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Woodpeckers are attracted to cedar shake, tongue and groove cedar siding, and other wood siding types. They nest, store food, and create holes in home exteriors particularly during mating season. The worst part is—even if you take the time and money to repair your damaged exterior, the woodpeckers often return annually until you install siding they can’t penetrate.
So, how do you keep these pesky birds from damaging your home siding in the first place? Read on and discover how to prevent the trouble they often cause homeowners.
How to Safeguard Your Siding from Woodpecker Damage
1. Get rid of the food woodpeckers are pursuing in your siding
When woodpeckers are looking for food, they cause tremendous damage. They drill holes in wood siding to find pests to eat such as termites, carpenter ants, or carpenter bees. They also drill holes in your siding to store their food to retrieve later when they need it.
The bottom line: Keep your siding pest free, and you’ll help prevent woodpeckers from damaging your home’s protective layer. If you spot a woodpecker drilling into your siding, have your home checked for pest infestation.
2. Tips for woodpecker prevention
- Reflectivity: Highly reflective materials and objects with sudden, unpredictable movements help scare off woodpeckers from invading your exterior.
- Wind chimes: While people love the sound of wind chimes outside their home, woodpeckers don’t. You can help create an environment they don’t like by strategically placing wind chimes on your back porch.
- Fake birds: You can post a fake owl or hawk near the wood trim on your home exterior to repel woodpeckers. Birds get accustomed to things in their environment, so move the owl or hawk from time to time so the woodpeckers don’t get desensitized to the fake birds.
- Shiny things: Surprisingly, shiny objects which reflect the light of the sun (like a mirror) can also help keep woodpeckers at bay. For example, hanging CDs on a fishing line to dangle in the wind near woodpecker-prone areas of your exterior are an excellent deterrent that will help keep these pesky birds at bay.
- Lures: If you have a dead tree in your yard, hang a suet feeder from it to lure birds to the dead wood rather than your home exterior (or the live wood of your healthy trees).
The bottom line: As you use the above deterrents, keep in mind that woodpeckers are federally protected birds, so your restrictions need to be humane.
3. Install woodpecker and pest-resistant siding
James Hardie fiber cement siding is made of cement, sand, and cellulose fibers—so it isn’t edible and can’t be drummed by a woodpecker so many times that a hole (or series of holes!) develops. Installing this durable siding ensures your home is woodpecker and pest resistant, and it’s the best way to prevent damage.
The bottom line: Woodpeckers stay away from siding that isn’t edible, so you can have confidence you’re well protected from their costly damage when you install fiber cement siding as your home’s protective layer.
Preserve Your Property’s Aesthetics by Repairing Your Damaged Siding
Large holes indicate woodpeckers are nesting—and making your home theirs. Some small holes are drilled to attract mates (which usually occurs during their mating season from March until May). Other types of small holes indicate the woodpecker is looking for food—meaning you may have a pest problem.
Restore your property’s looks by dealing with woodpecker damage promptly. If you have large holes in your siding, you should replace your damaged panels. Smaller holes may be patched or covered with metal flashing and painted to match your home.
Get Reliable Siding Protection You Need from Woodpeckers
Nobody enjoys the nuisance of woodpeckers. Their drumming, damage, and persistence to return to your home annually can be frustrating. Thankfully, you have options, and American Way Exteriors is here to help.
Discover the strength of James Hardie fiber cement siding and ensure your home exterior material prevents damage from woodpeckers rather than inviting it.
Don’t miss out on viable solutions to the woodpecker problems so many homeowners experience. Learn more about how our siding services can ensure your most significant investment is fortified against pests and woodpeckers so you can live worry-free.
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