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I had raccoons getting in my attic. They make a ton of noise, usually an hour or so after sunset when they wake up, and in the early morning when they come back in to go to sleep. They apparently have nothing better to do than to figure out how to get into "impossible" places. My guests were shimmying up a gutter down pipe and doing some amazing acrobatics to get from the pipe to the roof. From there they found a small nook where two roof gables intersect. There was a small triangle opening the carpenters must of been too lazy to seal off. The coons found it. It took me quite a bit of searching to figure out how they were doing all this.
First I tried making the gutter climb-proof with some sheet metal work. Failed. I still dont know how they were climbing the pipe past my blocker. Then I went to the roof and covered the opening with sheet metal nailed to the roof. Failed! Since the critters sleep during the day, I inadvertently sealed
one of the beasts into the attic. My GF was freaking out. I said I would give him two days and then I would open the hole up and let him out. Sort of to teach him a lesson. He would never come back, right. The attic is right over my TV room.
That night the coon woke up and I could hear him pulling at the metal. I was thinking " Ha! How do you like that Bastardo!". After an hour or two, it sounded like he was literally putting his shoulder into it, beating the blocker down.
The next day I checked the roof access area and the beast had indeed broken out of his inadvertent jail. He ripped and chewed the sheet metal off the nails! Amazing. I made another piece and nailed it again. We are well into winter now, and for a few nights the group of coons would return and I could hear them trying to get in. Ha! Finally, I claim victory! They must not be as motivated to get in as that one was to get out.
They are a pain in the arse.
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