Attic Vents and Strange Events

The strange trouble with our customer’s attic vents started happening about a month after he cleaned his gutters in the spring. Over the winters leaves and other organic debris blown over the roof by stormy winds had tumbled down the incline and clogged the gutters. He did a great job clearing them out so the water would flow away from the house and not stay there, rotting the soffit and fascia.

The house was log-cabin construction with blown-in attic insulation. The disturbance that caused him to call us for a roof repair inspection too place in the upstairs room shared by his 2 younger children. They complained about strange scratching noises coming from the ceiling. The home owner checked the attic but did not see anything. Eventually, the children refused to sleep in the room because the sounds were frightening them.

What we discovered when we got inside the attic was not dangerous at all, but we understood why it sounded sinister. Apparently when the gutters were cleaned a few weeks earlier, a screen for one of the attic vents had been knocked out. A busy mother blackbird found the opening a made her nest in the cozy insulation.

When the baby birds were strong enough, they hopped out of the nest and as a group tiptoed around the attic, propelling their way through the insulation by pushing with their tiny talons. It made a creepy sound through the ceiling. Every time the father checked the attic, the little birds “ducked” down so they could not be seen. At the children’s request, we are waiting until the birds had flown the coop before replacing the attic vent screen.

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Comments

1 Responses to "Attic Vents and Strange Events"

All Attic Insulation says:
November 8, 2011 at 1:45 PM

Fortunately it was just a blackbird and baby birds who eventually 'flew the coop.' Usually the screens are torn by larger, more damaging urban wildlife like raccoons and opossums, who can be very destructive, chewing through electrical wires and soiling the insulation. Always have noises in the attic checked immediately. If the homeowner can't find the source, get a professional home inspector out there. They've seen it all and can accurately determine the source. Of course, so can attic insulation companies, but we're usually called out after the home inspector has been there, to replace the damaged insulation.

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