Pigeon Spikes Keep Pigeons from Landing & Roosting
Building owners and maintenance managers across the nation have to deal with the mess and damage caused by pest pigeons. Hundreds are spent monthly to clean-up and repair damage caused by pigeon droppings, debris and nesting materials. One easy, inexpensive and effective way to keep pigeons off your building is to install pigeon spikes. Once installed, the spike strips will make it impossible for the pigeons to land on the surface being protected.
Pigeons by nature are cliff dwelling birds. Our cities with all of the tall buildings with ledges and parapets, have replicated the cliffs that pigeons are instinctively used to using as landing, roosting and nesting sites. Our city buildings also offer protection from predators and even can provide a nice food source if there is a nearby cafe or dumpster. Installing pigeon spikes on these ledges of buildings would greatly reduce the amount of damage to buildings caused by the birds.
Damage Caused by Pigeons
When pigeons roost or nest in an area of a building there feces and other debris will build up with time. The built up droppings can cause serious damage to building materials. Pigeon feces are acidic and can quickly corrode concrete, wood, and metals. To prevent the build up of pigeon mess it is advised that as soon as building maintenance personnel notice the pigeons, they install some sort of pigeon deterrent system like pigeon spikes.
How to Install Pigeon Spikes
Pigeon spikes are easily installed on most surfaces. You can use screws or adhesive to mount the spike strips to the area needing coverage. Most pigeon spikes will have a glue trough on the bottom that you simply run a bead of glue down the spike strip and put in place. Pigeon spikes will also have pre-drilled holes for screws when installing on wood surfaces. The advantage of using screws to install the spikes is that you can remove them easily when maintenance or painting is needed in the area.
When measuring how much spike you require for a given area, be sure to measure not only the linear footage but also the width to be covered. Some large areas may require more than one row of pigeon spikes. The plastic spike strips come in 3", 5" and 7" widths, while the stainless steel strips are 3", 5" and 8" wide. When installing the spike strips make sure that they at most 1" from the wall and give them at least of overhang over the edge of the area being protected. When guarding against pigeons, you want to be sure you do not give them space to land near the spikes, look above to be sure there is no where that the pigeons can land.
After the pigeon spikes are installed they will be virtually maintenance free. You may want to check them periodically for debris such as fallen leaves and twigs. Both the stainless steel pigeon spikes and the plastic pigeon spikes are virtually invisible once installed, maintaining the aesthetics of the building.