From branch to eaves
A house close to a mature tree often has a branch overhanging the roofline, and that's usually all a squirrel needs to bridge the gap. From there it only has to find a weak spot at the eaves or a loose ridge tile to get into the roof void itself.
Mayesbrook Park and Eastbrookend
The older gardens backing onto Mayesbrook Park and Eastbrookend give squirrels a clear path from mature woodland onto the roofs of the houses closest to the park edge. Checking the eaves each autumn, before the weather turns, is worth doing if your garden backs directly onto either green space.
Is it definitely a squirrel?
Timing gives it away. Squirrel activity happens by day, typically a burst around first light and another in late afternoon, so overnight scratching or running points elsewhere, to rats or mice, much as it does near Becontree, where the heart of the Becontree estate itself — one of the largest council-built housing.
Checking for damage
Look from the loft hatch without climbing in, using a torch: flattened or torn-up insulation, chewed timber, and droppings near a water tank are the usual signs. If you find gnawed electrical cable, treat it as urgent: exposed wiring is a fire risk, so don't handle it yourself, call an electrician instead, as anyone near Dagenham will recognise, where long straight roads of ex-LCC terraced and semi-detached housing.
What not to do
- Block the entry hole before you're sure the loft is clear - a trapped squirrel will chew a new way out
- Put down poison in the loft space
- Catch and release a squirrel elsewhere, which is illegal for this species
Booking squirrel control in Barking and Dagenham
Our squirrel trapping service in Barking and Dagenham is £280, and since around Dagenham, where long straight roads of ex-LCC terraced and semi-detached housing, it helps to say when you book squirrel control whether the sounds are by day or night and whether trees overhang the roof, with more on the Barking and Dagenham squirrel control page.
