If you’ve lived in London you will have seen pigeons, walking and wandering the pavements, nesting on buildings, and perching on roofs. These rather unassuming birds can cause some ridiculous damage to your roof and gutters.
At PestPatrol, we regularly have clients with pigeon infestations in London that end up costing them thousands of pounds in repairs and maintenance.

So how can pigeons be potentially so destructive, and what damage can they cause to homeowners?

How Pigeons damage roofs

Roofs would mainly be damaged in three ways by pigeons through nesting, droppings, and wear and tear from their daily activities?

Nesting Issues

Once pigeons have decided to roost on your roof, it doesn’t take long until they start nesting.
Nesting material can take several forms like twigs, leaves, feathers, and interestingly rubbish.
Although a nest may look harmless, the increased material can present big issues pretty quickly.

Where nests block gutters or drainage areas, resulting in clogged gutters, and causes water to drain down your building in ways it shouldn’t the potential for water damage, leaks, and losses increases.

Droppings and acidic damage

The other major issue which people associate with the dreadful pigeon is their droppings.
The droppings of a pigeon are highly acidic.
Over time these droppings cause all kinds of damage and deterioration to roofs made from tiles or shingles.

Over time, acidic erosion will debilitate roofs, causing cracks, loosening, shifts, or could be severe enough to even cause the tile to completely disintegrate.

Pigeon droppings can also attract insects and the potential for further pest issues.

Physical damage and wear

Pigeons commuting, walking, and roosting on your roof can loosen tiles/slates.

This physical activity is prematurely degrading the material, bringing your roof or gutters closer to costly repairs.

How Pigeons Damage Gutters

Pigeons create another significant problem with your gutters.
They are a favourite place to build nests, and pigeons like to be active around them which, when your gutters are congested, causes a blockage.

Blockages and Overflow

It is easy for gutter blockages to occur from nest material and droppings.

If your gutters become blocked, rainwater will overflow down the gutters causing water to trickle down or enter any openings into your home, which will damage the interior walls and ceilings.

Gutter Sagging or Damage

Furthermore, the weight build-up of all that droppings, debris and water can be heavy and that can lead you to find your gutters sagging or even detached from the fascia board.

With structural damage done to the gutters, good luck with replacing any component or part without having to replace them entirely.

Signs of Pigeon Damage

Knowing the signs can help homeowners take measures quickly to avoid excessive damage.

Look for these commonplace signs:

• Nesting materials visible, scattered around the gutters or rooftops.
• Frequent roosting pigeons.
• Pigeon droppings excessive on your roof, gutters, walls or surrounding ground.
• Shattered or absent roof tiles.
• Ceiling or wall stains and water marks indicating wet surfaces where water has slipped some distance away in your home.
• Gutters are overflowing, or dragging at an excessive angle.

Prevention and Best Practices

Acting on pigeons preemptively will save the homeowner a great deal of time, money and stress.

Here are a few approaches or options for the homeowner:

Deter

The easiest and least invasive means of control for pigeons is to create maintenance-free pigeon spikes, bird netting or wire fencing across your roof or gutters.
Pigeons will always prefer to roost or nest as comfortably as possible.

Maintain

Regular maintenance of gutters and inspection of roofs could be the difference between early intervention signs of pigeon activity, or serious long-term damage to occur.

Eliminate Food Sources

Pigeons are opportunistic feeders and therefore by identifying and eliminating areas which they might forage; tidy rubbish bins, avoid leaving pet food outside and refrain from feeding pigeons directly.

When to Call PestPatrol

Despite all good intentions, and best prevention practices, if pigeon infestations arise that’s when you might be overwhelmed, especially in established urban settlements like London; this is when professional bird pest control in London is critical.

PestPatrol offer humane and effectively pigeon control techniques professionally designed to prevent more long-term damage to your property.

You should call PestPatrol if:

• You have evident nesting or abundance of droppings.
• Experiencing continual issues from gutters or leaks from roofs, likely caused from pigeon activities.
• Have conducted several DIY options but have not successfully contrived to reduce the overall pigeon population.
• Run the risk of excessive property damage, and the infestation appears to be growing too quickly.

Protect your Home- Call PestPatrol

If pigeons are causing damage to your roofs and gutters do not wait until you have an issue or mild weather, or all of a sudden a costly repair happens.
PestPatrol offers professional bird pest control solutions for the London homeowner.

Call PestPatrol today to provide you with a fast and efficacious solution to your pigeons problems!