You protect a loft by closing the openings at roof level, at the eaves, soffit joints, gable vents, ridge, verge and any slipped tile, then removing what makes the space worth occupying, which means food, soft nesting material and clutter. Before any of that, you check the loft for bats and nesting birds, because both are legally protected and their presence changes what you are allowed to do to the roof at all.
That legal check genuinely comes first, not last. Sealing a roof void with bats roosting in it or a bird nesting under the eaves is an offence, not just a mistake, and it is the single most common way a well meant DIY proofing job goes badly wrong. Once you have established the loft is clear, the work itself is straightforward and largely one off, because a loft that has been properly sealed and stripped of the things pests want tends to stay quiet for years rather than needing repeat treatment.
Check for protected species before you touch anything
All British bat species and their roosts are protected under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017, and it is an offence to damage or block a roost even when the bats are not present at the time. Roofs are one of their preferred roosting places, so this is not a remote possibility in Kent. If you find bats, or droppings that could be bats, the work stops and you follow the government guidance on bat protection and licences, which sets out when a licence from Natural England is needed.
Wild birds, their nests and their eggs are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 while the nest is in use or being built, which in practice means proofing under the eaves waits until the nesting season has finished. The gov.uk guidance on wild birds covers the position and the narrow circumstances in which a licence applies.
Grey squirrels sit at the opposite end of the law. They are an invasive non native species, and Defra's grey squirrel policy statement confirms it is illegal to release one once it has been trapped, so a caught squirrel must be humanely dispatched rather than let go in a wood down the road. People are often surprised by that, and it is a good reason to hand squirrel work to someone who does it properly.
We've found this is where the difference between a house and a converted building really shows. The oast houses, barn conversions and period farm buildings around Tenterden, Canterbury and the Ashford villages have large open roof voids and a great deal of original timber, which produces dozens of small irregular gaps and makes them genuinely prime for bats, squirrels and nesting birds all at once. On those properties the legal survey is the largest part of the job, not a formality.
Proofing starts on the roofline, not inside the loft
Almost everything that gets into a loft arrives from the outside at height, so standing in the loft with a torch will show you evidence but rarely the way in. The work happens at the roofline. The points that matter most are the eaves gap where the roof meets the wall head, the joints and corners of soffit and fascia boards, gable and soffit vents with damaged or missing mesh, the verge along a gable end, ridge and hip tiles with failed mortar, slipped or lifted tiles and slates, and the gap where a soil vent pipe, aerial bracket or cable passes through.
The aim is to close each opening with something the animal cannot chew, while keeping the ventilation the roof needs. That last part is important, because sealing a loft airtight causes condensation and rot, which is a more expensive problem than the one you started with. Mesh maintains airflow, filler does not.
In our experience, stainless steel mesh fixed behind the fascia works better than expanding foam at the eaves because a grey squirrel chews straight through cured foam in a single session, and on the exposed coastal elevations from Dymchurch through Hythe to Dover the salt laden wind degrades foam and standard galvanised fixings alike within a few winters. Stainless costs a little more and is still sound when we revisit years later.
Weatherboarded and tile hung elevations, which are common right across this part of Kent, need a slightly different approach. There is a continuous cavity behind the cladding that cannot be filled and should not be, so the proofing has to concentrate on the openings at the head, the foot and the window reveals. Trying to seal the cavity itself is wasted effort and traps moisture in the wall.
Squirrels are the loft pest people underestimate
Grey squirrels do more structural damage in a loft than anything else on this list. They gnaw timber and cable, lift and displace insulation, and will enlarge a small gap into a usable entrance. Because they are active in daylight, the noise pattern is the giveaway. Heavy, purposeful movement and rolling sounds during the day usually mean squirrels, while scratching that only starts after dark points to rodents.
They typically get in at the eaves or a gable end and often use an overhanging branch as the approach, so cutting back growth to leave a clear gap of two metres or so from the roof removes the route before you touch the building. Once they are in, a loft needs both removal and proofing, because sealing a live squirrel inside a roof void is both inhumane and a guaranteed second call out.
Rats and mice get higher than people expect
A loft feels like it should be out of reach, but rats climb cavity walls, rough render and pipework easily, and mice need a gap of only around 6mm. Both will use the same eaves openings as everything else. In a loft the signs are droppings along the joists, shredded insulation and cardboard pulled into a nest, gnawed cable, and scratching that runs along a line after dark rather than staying in one place.
Keeping insulation intact and undisturbed matters more than it sounds, because a rodent nest in loft insulation is warm, hidden and completely undisturbed, which is close to ideal. If you are already checking for the early signs that mice are in the property, the loft is worth including even when the activity seems to be downstairs, because the two are often the same population moving through a cavity.
Cluster flies are a loft problem in their own right
Cluster flies are the one loft pest that has nothing to do with hygiene and cannot really be prevented by sealing food away, because they are not after anything in the house. They overwinter in large numbers in roof voids, gathering in slow moving masses at gable ends and around windows on mild days. From working with clients on the farmland edge around Ashford, Canterbury and the Weald villages, we see the calls arrive reliably from autumn as the temperature drops, and always in the same properties year after year, since the flies return to sites that have been used before.
Proofing helps but rarely solves it outright, as they exploit gaps far smaller than a rodent needs, which is why a loft full of cluster flies is usually treated rather than simply sealed.
What you store up there matters
Once the roof is sealed, the remaining question is whether the loft is worth occupying. A few habits make a real difference.
- Store in rigid plastic boxes with lids rather than cardboard, which is nesting material and a food source in one.
- Keep bird seed, pet food, bulbs and anything edible out of the loft entirely.
- Leave clear walkways and lift boxes off the insulation, so activity is visible on an inspection rather than hidden.
- Do not store soft furnishings, old bedding, loft insulation offcuts or bagged clothing loose, since all of it is prime nesting material.
- Look properly twice a year, in autumn before the weather turns and again in spring, using a torch raked low across the joists.
When to get someone up there
Get a professional in if you hear daytime activity, find droppings or gnawed cable, see any sign of bats or a nest, or if the roofline is high, steep or otherwise not safe to work on. A survey should identify the species first, check the legal position, then map the entry points and deal with proofing and treatment together, because doing one without the other simply resets the clock.
We have been treating lofts and roof voids across Romney Marsh, Folkestone, Hythe, Ashford, Tenterden, Dover and the surrounding villages since 2008, with more than twenty years in the trade behind that, and we cover domestic, commercial and industrial property. You can see the range of common pests in Kent we deal with, or get in touch and we will come and look at the roof.
Cinque Ports Pest Control Ltd is a family run business based in Dymchurch, Romney Marsh. We are BPCA members, Kent County Council Trading Standards approved, TrustMark registered, SafeContractor approved and CRRU supporters.
