Bathroom Dwelling Raccoon Trapped
Imagine walking into the upstairs bathroom one morning, using the toilet, and it sounds like something is crawling around under the floor.
You’re dismissive. It’s early…it was a late night…you haven’t had your first cup of coffee…there’s got to be some explanation for your mind playing tricks on you.
Then you reach into the bathtub and turn the water on for a shower and hear more movement, this time it’s much louder and right under you. THERE IS AN ANIMAL CRAWLING UNDER THE FLOOR and it sounds large!
You’re awake now for sure and know there’s a problem.
It’s a good day to call Frontline Animal Removal if you live in the Akron, Canton, Kent OH area.
Raccoon Between Ceiling of Living Room/Floor of Bathroom
From time to time, we like to share unique animal removal stories in our blog.
Today’s is about a raccoon that was living under the floor of a bathroom and how Ryan trapped it there.
Yet, before we begin, take a look at this picture.
This picture shows the culprit…the real problem.
As you can clearly see, even though this is a post about a raccoon removal from a bathroom, we’re not placing the blame on the raccoon.
The raccoon is important and is pictured below. But, jumping straight to the raccoon deflects attention from the real problem: the hole in the porch roof that allowed the raccoon to get inside in the first place.
Keep this hole in mind as you read about a raccoon removal job Ryan recently did.
Raccoon Problem Identified
As we noted at the start, a raccoon did indeed take up residence in an Akron bathroom recently and we were called to get it out.
When Ryan went to investigate, this is what he found:
- At some point a raccoon found the hole pictured at the top of this post on a front porch roof. The fascia of the porch was old and rotted allowing an exploring raccoon to slip in easily.
- Not content with just getting into the porch roof, the raccoon kept exploring and found another opening. This opening was where the porch roof attached to the exterior wall of the house between the first and second floors.
- The softball sized hole there permitted the raccoon to get past the exterior wall and into the floor/ceiling space between the first floor living room and second story bathroom.
- The raccoon traveled in the joist space about ten feet or so and found a comfortable, more open space under the bathtub where there was no subfloor.
- The raccoon must have really liked it there and decided this was a good den for the winter.
In addition to the noise, the raccoon’s presence caused two other problems.
- The joist space the raccoon used has water lines in it. Crawling back and forth across those water lines, the raccoon made something loose. This resulted in a water leak through the plaster and lath ceiling of the living room below. Ryan found a five gallon bucket in the living room collecting a steady drip.
- The insulation of the exterior wall the raccoon was crawling through had been damaged/much removed. This resulted in a lot of cold air getting into this space. The raccoon’s entry greatly increased the risk of pipe freezing.
Needless to say, this was a raccoon removal issue that needed addressed quickly.
A Unique Raccoon Removal Plan
Typically, we remove raccoons that are living in the interior voids of people’s homes by setting traps outside and catching them as they come or go. This causes the least amount of damage/mess to a home and lets residents go about business as usual inside their homes.
But, as we discussed in our last blog, the cold weather often makes raccoons very inactive, requiring a lot patience.
This particular case, however, was not one where patience was not an option; the raccoon needed removed sooner rather than later.
So Ryan made the decision to set traps in the bathroom itself and lure the raccoon out.
The plumbing access door for the tub made a great spot to let the raccoon into the bathroom.
Once in the bathroom, the raccoon was contained and directed by a shroud of wire Ryan formed.
Ryan placed all kinds of yummy treats in the traps in order to lure the raccoon out with the promise of easy food; easy enough to tempt any raccoon.
Soon enough, this fat raccoon was tempted out from under the tub/joist space and captured.
As noted, this sort of set-up is not typical. Setting traps for raccoons inside a home is definitely not our first choice.
But, in nuisance animal removal, each case is unique to some extent. For this job, with the issues that were described, setting the traps in the bathroom itself was a good option.
The raccoon, which ended up being diseased as well, was removed without much more trouble to the occupants or structure.
But, remember, the problems with the structure:
- leaky plumbing
- insulation problem
- hole in porch fascia
- hole in exterior wall
still exist once the raccoon is removed and need immediate attention.
Full Service Raccoon Removal for Akron, Canton, Kent
Remember the hole that let the raccoon into the porch roof in the first place?
We hope so, because not giving animals opportunity to get into our homes in the first place is our main teaching point from this blog.
Simply put, if there were no hole there would be no raccoon.
So, make a 2017 New Year’s Resolution be to make sure the exterior of your home is shored up against animal entry.
But, if one happens to get in and you need an animal removal/repair and live in our area, please give us a call.
We strive to be the go-to full service nuisance animal removal company in the Stark, Summit, Portage County, OH area.
We can remove your nuisance animals for sure, but we can also do the guaranteed repair work in an extremely professional manner.
Give us a call today to discuss your situation.
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