Squirrels Under the Porch – What Should I Do?

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The spaces under porches, decking, balconies, etc. are common hotspots for wild animal invasions, with plenty of shelter, warmth, and darkness down there, keeping any wild critters safe from passing predators. You also need to remember that there is plenty of food and water on or close to human residences, so any animal, including squirrels, will find exactly what they need. In short, your home provides the perfect five-star resort for a passing wild beast.



Closing off the area underneath your porch is smart – if the animals can’t get inside, they won’t be able to set up a nest or den and cause lots of mess and destruction. There is another way to look at the problem, however, and it doesn’t include using repellents, deterrents, expensive devices, or even lights, sound, or water.

Have you consider clearing the space out entirely?

In some cases, with some buildings, clearing out the space isn’t possible at all, which means closing off the area under the porch is important. You can do this in a number of ways, but physical barriers, such as hardware cloth and mesh wire fences, can help to keep squirrels at bay. You need to remember that this is an animal with very good digging skills, so an underground physical barrier (such as hardware cloth bent into an ‘L’ shape, affixed to the over ground fencing barrier) is essential to keep them out.

If you are going to look at any repellent at all, you could use raccoon or wildlife eviction fluid, but out of all the repellents/deterrents on the market, very few of them have shown to be very effective. In fact, most of them are just expensive and a total waste of money. A high-pitched sound or a few lights is not usually enough to deter these animals, especially once they have found something that they have been looking for, for a long time. In case you were wondering, that’s the shelter, warmth, protection, food and water that are offered up by your property.

If you do have the option, there is another approach that you can try, and that is to clear the space out entirely. Squirrels don’t like wide and open spaces, particularly in areas of large human populations. Most wild animals will avoid a patch of land that is clean, clear from debris, and with very few hiding spaces; it leaves them vulnerable to predatory attacks. If you clean out the area underneath your porch, it will be unattractive to the animal, but you will need to make sure that your home is fully protected and sealed. If the squirrel can’t find a way into that space under your porch, it will look for another spot close by to call home.

As well as dealing with the space under the porch itself, you will also need to take a good, hard look around the rest of your property. If your home isn’t sealed effectively, it doesn’t matter that the squirrel can’t use the porch-space anymore, because it will just find another space, still on your property, still causing the same levels of damage, destruction, and disease-spreading. At the same time, if you clean out your garden, removing all sources of food (or making them inaccessible for the squirrel) and hiding spots, the animal will be less inclined to visit your garden or property at all. What’s the point if it no longer has anything to offer?

When you find wild animals on your property, the easiest way to get rid of them is to make sure they have nothing to stick around for. The removal of food, hiding spots, and potential nesting spots is essential.

Go back to the Squirrel Removal page, or learn tips to do it yourself with my How to Get Rid of Squirrels guide.