Roofs are the bird’s favourite place to hang out. During winters birds look for roof’s gutters and if there are some gaps on the edge of the roof, birds can make it their residence. During the spring season birds often build nests and lay eggs in the gutters.
Although birds are beautiful creatures they can cause great damage to your roof. Therefore it is important to take some steps to keep them out of your roof’s gutters.
How can birds damage the roofs?
You might be wondering how a tiny bird can damage your roof. You might not know this but birds can cause minor as well as major damage to your roof. Birds can bend or even rip the gutter off your roof. The nests can clog the roof’s downspouts. Besides, the acidic droppings of the bird can damage the roofing material which might create the problem of leaking.
How to prevent birds from your roof’s gutter
Here are a few things that you can do to deter birds from your roof’s gutter:
- Gutter guard: These are thin aluminium sheets that will cover even the slightest slit on your gutter. Gutter guards prevent debris, leaves and other material from entering the gutters. These will also prevent birds from drinking water from the gutter. When they’ll not be able to drink water they will naturally look for some other sources for water.
- Roof bird spikes: roof bird spikes are thin plastic panels with various spikes. These are also known as anti roosting strips. These stripes make the landing uncomfortable for birds. You can place these above your gutters. This will help in keeping birds out of your rain gutters.
How to remove nests from the gutters?
Have you spotted a nest in your gutter? Birds often build nests in gutters in summers when the gutters are dry for months. It is very important to get rid of these nests as they can clog the gutters when it rains.
It is unsafe to leave the bird’s nest in the gutters, besides it is even a threat to the bird’s offspring. You can even take the help of experts to get rid of the nests.
Some additional ways to prevent birds:
Here are some additional ways to prevent birds from visiting your roof:
- Birds generally build a nest in the gaps and spaces they find on your roof. If there is any gap on your roof immediately get it filled. By doing so you will prevent birds from making your roof their residence.
- Birds often like to nest in the vents. If you want to prevent this you can install a guard or a screen.
- If you have placed bird feeders in your roof, it will naturally attract more and more birds to your roof. If you are facing a lot of troubles due to birds regularly visiting your roof then you can remove the feeder.
- Another foolproof way to keep birds away from your roof is to install fake predators such as hawks, owls, crocodiles or even snakes.
- The best thing that you can do is to reach out to experts to install bird deterrents properly.
- A steel mesh or hardware cloth is a great option to keep birds away from your gutters. But the only disadvantage is that they are not very attractive and solid when compared to solid gutter covers. They might even trap debris sometimes.
- You can also use bird repellents to keep the birds away from gutters. The substance of these repellents makes the bird uncomfortable and hence prevent them from staying in one spot for long. The only downside associated with this method is that you will have to reapply it periodically.
- Another humane but time-consuming method is to trap the bird and then relocate it. However, it is one of the least efficient methods to keep the birds out of the gutters.
- Rubber snakes are a great way to keep birds out of the gutters. However, birds can learn quickly and this method might work only for a limited period.
Conclusion
The best and long-lasting method is to install an aluminium gutter cover. However, make sure that you are taking the help of experts to get the cover installed.
