Raccoons access your home because your property has things on it they need like water and food and this case, easily accessible shelter. There is something about your property that attracts them and then, as mating season approaches female raccoons will try to penetrate your house, your deck, under your shed or in your attic or even in your chimney. Now, this is not an easy thing to do. Chimneys have caps made of steel or aluminum. If you want to check if your chimney cap is stable enough to stop a raccoon from getting in, or if you don’t have one at all. You can call a general contractor to seal the chimney off before the winter when raccoon mating season starts which will assure the chimney is protected from access by wild animals. The reason for this is that you live near a wildlife-ridden area. A ravine is a public park where children play and leave half-eaten snacks on the ground or in the open public garbage cans that are fully accessible to wildlife. If you want wildlife to stay away from your property, then do everything your neighbours aren’t doing. Like, keep your garbage locked and in the garage. When a raccoon comes prowling they will find no food on your property and leave. That is why you see wildlife all the time and your neighbours don’t. do not feed pets outside. If you have outdoor barbeques you must clean everything thoroughly. Rake up or hose down any messes and get rid of any food or water sources. How often do you use that window sill herb garden? It could attract squirrels to your kitchen window and then they will realize there is food inside.
If you would like to seal it off yourself, or even get a professional to seal off the whole house there are some things you can do on your own, and a lot if you can get up on your roof. The chimney is relatively simple to seal with a steel cap, wrap the cap in waterproof galvanized steel and bolt it to the cap. This will stop anything from getting in but is something a professional may have to do. You can also seal off your deck and shed with something called trenching. You just dig one foot by 6-inch hole around the perimeter of the deck or shed and attach galvanized steel mesh as you would wrap around the chimney. Make sure it’s sealed on all sides and you will have nothing under your deck or shed ever again. if you are worried there may be an animal in there already you can add a one-way door, they sell them at home hardware and it will allow the animal to vacate humanely. it’s normally a wide opening made of steel with a clear plexiglass door connected to a spring. the animal can go through one way but not the other.