Wildlife and your Patio

Decks and patio spaces are great for entertaining on a nice summer day, but a wild animal may be using yours as its house. Many animal species can use a deck as shelter, to various degrees. It is important to make sure that your deck is well guarded against wildlife.
One of the most common ways that a wild animal will gain access to your deck is by digging a hole. Raccoons, foxes, squirrels, or skunks can dig slight openings under the edge of the patio to slip inside.If you see a dug indentation in the ground near your patio, you may have an invading animal.
Many decks have fence-like structures under them, rather than solid walls. This allows for snakes or rodents to easily navigate in and out of the space below the deck at will. Decks like this should be built with a metal mesh fence on the inside to prevent pesky animals from setting up shop below.