Ask An Expert

The Overly Annoying Woodpecker

My name is Tom Lopatosky. I’m the President of LOPCO Contracting (www. LopcoContracting.com) & I’m honored to have the opportunity to talk to you about home improvement on a monthly basis. I love answering your questions! Please send them to tom@ LopcoContracting.com or call 401-270-2664. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this column!

ere are few pests hitting up people’s homes that approach the level of modern annoyances more so than New England woodpeckers.

Don’t get me wrong. Termites, carpenter ants, mice, carpenter bees, etc., are all unwelcome guests that cause enormous amounts of damage to our homes and businesses on a yearly basis, but for some reason, the tone of frustration that I have witnessed over the years with regard to active woodpeckers and the subsequent destruction that stems from their actions blasts the emotions generated by all of the other pests out of the water. I have noticed this to become increasingly true over the years.

While I am not sure if this is coincidence or actually accurate from a scienti c standpoint, all I can tell you is that each year we seem to be on the phone with more and more home and business owners who are at their wits end with these tiny, winged creatures.

It could be the constant pecking on the home and when one goes out to scare them away, the woodpecker’s departure may be short-lived, as they seemingly hide in the trees and stare back at the house, waiting for their next opportunity to carry on with their incessant ruinous noisemaking.

Perhaps, it is the actual damage, which unlike carpenter ants and termites, may be highly visible to anyone that might happen to pass by and glance at the house. Or, possibly, it is the o en unending mission to scare them away with some type of crazy tactic taken from the internet, until one seems to work.

As tempting as it may be to call upon retired military veteran and expert marksman ‘Uncle Danny’ to hide in the bushes with a BB gun, with the intent of picking o the feathered heathen at the rst opportunity, woodpeckers are a protected species and any such discovered action would more than likely trigger the swi hand of the law to swoop down and really create a situation that will be unpleasant.

Years ago, while visiting with a client – whom I later discovered was an ornithologist – who lived in Lincoln, RI, along the Blackstone River, I learned an interesting fact.

Up until this point in time, I had always thought that the woodpeckers were looking for food, as they were pecking away at people’s homes. On the contrary, my ornithologist client explained; they were actually looking for dates. surface being pecked on were an actual part of the attraction process for the opposite sex. Just lovely.

While the noisemaking may be sweet sounding or a vital part of woodpecker reproductive activity, it is far from sweet sounding or amusing to the home or business owner being a ected by it.

Even worse news, no building material seems to be sacred. We have observed woodpeckers causing harm to all di erent types of wood, composite material, and even stucco! Sometimes the damage is con ned to one general area, sometimes it is spread throughout the entire exterior of a home.

ere certainly appears to be no rhyme or reason. As gut-wrenching as this may be to hear, the secret to ridding yourself of woodpeckers seems to be to keep trying di erent methodologies of attempting to ward them away, until stumbling upon what works.

If you would like to have an in depth conversation about some techniques that we have seen used throughout the years, please feel free to reach out to our o ce and schedule a conversation with us.

Who knows?

We may have seen that one technique that you may not have been privy to or implemented, as of yet, and it may be the technique that helps put the kibosh on one of nature’s ultra-maddening dating games, which is using your home for its centerpiece.

About Tom Lopatosky

Tom Lopatosky has run his own carpentry and painting business in Providence since 1995; LOPCO Contracting – the “Personable, Particular Professionals” – specializes in carpentry and exterior & interior painting. Recently LOPCO Contracting was named ‘RI’s Finest Painting Contracting Company’ by ShopInRI Magazine. In 2013, Tom was named “Humanitarian of the Year” by the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America (PDCA) and a “40 Under 40” award winner by Providence Business News. He is a member of both the PDCA and RIBA (Rhode Island Builders Association). Tom has weekly ‘Home Improvement Tips’ that air on the radio on 630 WPRO AM (during the weekday morning news) and on television on WPRI 12 (during the Saturday morning news.

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