Wildlife division · Exclusion
Exclusion is the half that lasts.
Anyone can take an animal out of an attic. Exclusion is the work that decides whether you ever have to call about it again — every entry point found and sealed in material that holds, and the damage that created the opening repaired properly.
1–3 hours on site · Photos and a written estimate · Any fee confirmed up front
What “exclusion” actually means
It's the industry term for permanently denying wildlife access to a building. Not deterring it, not relocating it, not reducing the number currently inside — physically closing the ways in, so the next animal that comes looking finds nothing to use.
It is also, reliably, the part of the job that gets skipped. Removal is quick, visible and easy to invoice. Exclusion is slow, it happens on a ladder, and the customer can't see most of it from the ground. So a lot of companies quietly leave it out — which is exactly why people call us after somebody else already “took care of it.”
The short version: removal without exclusion is a temporary result with a permanent hole. The animal is gone and the door is still open.
The survey
Every gap, not just the one they're using.
An exclusion job is won or lost at the inspection. If we seal the active entry and miss two more that are one season away from being used, we've bought you a few months. So the survey covers the whole building envelope — one to three hours, inside and out, depending on the size of the house and property — and every active and potential entry point gets found and photographed.
Where we find them
- Soffit corners and roof returns — the junction where two planes meet and the fit is never quite right
- Gable vents — usually the thinnest barrier on the whole house
- Ridge vents and box vents — plastic that has aged, lifted or been chewed
- The fascia-to-shingle gap, especially where a drip edge has pulled away
- Construction gaps where a lower roofline ties into a wall — a classic squirrel and bat entry
- Chimney chases and flashing, uncapped or with the seal gone
- Dryer and bathroom vent terminations with failed or missing flaps
- Crawlspace vents, access doors, sill plates and foundation gaps
- Utility penetrations — water, gas, conduit, AC lineset
- Garage door corners, where the seal doesn't meet the slab
Sealed in something they can't chew
Material choice is most of the difference between exclusion that holds and exclusion that buys a season. Squirrels and rodents chew, raccoons pull — so the barrier has to beat the animal, not just fill the hole.
- Steel mesh and hardware cloth where airflow has to be preserved — ridge vents, roof vents, gable vents, weep gaps
- Sheet metal and heavy-gauge material at chewed edges and anywhere a raccoon can get leverage
- Rebuilt structure where the damage is structural — a torn-out soffit panel gets replaced, not patched over
- Mortar and masonry repair at foundation and sill-plate gaps where that's the right answer
Expanding foam and caulk have their place as a sealant behind a proper barrier. On their own they are not exclusion — a squirrel goes through foam in an evening, and a mouse treats it as bedding.
The repairs are part of it, not a separate trade
The damage is the entry point, so repairing it and excluding against it are the same piece of work. We rebuild chewed soffit, replace torn vents, screen the roofline, cap what needs capping, and fit gutter guards where debris is what's inviting the nesting in the first place. You don't need to line up a carpenter to come and close up behind us.
And it's warranted
All our work carries a 1-year warranty unless we've discussed otherwise. We'll tell you at the estimate if some part of your building is an exception and why — before the work, not after it.
The products we install
Most of what goes on your house is cut, bent and fabricated for the opening it has to cover, because no two rooflines fail in quite the same place. Ridge guards, roof vent guards, dig defense, critter barrier, gutter guards, drip edge, custom metal, full metal wraps and foundation exclusion — each one exists because a particular kind of gap kept letting a particular kind of animal in.
See all eleven products, what each one closes and what it looks like installed →
What it looks like finished.
Our own jobs, photographed as we worked.
Exclusion questions we get asked
What's the difference between removal and exclusion?
Removal gets the animal out. Exclusion closes the ways in so the next one can't get established. Removal on its own is a temporary result with a permanent hole — it's the reason people end up calling twice, often about a different animal the second time.
Do you repair the damage, or do I need a contractor?
We repair it. The damage is the entry point, so rebuilding the soffit, replacing the torn vent and screening the roofline is the same piece of work as the exclusion. You don't need to line up a second trade to close up behind us.
Can't I just spray foam in the gaps?
Not as the barrier. Foam and caulk are fine as a sealant behind steel, but on their own a squirrel chews through foam in an evening and a mouse treats it as nesting material. The barrier has to be something the animal can't get through — steel mesh, hardware cloth, sheet metal.
How long does exclusion work last?
Done properly, in steel, it's a permanent repair to that opening. Buildings keep ageing, so new gaps can open elsewhere over the years — but what we seal stays sealed, and it carries a 1-year warranty unless we've discussed otherwise.
Why do you seal potential entry points and not just the active one?
Because sealing only the hole in use buys you a season. The gable vent that isn't being used today is next spring's entry. The inspection finds every active and potential opening and you get photographs of all of them, so you can decide what's in scope with the full picture in front of you.
Related
Get the whole envelope looked at.
One to three hours, inside and out. You keep the photos and the written estimate either way.
1–3 hours on site · Photos and a written estimate · Any fee confirmed up front