Our office is an older 2-story home, that was converted into a business. As an older home, it has a tendency to be accosted by the local squirrels and birds. I work on the second story of the office, and their has been a couple squirrels in the attic from time to time. There has also been a starling spotted in the window up there a few times.

This past Friday, I stayed late to ensure that if there were any of our ‘friends’ upstairs, that no one was here to be frightened. The only access to our attic is one of those drop-down stairways, so I was concerned that they might be ‘home’ and try to run into the office!

We considered one of those sonic pest devices to run them off. However they don’t appear to make a version that works for both birds and squirrels, just one or the other. So our local Ace hardware recommended a product called Shakeaway. It is an almost odor free chemical that is much like wet sand. I put about a 1/2 cup of Shakeaway into squares of cheesecloth and then used plastic zip ties to secure them, then tossed about 10 of them upstairs around the perimeter of the attic.

That should run them all off after a week or so (according to Ace). Then we can ensure the screens over vents are shored-up to keep them out, without hurting any of the ‘guests’.