Woodpeckers – How To Fix and Prevent Damage

Fixing the damage that woodpeckers cause to your home or trees can be a full-time job. If you are lucky, the woodpeckers that frequent your house will fill their day hitting their power beaks into tree trunks to find insects, making a nest or attempting to attract a mate away from your lawn and house. However, if they find your house or trees appealing, the joy of bird watching soon could become an annoying and costly problem.

If you hear repeated tapping and pecking noises against your house or roof, you can assume a woodpecker is making himself known. However, it is also time for you to look for any damage that this tapping bird may be causing. If you see long, straight holes appearing in your wood or synthetic siding, it time for repair and damage control.

Please note this piece of advice. Since woodpeckers are looking for insects, you have to presume they have found the same in your siding. Thus, before you repair the damage that a woodpecker has caused, it would be wise to check for insects, particularly termites.

Woodpeckers are more attracted to redwood and cedar siding over other woods, as well as, stained trim wood over that of painted wood. Whichever, you may have, you still need to fix the damage. If you have holes in your siding or deck, here is a simple way to repair the damage.

1. Use lightweight structural adhesive epoxy putty.

2. Apply the structural adhesive epoxy putty liberally over the holes so that it sinks in.

3. Scrape the excess epoxy off before it dries.

4. Sand the epoxy across the wood's surface so it blends in with the wood with light grade sandpaper.

5. Apply stain or paint after sanding. Note: If you are planning on painting, leave the epoxy slightly rough so that is will more easily cover the epoxy.

Most woodpeckers usually will leave healthy trees alone, and scavenge dead trees for insects. However, most healthy trees have dead wood in its trunk. Thus, if you find a woodpecker pecking on one of your healthy trees, you can safely assume that the woodpecker is pecking on the dead area where the insects are located.

However, it is a known fact that the sapsucker woodpecker can and does cause a lot of damage to trees. Why? It has no interest in dead wood, but prefers instead, the sap of a live tree. The sapsucker will continue to forage on the tree, eating the sap and the insects that are attracted to the sap of the tree, until it kills it.

In addition, as the sap begins to ooze, insects, porcupines, and squirrels will catch the scent of the sap and will also partake in the bounty, further compromising the tree.

Thus, it is important that you repair the damage before disease or other animals become attracted to the sap seeping from the tree.

1. Before making repairs to the tree, you should check to see if there is any bug infestation. If there is, identify the bug, and spray to kill the bugs to protect the tree.

2. Clean the tree with liquid dish soap and water where ever the holes may be on the tree. Once the areas on the tree are cleaned, let the open air heal the damage.

3. You can wrap the area with burlap, and tape with duct tape to protect the area.

4. Some people have found success using a sticky repellent like Tanglefoot Bird Repellent around the area or even Deer Repellent like Plantskydd to discourage additional feeding on the tapped area.

If woodpeckers are creating holes in your house, you have to be ever vigilant in the possibility that they may decide to make a nest in your house. Here are some ways that you can use to keep the woodpeckers from either nesting or creating holes in your house or on your porch or deck.

1. Use a few wind chimes around your home. The noise will frighten a woodpecker away.

2. Anything that will flash or reflect light will create an unfriendly environment for the woodpecker. One example could be a spinning pinwheel.

3. Hang a fake owl or hawk hanging on your home where woodpeckers frequent. If it looks real, it may scare them off.

5. If you have a dead tree in your yard, you can hang a suet feeder on the dead tree to draw the woodpeckers away from the house.

6. Some have found reflective tape to be a good deterrent. You just hang the tape from the windows or outside beams and let it blow in the wind. The birds will see a reflection, hear the noise, and fly away from the moving reflection. This tape is good for the garden as well.

Bird watching is great. Bird damage is not. As you might expect, what works for one person, may not work for another. In fact, you may have to try several types of defensive deterrents at once to get the results you want.