A Roof Space That Runs Past Your Ceiling
In many terraces and parades the dividing walls in the roof stop short of the tiles, were never fully built up, or have been broken through by later work. Where that is the case, the void above your flat carries on over the neighbours on either side. A squirrel that is loud above your bedroom may be going in and out three doors away, over a shop or a stairwell, and looking only at your own eaves will not find the hole. How squirrels get into a roof describes what to look for along the whole run.
Getting up there in the first place
Grey squirrels climb brick, drainpipes and soil stacks easily, and they jump further than people credit. Around Roundwood Park and in the older back gardens there are mature trees with branches reaching towards the roofs, and on the parades the signage boards, fascia boxes and projecting shopfronts give a series of ledges to work up. A rear extension with a flat roof is a halfway landing between the yard and the main roof.
Flat roofs, parapets and box gutters
Behind the parapet of a parade, or over a rear extension, a flat roof provides a sheltered walkway at roof level where nobody looks. The weak points are the junction where the flat roof meets the main wall, box gutters and their timber, lifted flashing and rotten fascia or soffit boards at the roof edge. From any of those a squirrel is into the void above the ceiling. What it does once inside is set out in the damage squirrels cause in a loft.
The Order the Work Has to Happen In
Each stage waits for the one before it, and a shared roof makes the sequence stricter rather than looser.
- Work out what is up there first: daytime thumping and running usually means squirrels, night-time scratching usually means rodents, and rat control or mouse control would be the right booking instead
- Book the £280 trapping service and say when the noise started and which part of the ceiling it is over
- Leave the way in open and the roof space undisturbed while the work is under way
- Wait until the void is confirmed quiet before anything is closed up, because a shut-in squirrel gnaws its way out and in spring there may be young that cannot leave alone
- Have the repair done next, at every opening along the run rather than only above your own home
- Cut back branches that reach the roof once the repair is finished
How long squirrel control takes depends on the roof and how many squirrels are using it, and in a long roof the answer is rarely the same as in a detached house.
Getting a Repair Done on a Shared Roof
The repair itself is for a roofer or carpenter: refixing tiles, replacing rotten fascia and soffit, closing the gap where a flat roof meets the main wall, or making good a box gutter. On a parade or terrace, access often means going over a shop roof or a neighbour's extension, and the fabric of the building may be the freeholder's or managing agent's responsibility rather than yours. Line the roofer up early, tell them exactly where the squirrels were going in, and get agreement about access before the loft goes quiet, so the repair can follow straight on. What a lasting repair involves is worth reading before you brief anyone.
Trees near Roundwood Park
Where a garden or street tree is close enough to give a squirrel a run at the roof, trimming it back after the repair makes the roof harder to reach. Use a tree surgeon for anything large, and check with Brent Council first, since a tree may be protected or in a conservation area where notice is needed before work.
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 it to Roundwood Park and letting it go is not something anyone can lawfully do. The legal position on release sets out where that comes from.
When It Tends to Happen
Late winter into spring, and again in summer, are when a female looks for a dry, undisturbed place to have young, and a long unlit roof void is exactly that. Calling as soon as you hear activity gives the best chance of dealing with adults before a litter arrives. A roof that has been used once will be tried again while the opening is still there, which is most of why squirrels return to the same loft. For the borough-wide picture see Squirrel Control Brent and the guide Squirrels in Brent lofts; neighbouring Willesden shares the same long terraced roofs.
