Raccoon Prevention: Soffit Reinforcement

Raccoons frequently enter a home’s attic or other void spaces through the soffit.

What is a soffit you ask? Good question.

Here’s a diagram and a picture to help visualize.

As you can see in the diagram to the left, the soffit extends from the fascia board to the wall. It blocks off the eaves; the term used to describe the overhang of the roof.

Soffit pieces are typically made of vinyl or aluminum.

Additionally, soffit pieces are often perforated/vented at regular intervals as air drawn into the attic through the soffits keeps roofs/attics ventilated properly.

One of the big troubles with soffit in terms of raccoons and other animals is that because it is only attached at two points, it can be dislodged pretty easily. Sometimes it sags or becomes detached just from weather, time, or sub-par installation. In the case of raccoons, if they can get a good grip on something underneath it, it is easy for them to flex, peel back, or tear down.

Once raccoons get a soffit open, they climb up into the eave areas and can make a nest there or, in many cases, move right into the attic through openings in the eave..

How to Stop Raccoons from Entering the Soffit

Where this has happened, we prevent it from recurring by blocking the area behind the soffit with plywood as Ryan shows in the video below.

The first step is to trap the offending raccoons and make sure no baby raccoons are present in the attic or eaves. We believe raccoon removal is necessary because, “Where there’s a will; there’s a way”. Removing the raccoons familiar with this attic/eave area takes the determination factor to move back in out of the equation.

The second step is to remove any aids that helped the raccoon get to the soffit area. This is easily accomplished with tree trimming. But, this is much easier said than done when it comes to design elements of a house. Some houses cannot be modified to discourage climbing. In the video, rerouting the downspout would help but is not practical.

The third step is to reinforce the area where the raccoons have gotten in or areas where they could easily do so. This is accomplished (as Ryan shows in the video) by attaching OSB or plywood as a blocking agent behind the soffit.

This blocking happens only at strategic areas where raccoons are most likely to make entry. Why not block the whole thing you ask? Remember that soffit venting is essential to the health and function of a roof installation. The blocking does reduces ventilation a bit. Therefore, we only want to block off in the problem spots. In the case in the video, it is on either side of the corner where the raccoons have been climbing.

Here’s the recent video: