Serving Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol

Dictionary of Attic Noises -Diagnosing Your Attic Noise

Customers who hear attic noises and think that they have nuisance wildlife are, more often than not, correct. People who have this problem need to know what is living in in their house. Every year I get hundreds of calls regarding problem wildlife inside the home and a large percentage of these calls are regarding attic noises.  So, I have put together a short page on diagnosing attic noises.  I have inspected hundreds of attics and have verified the noise sources in most all cases. 

Soft skittering that crosses the ceiling quickly

This sound is most likely made by an animal in the rodent class.   Rodents are the some of the fastest moving animals that live in attics.   Mouse-sized rodents will make softer noises and do not have the weight to make heavy thumping noises.  These noises may also be accompanied by noises in walls if there are openings at the head or foot of the wall that allow access.  If mice are being heard overhead, they are probably also present in basements and crawlspaces.  They will also attempt to feed in pantries and kitchens.   It is hard to determine, without an inspection, how heavy the infestation is.  It is better to have this checked out early than wait.

 Sustained Scratching in One Spot

Squirrels sometimes carry nuts into attics and attempt to bury them in the insulation.  Once they get through the insulation to the drywall, they may keep on “digging”.  They also like to tunnel and dig in the insulation to create dens and travel tunnels.  If the animal goes through the insulation to the drywall while tunneling, this can be heard in the room below. 

Repeated Heavy Thumping

Heavy thumping noises are obviously going to be made by larger animals. Raccoons are the largest, heaviest attic invaders and I routinely remove them from attics.   Most people underestimate the frequency with which they invade attics.   Generally, female raccoons are relatively quiet in the early stages of the denning process.  But as the kits begin to grow larger they make a lot more noise.  I tell my customers to think about a litter of puppies.  Once they reach a certain stage in their development, they begin to tussle and wrestle.  If the noise is heard in the springtime, this is probably the case.   If heavy thumping is heard in the winter it may be some type of adult interaction. 

The second largest species that invades attics is Grey Squirrels.   Grey Squirrels do not have the body weight to make truly heavy thumping noises like raccoons, but they can, if circumstances are good, make a sizeable thump.  If the squirrel makes a leap from one point to another, it can generate enough kinetic force to create a heavy thump.  Generally though, squirrels are more likely to make pitter pat foot steps, scratching, and possibly grinding noises as they chew on woodwork. 

Soft Mewing

Soft kitten-like mewing noises in the attic can indicate the presence of a very young raccoon litter.   If this is the case, the kitten-like noises give way to raucous thumping noises and soft snarls as the kits grow older and begin to wrestle and play. 

Herd of “tiny horses” galloping

 I had one customer describe noises associated with his bat colony as a tiny herd of animals galloping through his walls.   I thought that this was very descriptive. Noises like this usually are indicative of a group of animals living as a group.  Often this indicates a colony.   Several species can inhabit a home as a colony.   On average, a residential bat colony will have about 20 members.   Bats will move up or down as a group to find better temperatures or to approach the exit point.   Bats are awkward crawlers and do not generally move quickly.

Flying squirrels will also live in a home as a colony.  I have captured up to twelve flying squirrels in a single attic.  It is possible to have more than that.  Flying squirrels travel faster than bats and are more likely to be heard inside interior walls. 

Grinding

Grinding noises are likely to be made by some type of rodent.   Likely culprits are rats, mice, Grey Squirrels, and Flying Squirrels.  Grinding noises are made as rodents chew woodwork.  They may be chewing to improve passageways. 

Snarling

This is a common noise made by a litter of juvenile raccoons as they develop.  At some point they begin to wrestle and fight.   Snarling and thumping noises are common at this stage of development.    Of course this can also indicate a fight between two adult animals.   However, snarling between littermates is usually much less intense than a full-fledged confrontation.  The associated thumping is also less intense since the animals weigh less.

Soft Slow Moving Scritching

This is not one of the more common noise types.  Slow moving scratching noises can indicate a snake in the attic. When I hear it, it reminds me of sandpaper.    This noise is usually made by snakes as they crawl over the paper on the back of batten type insulations.  

Crinkling Paper Noise

Ceilings, walls, and crawlspaces are often insulated with batten type insulation.   Any animal that is heavy cough to rumple it will make a crinkling paper noise.  This is not a common complaint.  This is a very soft sound and it may be lost in other background sounds.  It could be made by any animal that is heavy enough to move the insulation.  That will include raccoons, squirrels, and snakes.

Sandpaper Noise

This is not a noise that cusomers report often.   It is very soft and is probably missed by most people.   Only people who have the most acute hearing will be able to hear this noise.   You will have a hard time hearing this noise if the AC or television is running or if there is other background noise.  This type of noise is generally made by snakes as they crawl over the paper side of batten type insulation.  Their scales will scratch against the paper as they crawl across.  This noise will cross a ceiling very slowly if it is made by a snake. If you hear this, crawlspaces and attics need to be inspected for snakes.

The Importance of Timing in Identification

When do you hear the noises?

 The time of day or night that you hear the noises is very important in identifying the invader.   Many of the species that you have in your attic are nocturnal and are more likely to be active at night.  This includes raccoons, bats, mice, rats, and flying squirrels.   

Bats may be heard if they have to move from a daytime roosting area to an exit point.  They prefer to exit and enter at sunup and sundown under dusky conditions.  They will be present during the day and feed at night.  They may move from one spot to another during the day if disturbed or if they find better conditions.

Raccoons are nocturnal and will leave the house to forage not long after sundown.  They, like bats will return to the den before sunup.  Occasionally females that are nursing heavily will leave in the daytime for additional foraging time. 

Mice and rats are nocturnal and will forage at about any time during the night.  Mice and rats are very attuned to your activities and are more likely to be active once you go to bed and become quiet.  So, their activities will be loosely associated with sundown, but may be more closely tied to human activity levels in the house.   They may begin to work outside this time frame if rodent populations are high and might start to forage more during times when humans are active.

Grey Squirrels are the standard squirrel seen in back yard and parks.  Grey Squirrels are dinural (active in the day).  This means that they will be foraging outside of the attic during the day and sleeping inside at night.  High demand feeding times will be right after sunup and right before sundown.  This will increase wildlife attic traffic noises during these times.   Female squirrels will also make trips in and out through the day, if they are actively feeding a nest of young.  

Flying Squirrels are much smaller nocturnal (active at night) cousins of Grey Squirrels.  These squirrels will have the opposite schedule from Grey Squirrels.  They will leave soon after sundown to forage and return before sunrise.   They will also return to feed young during the night.   They are more likely to sleep during the day and not make much noise unless disturbed.

Effects of Insulation and Building Materials on Sound

The Sounding Board Effect

Insulation does just what the name implies.  It insulates.  It does a good job of insulating from sound and temperature.   Animals running around on a well insulated ceiling make little or no sound.  The sound of footsteps will be muffled.  On the other hand, I have seen situations where small animals running or scratching on the back of bare drywall makes very loud sounds.   Sounds in a certain area can become louder in time if the animal burrows through the insulation and reaches paneling or drywall. 

Often I find that customers overestimate the size of the animal in this case.  I refer to this as the “sounding board effect”.   It is just like the animal were moving around inside a musical instrument like a guitar.   The sound of every movement is magnified by the surface the animal is scratching against.   But, until someone inspects the problem area it is impossible to know what

Seasonal Noises

Part of making a good guess at what animal is making the noises in your attic is knowing what wildlife species is most likely to show up during the current season.   Years of field experience help a lot.   But it also helps to have a phone that rings when people have issues with wildlife. I get a lot of information back from my customers.    If I have two callers in the morning that say that they have raccoons in their attic, then odds are that the person who has an unknown noise in the attic that afternoon will also have raccoon issues. 

Knowing when certain species are likely to show up is very helpful in diagnosing problems.   To help customers diagnose problems we hope to put together charts soon showing the likelihood of occurrence problems for different species.  Some of the data for these charts come from company data.  State licensing for wildlife control operators requires that records be kept of our wildlife control activities.   Some of this data was used to create our charts along with some very specialized data that we found online.  

 Should you have an Inspection?

Sadly enough, even with all the best information the final determination of what is in your attic has to be made through an “in person” inspection.    Once the inspection is completed, a plan can be engineered for permanent removal of the problem wildlife.   Once this is done an estimate can be written that covers the full cost of the project.  

To truly identify what is in your attic you need to call a professional and have things inspected first hand.   This idendification key is not guaranteed correct, but it will give you some idea of what you may be dealing with.  Paying attention to what you hear also gives the wildlife controller information and helps with identification.  We are glad to assist homeowners try to identify the problem over the phone.   If you need advice, please give us a call.    If you think that you have wildlife in your attic, obviously, you need to get it out and you will need all the help you can get.