Raccoons in the Attic Need Settling Before the Tear-Off Starts

A raccoon that has moved into the gap under a St. Charles soffit is not a detail the roofing crew can work around. It is a living animal, often a family of them, with a den in the attic insulation. Once the shingles come off, the animal has nowhere to go but out through the crew's work area or deeper into the house. Settle it before the tear-off date is final, and put the answer in writing on the proposal.

Why raccoons pick St. Charles roofs

Raccoons do well in this part of the county. The older tree-lined streets near the river bottoms and the wooded lots along the bluffs give them water, garbage and cover, and the houses give them an attic. They get in where a soffit panel has sagged, where a ridge vent has lifted, where a gable vent screen has rusted through, or where a chimney cap has a gap at its base. A raccoon can open a loose soffit panel with a few pulls, and a gap about the width of a fist is enough for an adult to pass through.

Most of the trouble starts in late winter and spring. Females den in attics to have litters, and the young stay put for several weeks before they can climb out. A roofer who strips a slope with a litter inside has a real animal problem on hand, and a crew that is not expecting one can turn a bad morning into a worse one. Fall and early winter carry less risk, but raccoons also use attics as winter shelter. A house with a den from the year before may still have one in October, so the check belongs in the scheduling conversation, not after it.

What to look for before you sign

You do not need to be an animal person to check for raccoons. Walk the eaves with a flashlight and look for shredded vent screens, dark stains at soffit corners, and gnaw marks on the fascia boards. Look at the ground under the eave for droppings and for matted grass where an animal has sat. Inside, check the attic hatch for tracks in the dust on the joists, and notice whether the smell is stronger near the vent openings than near the center of the house.

Raccoon droppings deserve care. They can carry roundworm eggs, which can stay infective in soil and dried material for a long time, so do not sweep or vacuum them dry and do not handle the material with bare hands. If there is a substantial amount of droppings in the insulation, the insulation may need to come out and be replaced. That is a separate line on the job, and it should not be folded quietly into the tear-off.

Once the animal is out and the openings are shut, the attic deserves one more look after the first rain. A closed opening can still leave a wet patch in the insulation if the old den was soaked through, and a wet patch found after the roof is on is harder to trace back to its cause.

Town roofing

On a St. Charles County job, the question of who handles the animal should be answered before the permit date, because the answer changes the calendar. Many homeowners assume the roofer will simply run the animal out. A roofing crew is not set up to trap, and a good roofer will say so instead of guessing. Trapping and removing nuisance wildlife in Missouri generally falls to a permitted operator, and anyone trapping for pay usually needs a Missouri Department of Conservation permit for nuisance wildlife control. Ask to see the permit number on paper. It is a fair request, and an operator who is properly permitted will have it ready.

The sequence matters. The animal should be removed and the openings closed before the first shingle comes off, not in the middle of the job. Exclusion means fitting one-way devices or leaving a path out for the young, then closing the opening only after the family has left. A trapped mother left behind with her young is the outcome nobody wants, so the operator should explain how a litter will be handled if one is found. Keys Roofing documents the openings with photos and measurements in the written scope, so the homeowner can see what is open before anyone starts, and the animal removal and the repair stay visible on the same page.

If the den is in a gable or a chimney chase rather than the soffit, the roof plan changes. The chase may need to be opened to reach the animal, and the flashing around it may need to be redone at the same time. Ask the roofer to say which of those two situations applies to your house before the crew is booked.

What it costs

Animal removal is priced separately from the roof, and the number changes with how many animals there are, how many openings there are, and whether the insulation must come out. Ask each party for its own line. The roof bid should show the soffit and vent repair as its own items, with the measured linear feet of soffit and the count of vent screens. The removal bid should show the trapping days, the exclusion work and the cleanup. The insulation replacement should show its square footage and the depth it has to reach. When the three numbers sit on one sheet, the homeowner can see where the money goes and can compare two roofers on the same footing.

Be wary of a single lump sum that covers wildlife and roof without listing either part. It is hard to tell what was removed, how many animals were found, and whether the openings were actually closed. Ask for the number of animals removed and the date each opening was shut, both in writing, before you approve the final figure.

What to ask

1. Who will trap or remove any animal in the attic, and what is their Missouri permit number?
2. When will the animal be removed relative to the first shingle, and will that date be written on the proposal?
3. How will a litter of young be handled if one is found?
4. Which openings will be closed, and will the soffit panels and vent screens be repaired or replaced?
5. Who removes and replaces the insulation if droppings are found, and is that a separate line on the proposal?
6. How will the attic be cleaned, and will the crew wear a respirator and use a wet method on the droppings?

If a roofer cannot answer these on the spot, write them down, send them in one message, and keep the reply. A written answer is the one you can hold the crew to. If you want the attic walked with someone before the crew is booked, call Keys Roofing at (314) 220-2333.