“Great. This looks reasonable.”
That was my response to learning that more than 100 bats were living in the attic.
The Poughkeepsie house had already required a repaired beam, foundation work, drainage, new bathrooms, and a long list of other projects. It was an old Victorian that had spent years finding new ways to need a contractor.
The bat inspection added another one.
The inspector found the colony inside the attic and a strong odor reaching the top floor. Outside, he found several entry points along the roofline and below it. The roof was high enough that the work might require a lift.
The proposed exclusion was simple. The crew would seal the smaller openings and put one-way doors over the major routes. The bats could leave. They could not use the same holes to come back in.
After the bats were out, the attic needed a separate cleanup. The plan included removing material left by the colony, dealing with the odor, and sanitizing the space.
I replied four words before asking what came next. The following morning, I forwarded the plan to the other people involved with the house and said I wanted the contractor to start as soon as possible.
There was not much to debate. More than 100 was already enough.
The old house had survived worse problems than bats. It had not, as far as I knew, previously had this many roommates.
The bats had one-way doors. The attic had a cleaning plan. I had another contractor.