Bat Removal in Garner, NC

Two growth spurts, two kinds of house

Garner has deep roots. Land nearby was first settled around 1751, and a wood-and-water stop on the North Carolina Railroad grew into what is now downtown. But most of the houses we see here came later. Garner’s population nearly tripled in the 1950s and more than doubled again in the 1970s, on its way to 31,159 residents in the 2020 census.

That leaves a lot of mid-century ranches and 1960s and 1970s split-levels and two-stories, plus newer subdivisions filling in toward I-40 and US 70.

What we check on Garner’s mid-century homes

Ranches have simple roofs, which sounds like good news, and mostly is. But they also have long, uninterrupted soffit and fascia runs, and every joint along that run is a candidate. On a typical Garner ranch or split-level, we’re looking at:

• Fascia joints along the eaves where boards meet or have shrunk
• Gable vents at each end, especially older ones with worn screening
• Attic vents and roof penetrations for plumbing and exhaust
• Chimney transitions on brick ranches
• Later additions, like a den, sunroom, or carport enclosed years ago

On split-levels, the joint where the upper-level roof meets the wall of the lower section is a regular trouble spot.

Newer Garner

Subdivisions built in the last couple of decades bring the usual construction-detail gaps: soffit returns, dormer corners, ridge-vent ends, and roof-to-wall seams over garages. They’re tighter houses overall. One overlooked gap is still enough.

When Garner homeowners call

Usually it’s a sound: scratching or chirping in the ceiling around dusk. Sometimes it’s droppings on the porch or in the carport, right under one section of eave. And sometimes it’s a roofing crew that pulled back a drip edge and found guano. If you’ve already seen bats come out at sunset, note where, and don’t plug it. Sealing a colony in pushes bats into the house.

Doing it by the rules

We put one-way exits on the openings bats are using and seal the rest, then close the last gaps once the bats have left. North Carolina bars bat evictions from May 1 through July 31, and paid evictions must be done by a licensed Wildlife Control Agent, so a Garner colony found in June gets an inspection now and an exclusion in August.

If the attic insulation has taken a beating, attic cleanup after bats is the next step, done by the same crew. For a bat loose inside tonight, see emergency bat removal. Landlords and associations can read bat removal for landlords and HOAs; businesses along US 70, commercial bat removal; and congregations, bat removal for churches.

The full process is on our bat removal and exclusion page. Garner is one of the Triangle towns we serve from Raleigh; see our main page for Triangle bat removal.