A lot of people have to deal with wildlife outside their home damaging exterior components of their house. We get squirrels, bunnies and even woodpeckers. If you have these sorts of problems, you are definitely not alone. In fact, in preparation for this article I found extensive blogs/forums/reddit feeds about woodpeckers damaging siding. When the pests keep pecking and creating holes and scrapes on your siding what can you do?
You should not continue to let the woodpeckers peck, nesting cavities inside your wood and potentially your foundation. If your house is prone to woodpecker damage the good news is that replacement siding is a great way to deter these birds nesting or roosting close to your home. Heck, new siding is a great way to stop the pecking and loud noises of the woodpeckers drumming on the siding altogether espanolfarmacia.net. That’s because these birds don’t like new Vinyl Siding.
WhyAre Woodpeckers Pecking In The First Place?
If you have insects behind the siding that they hear they will burrow on through, but usually they are just hunting and pecking for voids that they then dig into to find the insects that made the voids. Behind lap siding are large voids, so they tend to test hole lap siding a lot. Many novice birders and non-birders mistakenly assume that woodpecker drumming is related to feeding, and that woodpeckers may even eat the wood or sawdust they peck. In fact, while some woodpeckers may use drumming to help dislodge insects to eat or to drill holes to get at sap or burrowing insects, drumming is most often unrelated to eating. Instead, drumming is a method of communication, typically used to advertise a territory or attract a mate. In some cases, vigorous drumming also warns off intruders or scares away potential predators, especially if the bird is drumming on a loud, resonant object. This drumming usually stops once mating has begun in the spring. Drumming itself doesn’t cause a whole lot of damage, it’s the burrowing you need to be concerned about (when they’re looking for bugs).
Why Vinyl Siding Deters Woodpeckers
Vinyl siding is not typically susceptible to damage by woodpeckers. This is because the material is harder than old boards. Furthermore new Vinyl Siding is insect resistant so they’ll have no need to burrow underneath as they’ll be nothing there for them to eat. Plus, with Vinyl being so hard they can’t damage it easily. This means no more burrowing and more storing food.
However, if the fascia boards of the house are made of wood, they may sustain damage from woodpeckers drumming on the wood in which case there will be very small holes in clusters at specific points on the fascia boards. The fascia boards may also become prone to infestation with carpenter bees.
Full Vinyl Siding Replacement
That’s why we recommend getting new soffit and fascia which match your already existing siding. That way you’ll have a complete woodpecker deterrent system for your house. They won’t like the Vinyl. There will basically be no weak points on the house for them to peck at any longer. So again, we’d opt for whole home vinyl siding, soffit and fascia replacement. Not to mention, with full replacement you save on energy costs and get a more beautiful exterior!
Will Woodpeckers Come Back?
Woodpeckers will tend to come back pecking on any siding type if they remember there was food there before, but they usually stop when they realize the material has changed.
Conclusion
Vinyl siding can deter woodpeckers from pecking at your house. Vinyl siding is insect resistant, hard, and durable. What this adds up to is woodpeckers moving to another spot to forage for food elsewhere. New siding is a great way to add energy efficiency and beauty into your home too. Check out our siding page for more information on our siding, and to get a free quote.
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