I'm going to go try to replace a vent cover. The hinged slats have fallen out and we're pretty sure birds are getting in. This isn't good.
Update: the replacement is the wrong size. It's for a larger-diameter duct. Sticking a new cap on the old duct was going to be an ugly job anyway. The birds are in a nesting mood and there's rain on the way. I stacked the new cap over the old one -- with the flaps out of the old one, it fits -- installed four screws and we'll go with that until the weather's more predictable. It's not pretty but you can't see it from the street.
If I had a choice on critters getting into the house, I guess birds would be better than bats, and certainly better than any rodents. I've seen walls containing two bare copper wires that used to be some old 2-wire Romex before the squirrels gnawed off all of the insulation (thankfully for me, not my house!).
ReplyDeleteWe've never had rodents in our house, and only one bird incident, when the dryer vent cover blew off in a storm about this time of year, and sparrows had a nest in there within 24 hours.