Why is a woodpecker damaging my ICF walls and how do I stop it? I am planning to kill it. Do you have any better solutions?

I'd also be worried about whether it is actually getting any bugs in there.

Is your place just not finished yet, or is the ICF actually exposed? My cat ripped some of my walls to shreds during building, but the damage was easy to patch. Wood pecker holes could be filled with sprayfoam.

Best to permanently remove animals that are (dead)set on a particular mindless behavior.

Posted By theInvincible on 21 Oct 2012 10:14 PM
Why is a woodpecker damaging my ICF walls and how do I stop it? I am planning to kill it. Do you have any better solutions?

Need to clarify what is going on here. Is the ICF exposed? Is their concrete inside the ICF? Why isn't there a finished exterior surface (stucco, siding) on the ICF?

Woodpeckers will bang on things to make noise- they've been observed hammering on metal light poles. I don't think they could get much noise out of ICF, though. I think it's illegal to kill one, so better keep it to yourself. On a related note- I had carpenter bee damage on my ICF. Not enough to cause concern, though.

Since woodpeckers are migratory, federal law and international treaties protect them. However, if they are damaging your house, you have a right to protect it. That could mean many things as a defense.

Woodpeckers thump on anything that makes a good noise (to them). It marks their territory and can also be part of the mating ritual. This is their behaviour here in CO in March, not now. Consider your abode a large bongo drum.

This is annual behaviour. Which means, it could continue, unless you cover the ICF with something that deadens the bongo like noise. I have seen them take 5 gallons of EPS out of the hole in thin stucco siding to make their nest. One house I repaired had 300 woodpecker holes in the thin stucco.

good luck

Use STUCCOMAX, we have never seen a woodpecker be able to penetrate our product. Our products are abuse resistant and even ballistic resistant.

^ That way if you miss with the pellet gun, the house will not be damaged... Sounds like two benefits to me!

thanks Brian it is a remarkable product
please see more info on www.stuccomax.com or on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barrett-Enterprises-Inc/174646172589879?ref=hl

Posted By ICFcoatings on 22 Oct 2012 12:09 PM
thanks Brian it is a remarkable product
please see more info on www.stuccomax.com or on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barrett-Enterprises-Inc/174646172589879?ref=hl

Anyone in Arizona install it?

Posted By jdebree on 22 Oct 2012 07:15 AM
Woodpeckers will bang on things to make noise- they've been observed hammering on metal light poles. I don't think they could get much noise out of ICF, though. I think it's illegal to kill one, so better keep it to yourself. On a related note- I had carpenter bee damage on my ICF. Not enough to cause concern, though.

I've seen them penetrate soffits and create so many holes in wood soffits that they had to pull the boards down and replace them.

I can't see a woodpecker penetrating 6" of reinforced concrete or penetrating 24 gauge steel.

Concrete is not poured yet. I checked the hole today. It was like a nest. I put some sprayfoam in it.

Posted By ICFcoatings on 22 Oct 2012 12:09 PM
thanks Brian it is a remarkable product
please see more info on www.stuccomax.com or on our facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barrett-Enterprises-Inc/174646172589879?ref=hl

What kind of expansion rates does StuccoMax experience? Does it have any R-Value to it?

So with detail work, basically at the bottom of the stucco wall it just closes itself off, no weep screed? What about around window frame areas?

thin, soft stucco/eifs coatings are no defense against woodpeckers
impact rated eifs works, as does real "old world stucco"
or hardie type cementicious siding
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Let them eat. We have some exposed spray foam left over that isn't yet covered and I've chucked 3 bird-bodies into the forest. They don't seem to last long with the plumbing filled with foam. And there's no feedback mechanism to inform future attempts. To get around the international treaties - you could simply detain them indefinitely. (food source notwithstanding)