Noises in your attic?

Timing is the quickest tell. Squirrels are busy at first light and again before dusk, while rats move once the house goes quiet at night. Squirrels also sound like rolling and scampering overhead where rats sound like scratching inside a wall — a pro confirms it from the droppings and the entry point before doing anything.

Scratching in the same spot night after night usually means an animal has found a way in and settled, not that one wandered past. The first job is finding the opening — normally a gap at the roofline, a vent, or a lifted shingle. Once the animal is out, that opening gets sealed.

Usually not. The common approach is a one-way exit at the burrow so the animal leaves on its own, then the perimeter is screened and buried so nothing digs back underneath. The deck itself normally stays where it is.

That depends almost entirely on whether the way in gets closed. Removal on its own leaves an open door on the house, which is why exclusion work matters as much as the removal. Ask the pro on the call what sealing is included before you agree to anything.

Close the interior doors, open one window to the outside, and leave the room — do not try to catch or handle it. A bat inside living space is treated differently from a colony in the attic, so it is worth describing the situation on the phone tonight rather than waiting until morning.

A smell that will not clear from under the house often means something has been nesting, or has died, somewhere out of reach. A pro can get under there, locate it, clean up the area and then close the access point. It is not worth chasing down yourself in a tight space.