Birds in the Attic

Every now and then during a home inspection, we come across some eyebrow raising items, in this case birds in the attic.  These guys were hard at work, likely attempting to build a nest under the very edge of the roof vent which seemed like a good idea at the time.  Unfortunately, this roof vent was missing a screen to keep birds and animals out, so their efforts to build a nest up at the roof around the vent resulted in all the nest material dropping into the attic space.  We can imagine this bird working diligently to deliver nest material and never seeming to make any progress at all.

The amount of damage done in this situation was limited to having a large pile of twigs and grass in the attic that needed to be removed.  But animals and pests can cause significant damage to an attic space if they begin nesting or burrowing in the attic insulation.  Typically a screen is installed on all roof and gable vents to attempt to keep animals out of the attic space.  The roof vent shown in this picture mounts on the outside roof and is installed prior to installing roofing material.  Most of these type of vents come with a screen material pre-installed.  It is possible that the screening was accidentally removed or damaged during the installation, or was never installed.  Some roof vents don’t have screening that come with the product, so the roofer needs to install some type of screen material.  This is a minor detail item that a roofing contractor has to pay attention to, but an important one.

During a home inspection and an inspection of the attic space, we visually check all roof vents and gable vents to ensure that pest screens are in place.  While a home inspection is not a pest inspection and we aren’t specialists on pests, when we do see some indication of birds in the attic, or other animals or insects being present, we will call this out for evaluation by a specialist.

At Scott Home Inspection, we perform all our inspections according to the ASHI Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics.  We perform home inspection in Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins and all surrounding areas along the Front Range of Colorado.  We have a team of home inspection and customer service professionals ready to help with your inspection needs.  For more information on our inspection services click HERE.