One of the most prominent threats to cedar siding and shingles is woodpeckers. While cedar offers natural resistance to termites and other critters, homeowners should still be concerned about woodpeckers. Luckily there are a variety of solutions available and some of them are DIY-easy and affordable. In this article we’ll share some options for dealing with woodpeckers, some of them are cheap, some are expensive, some are bird-friendly, and some are meant to keep them as far away as possible. You may find yourself using a combination of these tactics. For professional help, contact EMA Construction for a consultation.
Shiny Deterrents
The most affordable and generally sufficiently effective solution is to hang shiny and reflective material. You can buy specially made bird-repellant tape, discs, or balloons or you can use household products like old cds, pie tins, and bits of aluminum foil. You can watch this YouTube video for an in-depth implementation plan:
Electronic Deterrents
Perhaps you find the shiny deterrents to be a bit tacky on your home. There are electronic alternatives that are a bit more subtle, although more costly and less attainable for the do-it-yourself crowd.
This video demonstrates one such product, the Bird-X Peller Pro series:
Feed and Appease
If you’re an animal lover and you don’t mind having birds around, but you want to protect your home then you can set up woodpecker suet feeders and build homes for them. The feeders work as you might expect and they give the woodpecker something better than your cedar siding to work on (see below.)
You can see what having a woodpecker nest box would look like in this vide:
Building them a shelter and feeding them will keep your home safe and make sure the birds are taken care of. The only trick with this strategy is that you’ll have to be sure to keep a fresh supply of food around for them, otherwise they’ll become accustomed to pecking around your house and may resort to attacking your cedar.
Spikes and Netting
Spikes and netting are definitely going on the offense, but sometimes the best defense is a good offense. The video below will show you how to install and assemble bird spikes (good for more than just wood peckers.) While netting is typically used to protect gardens, you may find that you can protect vulnerable portions of your cedar siding with some netting. Watch the video below from Home Depot to learn how to set up netting.