Bat proofing a New Orleans home

Bat proofing a house in Louisiana can be done with some pretty average materials. I will go over some of these materials and their respective uses. Depending on the type of construction, you may need several types of materials to do it yourself. It is my hope that after you read this you will decide to hire me to do it!
I will use pictures of bat removals, and some of the pictures will be in mid process to help you understand the how-to and the why-fore.

First things first, you should bat proof your house if your in an area that has a fairly active amount of bats and your house is susceptible to bats. If you found a bat in the house you should consider having a professional determine what is the RIGHT next step.

This article/blog post is about how to seal up a wall when your sure there are NO bats there. Typically a bat removal requires this preliminary sealing and then when you get to where the bats are you set up a one way door, evict the bats and after they are gone remove the one way door and perform the final sealing.

It is a process, and this addresses one part of it. The part where you seal the house to make it look GOOD, to make it look like it should have been done that way from the beginning.

Frankly, there are no other posts out there that have this information presented like this - at least as far as I have seen, In fact if you search for bat removal, or DIY bat removal, or even how to get rid of bats, you will get a lot of returns and very little useful information on the actual techniques to complete the job like a PRO.

So here are a few pictures of jobs that I have done, that show how we seal up a brick wall where there is a possibility of a future bat problem, I have also included some DIY attempts to show you what NOT to do, and how ugly foam can be in the wrong hands,

Before sealing with MORR-Flexx sealant, bats can get into that small crevice!

Bats cannot get into the wall now that it is sealed!

Bats are going into this brick wall by the garage, notice the brown smudge mark from the bats!

This is the complete installation of a bat cone on the garage, notice the sealant to the right - notice how well it blends in!

If you look closely you can see where the sealant stops, we want to make it look like it is supposed to be that way.

Home owner installed the foam on the left side, I was working from the right to the left towards the foam.

Foam was removed, and the wooden molding has been sealed properly with Mortar Repair (Quickrete, makes it).

So I hope these pictures help to show you how to seal up a brick wall when you have a bat problem somewhere else and want to prevent them from moving into this area. It is important to do the job right, and I can assist you.

We use materials that match as closely as possible but if your unsure or want to take the easy way out you can always just use clear sealant. 

Probably the most useful tip I can give you when attempting to caulk up your house to avoid a bat problem (bat proofing) is to remember this: seal the gap. If you are sealing the vinyl to the brick remember your not there to seal the brick and your not there to seal the vinyl - you are there to bridge the gap between the two. 

Finally, after your done re-check your work a week or two later. You may find the caulking has dried and shrunk to expose a few small gaps. Go and fix those!

I hope this helps you avoid a bat problem. Bat proofing can be easy, and increase the value of your home over time. You will also be sealing out, bugs of many sorts in the process as well!

Charles Parker

Parker Wildlife Control

www.labatcontrol.com