Why the Bigger Roofs Take Them In
A small modern roof is a simple shape with few edges. The roofs on the larger Victorian and Edwardian houses here are the opposite: slopes meeting in valleys, hips and gables, a dormer or two, a bay roof tucked under the main one, chimney stacks with lead flashing worked around them, and a flat roof over a rear extension halfway up. Every junction is a place where two materials meet, and those weather.
Valleys, dormers and the ends of a long run of soffit
The failures are almost always at an edge rather than in the middle of a slope. Fascia and soffit go soft at their ends first, where rain runs off a gutter joint; tiles lift at a verge or along a hip; the flashing at a chimney or a dormer cheek lifts away from the brickwork; a felt flat roof over an extension shrinks back from the wall it abuts. How squirrels get into a roof describes what each looks like from the ground, and a quarter of an hour in the garden at first light, watching the roofline, tells you more than guessing does.
Trees on the street, in the garden and towards the park
A squirrel does not need a branch resting on the tiles. It will jump a good distance from a garden tree, climb a drainpipe or a thick growth of ivy, and treat a garage roof, a bay roof or a rear extension as a landing stage on the way up. Cutting back helps, but only the trees that are actually yours: a street tree is the council's, a tree inside the park belongs to the park, and a garden tree may be covered by a preservation order, so check with Brent Council first.
How the Job Runs, and Why the Order Matters
Settling what is actually up there
Squirrels are daylight animals, busiest in the first hours after dawn and again before dusk, and heavy enough that the sound is running, dragging and the occasional thump. Rodents are lighter and mostly heard once the house has gone quiet. Telling squirrels from rats in a loft adds the droppings and the damage, and if it is the other, rat control or mouse control in Cricklewood is the booking instead.
The £280 trapping service
Trapping deals with the grey squirrels using your roof space, and what it involves and what is asked of you will be explained when you arrange it. In general it means leaving anything set up alone, keeping the loft hatch shut and keeping children and pets out of the roof space until you are told otherwise. Book the trapping service and say which part of the ceiling the noise is over and when you hear it.
Nothing gets closed until the roof is quiet
The opening stays as it is in the meantime. Shut a squirrel in and it will gnaw its way out, sometimes downwards through a ceiling into a bedroom, and between late winter and the end of summer there may be young in a nest that cannot leave by themselves. How long squirrel control takes depends on the roof, the number of ways in and how settled they are.
Briefing a roofer early
Closing the gap on a house like this is roofing work, not a tube of filler: a new length of soffit or fascia, tiles refixed at a verge, flashing dressed back in at a stack. Get someone up to price it while the squirrels are still going in and out, so they can see the exact spot and start as soon as the loft is empty. What a lasting repair involves is worth reading before you brief anyone.
When the Loft Belongs to the Whole House
A good number of the larger houses here are flats now, and the roof space above the top one is usually the freeholder's rather than the top-floor tenant's, whatever the hatch on the landing suggests. Tell them in writing what you are hearing, and say plainly that a repair will be needed afterwards. In a pair or a run of houses the wall between two older lofts does not always carry up to the underside of the tiles, so a word with the neighbours first can save two half-finished jobs.
The Time of Year It Usually Starts
Two spells are worth knowing about. The first runs from late winter into spring, when a female is looking for somewhere dry and warm for young; the second comes in late summer. Calling when the noise first starts gives the best chance of dealing with adults before a litter is involved, and a roof that has been used once will be tried again while the way in is open, which is the bulk of the answer to why squirrels return to the same loft.
Releasing a Grey Squirrel Is an Offence
Grey squirrels are an invasive non-native species. Once one has been caught it is against the law to release it into the wild or to allow it to escape, so carrying a cage down to Gladstone Park is not lawful however kindly it is meant. The legal position after trapping states it plainly. Squirrel Control Brent covers the borough, the Brent squirrel guide covers the damage side, and neighbouring Dollis Hill has much the same period houses and gardens behind them.
