Most people are surprised to learn that woodpeckers can cause a lot of damage to the siding of a home regardless of the type of finishing they have. These common birds have increasingly become a nuisance in many parts of North America and are causing an enormous amount of damage to homes everywhere.
There are basically two reasons that these annoying birds will peck on your house
- They have very sensitive hearing, so if they hear insects behind the stucco or wood of your house, they will continue to peck away at the siding until they get to those yummy bugs.
- They want to build a nest in the Styrofoam of EIFS stucco or in the case of wood siding, they can do the same there as well.
So why are they attracted to your home’s siding in the first place? In most cases, home exteriors have a fairly neutral color like a brown or a grey, and the woodpeckers may think that your home is made of wood even if you have stucco siding. The only solution there, is to possibly paint your house a brighter color that might discourage them from pecking on it. Most areas of Canada or the United States have laws in place protecting these birds, so you can’t just take a BB gun to them to scare them away. You can try yelling at them, but that will only work temporarily and they will be right back making their noise in no time.
What are the solutions to woodpecker damage?
Obviously the best solution is to prevent the birds from causing damage in the first place, but unfortunately there are not many options. Other than painting your house a different color, another possible remedy seems to be puting a giant spider toy where they like to peck in the hope that it will scare them away much like a scarecrow works on other birds. For the price of a toy spider, it might be worth a try.
One other thing to try is a product called Shieldlt which makes it much harder for woodpeckes to drill holes in your EIFS stucco. You can read more about this product here http://50stucco.com/woodpecker-damage/
How do you repair damaged stucco?
You should probably get a certified exterior insulation and finish system (EIFS) contractor to do the repair for you. If you decide to tackle the job yourself, make sure you take the time to watch a lot of videos on YouTube and understand what you are doing. Otherwise you could make some mistakes that lead to more damage to your home, and that could lead to an even larger expense down the road.
Just remember that the repair job is never going to blend in perfectly with the rest of the stucco, whether you hire a contractor or you do the job yourself. The color or texture will always be a bit different because the original color will have faded over time.