While we all root for the mouse in the old cartoons and at the theme parks, no one actually wants rodents to discover access points to their home. Rats, mice, and other rodents can cause a lot of damage if they decide to move in and can be a real pest to remove (pun intended).
The best way to get rid of rodents in your house is to prevent them from moving in to begin with! Here are the five things we would focus on, straight from the experts at Advantage Pest Control, to make your home a rodent-proof one:
1. Minimize or Remove Attractants
A clean home is often a rodent-free home! Keep your house tidy of obvious pest attractions, like food scraps or trash bags piled up against exterior walls — but also consider what other environments may appeal to these pesky critters.
Rats and mice may settle in around the exterior of your home before they start seeking out access points. But we can reduce the likelihood of this by removing any potential hiding places. An Advantage expert can point out pile-ups of debris, stacks of boxes, and other potential attractants you might have missed! We might even make recommendations for removing large, dense bushes next to your house that could shield both rodents and access points from your line of sight.
2. Find Potential Access Points
Even without food or shelter to attract them, rodents may still find their way into your home. This is why it’s important to make doing home entry as difficult as possible for them! Any crack, hole, or gap in the exterior of your house is a potential access point. Here is how we make sure each of the most common access points are sealed up tight:
Garage Door
You don’t want rodents in your garage any more than the rest of your home. Plus, once they’re in the garage, it’s even easier for them to get inside. We inspect your garage door and help to implement a tight seal along the bottom with absolutely no gapping for rodents to squeeze under. You may need to adjust or even replace all or part of your garage door depending on the extent of the gap, but it’s worth it to avoid the costly damage rodents may cause once they get inside!
Walls and Foundations
Small holes and cracks can form in the siding and foundation of your home, and even a hole as tiny as a quarter inch can provide an access point! Our patching strategy depends on where the access point is, but generally, either a rodent proof sealant for siding or heavy gauge mesh that will keep them from chewing through. In the case of foundation cracks, we may recommend cement to fill the holes around the base of your home.
Pipes
While holes in the pipes themselves can cause a whole slew of other problems, this isn’t what we’re talking about here. When a pipe enters your home from the exterior, the gaps between the pipe and the wall are generally caulked off, but this caulking can wear away over time (or even get chewed through by persistent pests). We may need to recaulk these seals on occasion, and it can also be helpful to stuff holes with copper or steel mesh to repel rodents from gnawing their way in. Our Advantage technicians can help identify and seal up these access points!
Doors and Windows
Like with your garage door, gaps around the edges of your doors and windows can become easy access points. Some of this gapping can be solved with some simple sealing, but you may need to replace or professionally repair window or door seals if the problem persists. For your entry doors, Advantage can install door sweeps to remove rodent access in that way.
Vents
Ventilation creates necessary “holes” in the structure of your home, but we can still keep the rodents out of your air ducts with specialized vent covers. Our Advantage Technicians can install specially designed vent covers that provide a tight seal, as well as recommend other ways to reduce the attractiveness of your home to rodents.
3. Inspect Regularly
One of the things that makes Advantage Pest Control the best in Kansas City is our year-round maintenance program. We offer frequent inspections around potential access points and continue to maintain a clean, non-rodent-friendly environment! If you ever do find evidence of a rodent infestation, you should contact Advantage Pest Control immediately so we can handle the little invaders safely and effectively.
4. Take Advantage of Integrated Pest Management
We never want you to feel trapped in an emergency situation, when rodents have moved in with no plans to pack up and leave soon. That’s why we offer Integrated Pest Management to our Kansas City and Lawrence neighbors, to help end your rodent woes as quickly and efficiently as possible! Whether you need a one time wildlife service, or need ongoing quarterly pest and rodent control, we give all customers a pest-free home guaranteed! Give us a call to see how we can help protect your home!
