Animals will constantly be looking for safe and warm places to live in. This is especially true during hot and cold times if the year. One favorite area that a lot of animals love is the shed. Animals like skunks, raccoons, rats, chipmunks, and others tend to build their nests under it.

If there is anything that most homeowners find annoying, it will be when these animals start to make their home their own instead, and wild animals tend to appear in many homes’ decks quite often. Wild animals have no idea that they are causing inconvenience, because most of them only want to have their own place too. Because of this, most decks become the perfect place for their new home. The gap tends to attract wild animals because the shed is usually dark and dry. But what can you do to make sure that you don’t find yourself inconvenienced by animals living under your shed? There are actually ways on how you can animal proof your shed. Take a look at these tips below:

Before you animal proof your deck, you need to make sure that there isn’t already an animal living under it. Don’t close any opening until you’ve verified that they isn’t any animal under your deck area. In order to check this, you can test the holes under your deck, or any access area that animals may be using. Cork the opening by placing in newspapers or sticks. You can also drizzle some flour near narrow opening or stuff it with newspaper. If the area remains undisturbed, then it means that there probably aren’t any animals under your deck. Monitor this for a few days, and once you’ve confirmed that there aren’t any animals under your deck, you can now begin to animal proof that area of your home.

If the holes end up being disturbed, then you probably already have animals under your deck. What you can do is to try and make it appear less appealing. To do this, let in more natural light under your deck. Light or bright areas will cause wild animals to leave. You can also run a hose next to your deck. Since animals are also looking for dry places, this will cause them to leave because your deck area is no longer appealing to them. Make sure that you don’t use any traps of poison as this can harm the animals.

Once you’ve confirmed that there aren’t any animals under your shed, you may now start to animal proof it. This means that you can now prevent them from entering your shed. One way to do this is through trench screening. First, close off all the holes. After that, you will want to prevent the animals from digging a hole and being able to go inside the shed. To do this, dig a trench near the opening of your shed and put in a wire mesh or hardware cloth to cover the area. Bend the bottom in order to to prevent animals from ploughing under the cloth. Place the mesh inside the trench, and then fill it in with soil. After that, attach the top of the mesh to the bottom of your shed. If you are wary of doing it on your own, you can also contact a professional instead.