.
The Difficulty of Bat Removal
By the time you notice that there are bats in your house, it is generally too late to do anything yourself. The problem can be overwhelming with the amount of droppings, urine, and damage that will be found in your house.
The health concerns with bat removal are very serious. The droppings can carry a fungus that can lead to lung disease, and if they are handled they can crumble to dust that can make you ill if it is breathed in. Droppings can also be a place for mold to flourish, which can cause respiratory problems if inhaled. Contact with urine or blood from the bats while you are going through the removal process also has a possibility of infecting you with rabies.
The destruction of insulation in your attic, the most common location of infestation by bats, can lead to skin irritation, eye irritation, and respiratory issues if you attempt the removal on your own.
If wiring has been chewed on in your attic, a normal activity for bats, there is always the chance that you will be shocked or electrocuted. Exposed wires can spark, and the electricity can jump to your skin as you move around in the attic space. It could also ignite the insulation or wood structure around you with possibly fatal results.
Bats can be dangerous themselves if you happen to surprise them during the removal process. A bite from a bat that is infected with rabies is a serious concern. There is a chance that as the bats make an effort to find an exit from your house or attic during their panic, you will be injured, or the bats will be.
Removing the bats can become even more complicated depending on the species being dealt with, which is another reason to not try it on your own. A professional will have the necessary knowledge of the bats to be certain that the removal is done safely and thoroughly.
Without any experience in wildlife removal, taking care of getting the bats out of your house yourself can be dangerous. Removal is a lengthy task that is best left to a professional.
The Problems With Cleanup After Removal
Alright, so the professional has successfully gotten all of the bats out of your house and fixed things up to exclude them from returning! What’s next?
Next is the cleanup, which can be just as dangerous and unpleasant as the bat removal itself. Many of the same concerns remain when the process reaches this stage and more are added.
The first step for cleanup is the removal of the bat guano or droppings. One bat can go to the bathroom as many as thirty times a day, so a colony can leave behind quite a bit of waste. Even though the bats are gone, the health concerns of the guano are still there.
Droppings can also accumulate on the exterior of the house where the bats have been entering and exiting. Stains and discoloration are a dirty reminder of the bat’s former residence in your house.
The second step is the removal of any damaged and destroyed insulation from the attic. The soiled, filthy insulation must be taken out of the house to prevent the spread of odor and disease. Again, contact with the insulation, with live wiring, or the droppings and urine are problems to be concerned about.
An inspection must be done to see if any structural damage in the attic has occurred due to the bat droppings and urine, such as rotting in the wood or corrosion of the metal. In rare cases, the bats have been in the attic so long that the droppings can be in process of buckling the ceilings below!
Once those things are complete, attic restoration can be done. Attic restoration is an involved process with the use of hazardous chemicals and expertise is highly recommended. Luckily, the same professional that handled getting the bats out of the house can handle all of these processes as well.