Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Rodents: How Are They Getting In, How Do We Stop Them?

  • By Drew McFadden
  • 10/01/17

It’s critical that pest problems be identified and addressed as quickly as possible because rodents breed quickly — a single pair of rats can multiply into 640 within a year, and mice can multiply to over 1,000. Stopping them for good means finding the points of entry and sealing them up to prevent future invasion. Below are some of the most common entry points and exclusion solutions. Remember, when conducting your inspection, mice can fit through a gap of about 1/4 inch and rats through a gap of 3/8 inch.

Common Entry Points and Solutions:

  • Exterior doors — Damaged or worn out sweeps are one of the most common entry points. Most standard brush or vinyl sweeps keep out the weather but not mice and rats. All doors should be fitted with specialized rodent-proof door sweeps.
  • Vents and grilles — Protect them with screen or mesh and ensuring any voids or gaps around them are filled with a pest exclusion material.
  • Drain pipes — Rats are excellent swimmers. Make sure exterior drain and sewer access points are covered with an appropriate metal cover. Openings surrounding the drain should be patched or filled.
  • Vertical wires and pipes — Mice and rats are excellent climbers. Circular rat guards should be placed around all vertical wires and pipes.
  • Utility and other building penetrations — Check places where pipes, wires or HVAC enter the building and fill any gaps with pest exclusion material.

Ensure the exterior of the building, especially around the foundation, is free from harborage areas such as shrubs and ground cover, and eliminate any “bridges” to the roof, like overhanging trees.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

About the Author

Drew McFadden is director of Marketing for Xcluder, and can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • University of Kansas Breaks Ground on Entrepreneurship Hub

    The University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new KU Entrepreneurship Hub, according to university news. The Hub is part of the university’s School of Business and will include spaces for experiential learning and programming.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Surging Demand for Student Housing Fuels Major Campus Investment Opportunities

    University leaders throughout the U.S. are accelerating plans to modernize and expand student housing as enrollment stabilizes and demand for on-campus living rebounds. Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that total postsecondary enrollment is projected to grow through the end of the decade, with undergraduate enrollment alone expected to increase by more than 8 percent by 2030.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.