Bat Removal Services in Strafford, PA
Seitz Wildlife Services is a fully licensed, family-owned and operated company providing bat removal and wildlife control throughout Strafford, Tredyffrin Township, and the surrounding Main Line. We handle the full range of bat situations property owners run into — bats in an attic, bats in a chimney, bats roosting behind shingle siding and porch trim, and bats flying through living space. Our services also include bat guano and dropping removal, attic clean-outs, insulation replacement, bat house installation, and bat proofing, also known as bat exclusion.
Strafford was built out in the 1880s as the railroad pushed suburban development west along the Main Line, and the housing from that period is still the defining feature of the community. It also happens to be the housing bats find easiest to get into. Add the mature canopy that has grown up around those houses over the last century and the wooded Valley Creek watershed and parkland a few miles north, and you have steady insect production at dusk and a large stock of century-old roofs within easy flying distance of it. If you’re dealing with a bat intrusion in Strafford, contact Seitz Wildlife Services for a free phone consultation.
How Bats Get Into Strafford Homes
If you want to understand why bats get into Strafford houses, look at the train station. It’s a well-known local example of the late Victorian Stick Style — and that’s the style a great many of the homes built around here in the 1880s were built in.
Victorian frame houses with decorative woodwork. Stick Style and shingle-style homes are, from a bat’s perspective, close to ideal. Towers and turrets, cross gables, dormers, decorative bargeboards and applied stickwork, deep bracketed eaves, and wood shingle siding all create sheltered gaps at height. Wood trim of that age has been through more than a century of freeze and thaw; it shrinks, cups, and separates from the sheathing behind it, and the void that opens up is dry, dark, and perfectly sized. The most common entry points we find on these homes are behind loose shingle courses, at the joint where a porch roof meets the wall, and in the gable and tower louvers where the original screening has rusted out.
1920s stone and stucco colonials. The next wave of building here fails at the seams instead: chimney flashing, roof valleys, dormer cheeks, and the joint where a slate roof meets a stone gable end. Flashing on these homes is often original, and century-old copper and lead opens gaps at exactly the seams a bat needs.
Later infill housing. Newer homes scattered through Tredyffrin fail more conventionally — ridge vent terminations, gable louvers with failed screening, soffit and fascia gaps, and construction seams where an addition ties into the original roofline.
One practical note for Strafford specifically: on a Victorian with a tower, a wraparound porch, and three or four roof levels, an inspection from the ground will miss things. The entry point is usually somewhere you can’t see from the driveway.
Signs of a Bat Infestation in Strafford, PA
Bats are quiet and nocturnal, so a colony can occupy an attic or a tower space for an entire season before anyone notices. The most common signs Strafford homeowners report:
- Droppings, called guano. Small, dark, crumbly pellets in piles below entry points — along a foundation, on a windowsill, on porch furniture and railings, on a car parked beneath the roofline. In an attic, guano accumulates directly under the roost.
- Staining and rub marks. A brown, greasy discoloration where bats push through the same opening repeatedly. On painted trim and weathered shingle siding it’s often visible from the ground.
- Sound. Scratching, rustling, or high-pitched chittering from an attic, a tower, or a wall cavity, loudest around dusk and again before dawn.
- Odor. A strong ammonia smell from accumulated guano and urine, usually most noticeable in warm weather.
- Bats circling at sunset. Watching your own rooflines for the first twenty minutes after sundown is the most reliable way to find an entry point. On a house with multiple roof levels, watch each of them.
Why Bats in Your Attic Are a Health Concern
Bats are beneficial animals and we remove them without harming them, but a colony inside a building is a genuine problem that shouldn’t be left alone.
Accumulated guano is the main issue. As it builds and dries, it can support growth of Histoplasma capsulatum, a fungus whose spores become airborne when the material is disturbed. Inhaling those spores can cause histoplasmosis, a respiratory infection. That’s why we don’t simply sweep out an attic — guano removal is done with proper protective equipment and containment, and heavily soiled insulation is removed and replaced rather than cleaned.
Rabies is the question people ask about most. The large majority of bats do not carry it, but a small percentage do, and any direct contact between a bat and a person or a pet should be treated seriously and discussed with a doctor or veterinarian. Never attempt to catch or handle a bat yourself.
There’s also straightforward structural damage. Urine and guano saturate insulation, stain plaster and ceilings, and over several seasons will rot roof sheathing and framing. On a Victorian with original framing, plasterwork, and decorative interior woodwork, that repair bill climbs quickly — which is a strong argument for dealing with a colony early rather than living with it.
Bat Exclusion in Strafford, PA — and Why Timing Matters
We don’t trap and relocate bats. The method that works is exclusion. We inspect the structure, identify every opening the colony is using, seal all of them permanently, and fit the active entry points with one-way devices that let bats out and prevent them from getting back in. Once the structure is confirmed empty, the devices come off and those final openings are sealed. Then we handle cleanup — guano removal, sanitizing, and insulation replacement where it’s warranted.
Timing is the part homeowners don’t anticipate. In Pennsylvania, bat exclusions cannot be performed during the maternity season, roughly mid-May through August 1st. During that window the colony includes flightless pups. Sealing the adults out means the young starve inside the structure — inhumane, illegal, and a far worse outcome than the original problem, since you’re left with dead animals in an inaccessible space and adult bats working their way into living areas trying to reach them.
If you find bats during the restricted period, it’s still worth calling. We can inspect the property, document the entry points, remove any bat that has gotten into living space, and have the exclusion scheduled for the first day the work can legally begin. Hibernating bat populations across the Northeast have suffered severe losses from White Nose Syndrome, so avoiding additional harm to the species matters. Contact Seitz Wildlife Services to schedule your Strafford bat exclusion at the right time of year.
Contact Seitz Wildlife Services
Seitz Wildlife Services is licensed, insured, and family-owned, serving Strafford, Tredyffrin Township, neighboring Wayne, and communities throughout Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Berks Counties. Call (610) 999-2606 for a free phone consultation about bat removal at your Strafford property.