Hi! I have a house with brick walls and a number of wires, cables, and electrical conduits running up the walls that raccoons may be using to climb. So I want to interrupt their ability to use these vertical routes to climb by systematically going to each of these cables and conduits and selecting a stretch of each that I will cover with about a four foot length of metal sheeting, which should be enough to thwart even the most dexterous raccoon in his climbing!.

My question: what is the best way to attach the metal sheeting to the brick? Should I use epoxy? Should I use nails? Should I use screws? Something else? And do you have any pointers about exactly how I should go about doing it?

I've already removed the vines that covered the walls but that has not been enough to stop them.

 

1/4" x 1 1/4" tapcon screws, they will need a pilot hole made with a hammer drill. Drilling into the mortar is always better than drilling into the brick. Mortar can be repaired.

 

XSleeper, thanks for your reply. Two questions:
1) Will epoxy not work for some reason?
2) I don't have a hammer drill, so can I make a suitable pilot hole for the tapcon screws with a hammer and nail?

 

Why are they climbing ? Where are they going ?

They don't usually just climb a roof. They do climb if they've found a way into the house.

 

I dont know why you would want to ruin your brick by smearing epoxy on it. Someone will take that metal off someday and be really p.o.'d. And no, you cannot make a hole with a nail. Go to a rental store and rent a hammer drill.

 

I would want to be 100% certain that raccoons, or any other critters, are using the conduit/cables etc as a ladder to your roof before I did any drilling or epoxying. My advice - smear the conduit with a couple of feet of marine wheel bearing grease. I guarantee that after a few encounters nothing will be climbing your conduits.

 

Do your drilling into the mortar, you wont need a hammer drill and when the metal is removed you can patch the mortar so it looks like nothing was ever there!

Do no epoxy anything!!!!

 

This is a great site! Thank you all for your responses! For the record, let me say that, in the realm of DIY, I'm a very-poorly-informed novice who appreciates having even the obvious spelled out!

You've convinced me that using screws inserted in the mortar is the only sensible way to proceed in affixing the sheet metal.

Pjmax says, "Why are they climbing ? Where are they going ?

They don't usually just climb a roof. They do climb if they've found a way into the house."

Pjmax, oh they've found a way into the house! But in addition to that place, they've climbed to the roof and created a hole there, which I'm struggling to deal with in a sensible way: I've had a tarpaulin secured on the roof to prevent water damage while I eliminate, one by one, every means the raccoons could conceivably use to get to the roof. Once I've done that, I'll repair the hole in the roof.

cwbuff says, "My advice - smear the conduit with a couple of feet of marine wheel bearing grease. I guarantee that after a few encounters nothing will be climbing your conduits."

Could you elaborate on exactly what that would entail, cwbuff. Are there downsides? And what solid evidence do you have that marine wheel bearing grease would stymie a determined raccoon?

 

We hang a half dozen hummingbird feeders in the yard. Raccoons would shinny up the post and drink the feeders dry. I even watched them do it a couple of times. I smeared the grease a couple of feet up the pole and it didn't take long for them to quit going after the hummingbird food. That was a couple of years ago and they have not bothered us since.

 

Cwbuff, did you arrive on axle grease after the peanut butter you tried first failed miserably and only attracted more raccoons? LOL. I make myself laugh just picturing that scenario.

 

Nope. I was smart enough to recognize how resourceful raccoons can be. I had one as a pet many years ago. Smart and fastidious critters. My wife suggested crisco but I knew marine axle grease would do the trick.

I reserve the peanut butter for the dumb ass mice.