Keep Animals OUT from under your porch and shed

How to keep animals out from under your porch and shed.

Burrowing wildlife species such as skunks and groundhogs LOVE to make homes and dens under existing structures. Often, we find skunk and groundhogs living under sheds, porches, and decks.

groundhog and skunk den — groundhog skunk den under porch

Why not just use chicken wire or stones to block the opening?

Using chicken wire or stones to block off an existing den opening often does not work to keep wildlife out from under the structure.

This is because skunks and groundhogs are BUILT to dig! They can easily move objects blocking their path or simply dig UNDER the obstruction.

Many homeowners try and use chicken wire to screen off the bottom of a deck, porch, or shed. The problem is that the homeowner does not BURY the chicken wire into the ground. This critical deficiency leads to animals being able to pry the wire open or dig under it.

Wildlife Prevention Method #1

wildlife prevention porch — wildlife prevention under porch

We find that the best way to prevent and exclude wild animals such as skunks and groundhogs from making a home under your structure is to use galvanized hardware cloth.

This thick and durable screening is buried approximately 18-24″ deep and bent outwards 90 degrees. Even if the animal digs at the metal hardware cloth, it will always hit the metal and never be able to gain access to under the structure!

trenching around porch to install wildlife exclusion

Wildlife Prevention Method #2

Another option to keep wildlife and animals out from under structures is to use a product called DigDefence.

DigDefence is a series of metal gates that are embedded at the base of a shed, deck, or porch to create the same type of blocking design as mentioned above.

The key differences between DigDefence and using hardware cloth are that the DigDefence does NOT require trenching or digging. Hardware cloth, although more labor intensive to install, does provide that key and critical 90 degree outward bend to really deter burrowing animals.

Wildlife Exclusion and Prevention Experts

Wildlife Control Services Chester County PA — Wildlife Control Services, Wildlife Trapping, Wildlife Removal, Wildlife Exclusion

Prudential Pest Solutions is a Veteran and Family owned and operated pest control and wildlife control company. We are licensed by the State of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Game Commission to humanely, professionally, and effectively handle and resolve ANY wildlife issue you have.

As a Marine Corps Veteran with a degree in Biology from Penn State, I promise you haven’t met an animal removal specialist like me before!

Where do we service?

Termite PreTreatment for new construction

We service all of South Eastern and South Central Pennsylvania including:

What species of wildlife do we handle and remove?

We are licensed to humanely and effectively handle and remove ANY wildlife issue you have. Some of the many species we are experts at dealing with include: