I have a MAJOR woodpecker problem. My family and I recently purchased a multi-million dollar vacation home, or a vacation cabin I guess you would call it, in Colorado; it’s a beautiful home, built from old, reclaimed barn wood. The thing about this cabin though, is that we never went to see it in person. It sounds crazy, but we live in Texas so we couldn’t exactly make a day out of it and with my husband and I running our own business, a weekend getaway didn’t look plausible either. So instead, we sent our realtor out to the site to give the place a once over and send us pictures; I guess he didn’t realize that wood doesn’t come with that many holes in it and the photos he sent were from a far enough distance that we didn’t notice the holes, either, so we bought the place.
Now I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have bought the cabin if we knew that the damage was there because it is an incredible home, but we definitely would have had the repairs estimated and deducted from the price. Truthfully, we probably could have negotiated something with the seller right after the purchase; that is if it hadn’t taken us three months to find the time to go out to the house. About two months ago, we were finally able to make the trip to Colorado, and seeing the house in person was amazing! Pictures didn’t do it justice, I was so taken aback by the actual home that I didn’t notice the woodpecker damage at first, but while I was in the upstairs loft, I heard strange squeaks from the ceiling above me. I went outside to see if there was a bird on the roof or maybe squirrels, and that’s when I started noticing all the holes. There was definitely a woodpecker problem so I called the realtor and he gave me the number of a Wildlife technician.
The man was able to confirm the ongoing woodpecker problem just with pictures, but when I explained to him the noises I had heard in the ceiling, he insisted on coming out to the property himself, and I’m so glad he did. Not only did we have a woodpecker problem, but we had a bat problem too. Apparently, smaller animals will turn woodpecker holes into nests, and these bats had used them as an entrance into both walls and the ceiling of our new home. Luckily, the technician was equipped and trained to handle both of these wildlife problems, but it wasn’t going to be easy – or cheap. Now, two months and $20,000 later we are on the last stages of covering and filling the woodpecker holes and getting rid of the bats FOR GOOD. I don’t have any regrets about buying this house; my husband and I love it, our children love it, and it’s a perfect place for the rest of the family to meet. What I do regret, is not looking at the place myself the FIRST time. If we ever buy another house, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be giving it a personal once over.