I told a client I could fix his deck so no skunks or raccoons could get under it. The wooden deck has about a 6" space between the bottom of the face board and the soil. I planned to dig a rigid wire mesh about 8" into the ground and attach it to the inside back of the face board. Is this deep enough to prevent skunks and raccoons from digging under it? Do I need to add a right angle lip at the bottom of the wire mesh pointing away from the deck for an aggressive digger?

Thanks for your advice. Ole

Exclusion

...This might help.........

Roger, on a deck that has been invaded before, a six inch lip will help a lot.

I would go down eight inches with a 6 inch 45 degree bend going away from the deck.

Thank you all for confirming how to do it right the first time.

Thanks, Ole

We always do a minimum of 12-15 inches on the dig in apron length extension. You will get dig unders with some ground hogs with only 6 inches.However you will find this out in time.

however, if groundhogs have not been an issue 6 inches down and 6" out would suffice for merely skunk and groundhog. If you dont want to roll the dice listen to bob. BTW bob, you mean 12-15 depending on soil conditions? often if its a new build and the deck was completed at the same time as the house was built there will be alot of 304/57 gravel 6" down and if you cant dig through it they wont either. Why would they when they could just walk under the neighbors ? =) and roger, dont use chicken wire and watch out for underground cable lines. That always makes for a bad day. -Good luck!

If you want to see some pictures, I like to go down 6-8 in and than out 6 in when I can, or go down 3 inches and out 24 in for lawns. some times you can cut the sod and pull it back than lay the wire and then lay the the sod back and stomp it down good the root will grow through it. Yes a chuck can tunnel under, but what I have found is that this keeps critters from ducking under for sanctuary. if a chuck wants under you cant dig deep enough to keep them out, in this case lay the vinyl hardware cloth flat on top of the ground hog ring pieces together and put 2 inches of crushed stone on top of it.
http://www.wildlifepro.net/forum/topics/wire-a-deck-or-home-to-keep

Depth varies depending on the conditions at the point of install. Some we only go down 4-6 inches. Basically that depends on what it will take to do a good and neat job to hold the wire in position and keep it from surfacing. The 12-15" is the dig under apron length that we use on avg.,not the depth.