How to seal mouse holes in the floor or wall

If there are mice in a house, country house, or apartment, then the owners are guaranteed a headache. These uninvited little guests create a lot of difficulties and inconveniences, and the fight against them turns into a real war. It is especially difficult to catch or destroy them when the animals are in hard-to-reach places, such as the floor or suspended ceiling.

Squeaking and noise at night, damage to wires, pipes, insulation, unpleasant smell - this is an incomplete list of the “pranks” of long-tailed rodents. And although technology does not stand still and every year they come up with new and effective means to combat them, this problem remains relevant today.

If there is a dead mouse under the floor, it is very difficult to find and get it out. Therefore, it is imperative to fight against parasites. We told you how to do this in previous articles, in particular, how to get rid of them in your apartment.

Now we will talk about how to seal holes and cracks from mice.

How do rodents get under the floor?

Food is the main goal of long-tailed pests.
They are also looking for a place in the house where they can build a nest and reproduce. If you are leaving your dacha or country house for a long time, be sure to remove all food items that attract pests. After all, when the cold comes, the animal will penetrate underground by any means.

Under the floor, they can crawl through your front door and you won’t even notice! Once the mice settle there, they won’t really want to crawl out from under the floor.

Preventive measures

Preventive measures have been discussed more than once. The main principle is this: there are no pests in a clean house.

Therefore, adhere to simple rules:

They constantly carry out general cleaning, during which they find and throw away all found garbage that is not of household or other interest;
do not leave scraps on the table, under the table, but promptly put them in a trash can with a lid;
do not clutter the house and apartment with unnecessary things;
all products are kept out of reach in tightly sealed containers;
They periodically inspect the residential area, seal up any mouse holes found, having previously prepared an unpleasant surprise for the rodent using poison or a mousetrap.

Fighting mice is not an easy task, but you can cope with the task. The main thing is to approach the issue with ingenuity and knowledge of the matter.

Danger of rats

It would seem that the rats live under the floor, and let them continue to live. There is probably no house where these pests would not exist. However, the harm they cause is real, and if this problem is not neutralized in time, the consequences will be dire.

So, rats under floors are dangerous:

Constant fuss and noise at night. During the day, you most likely will not notice the squeaks and other sounds that rats make, but at night, when the house falls asleep and plunges into silence, constant noises from somewhere below begin to bother you. Because of this, there may be problems with sleep, and if the person is also impressionable, then mental problems;
Problems in water supply and energy supply. Anything that gets in the way of rats will sooner or later be chewed through. Cables, telephone and Internet wires, fragile pipes of the water supply system are subject to this fate;
Destruction of insulation. Most of the insulation materials that you decide to use to insulate your walls will most likely turn into either dust or a rat's nest, since its composition is well suited for breeding;
With excrement. When rats come to the surface, they will leave their waste everywhere, which can become a serious problem during cleaning, as well as for children who can eat it;
Diseases. Everyone knows that rats carry a terrible number of equally terrible diseases. And the more of them there are in the house, the higher the risk of catching some unpleasant disease. And if rats are starving, they can easily attack a person, which will further increase the risk of illness due to a bite;
Corpse fumes. If the rat died under the floor, then there is no way to get it out. And her cold corpse will decompose for quite a long time, emitting corpse fumes, which, in addition to an unpleasant odor, can be harmful to health. The situation becomes especially dangerous in summer under the influence of high temperatures. Read about a way to get rid of corpse smell here.

If you find that a rat has chewed holes in the floor, they need to be repaired immediately. This can be done using sheets of metal, after throwing poison and broken glass there. Other rats will come through the newly formed holes in the floorboards, and the more quickly you react, the higher the chance that there will be fewer rats.

Where do rats come from under floors?

The main task of rats is to feed themselves and the population, as well as to produce as many of their own kind as possible. For this purpose, rats chew the floor and sneak into houses.

We suggest you familiarize yourself with: A spider is an insect or animal

Food

The main bait for all rodents is food. Therefore, it is very important, if you are the owner of a country house, do not be lazy to remove all the food from there before a long trip to the city or on vacation. Otherwise, there is a risk that by the time you return, the rats will completely fill the house.

Frame houses, which are erected quickly and are built from budget materials, are especially at risk. Rats can appear here even during construction, since quite often builders during lunch here and there forget pieces of food. Of course, rats will immediately come to the smell of something delicious.

Sometimes even well-insulated and protected houses become victims of attacks by hordes of rats. With the onset of cold weather, these parasites begin to hide under the floor. Unlike walls, the floor cannot be protected with metal sheets. This trick won't work here.

And here another difficulty arises: getting rid of rodent pests from under the floorboards will be much more difficult due to the inaccessibility of the underground space for humans. Therefore, at the construction stage, it may be worth thinking about how easy and unhindered it is for the owner of the house to enter the cellar, so that there is an opportunity to spread poison or remove dead rodents.

Overpopulation

Another reason for the appearance of rats can be overpopulation. When space becomes scarce in a certain area, rats begin to look for new places to give birth to babies. For these purposes, they can climb into a house or apartment. And if they are not eradicated, they will soon spread to even larger territories.

Do not leave food or trash near your home. This primarily attracts rats and mice

What materials are not suitable

Since ancient times, people have tried to keep mice out of their homes in a variety of ways. Basically, available and available means were used for this. Progress does not stand still, and relatively new inventions have joined them. But how effective are they?

Rags, rags. It would seem that the easiest way to plug all the holes and holes. But, at the same time, it is also the most unreliable. Mice will happily chew the fabric into dust and make a hole for themselves.
Clay, often mixed with sawdust. Not again! Clay is a fairly porous material, easily susceptible to mouse teeth. Sawdust will generally become an additional delicacy.

Clay will not stop mice from entering your home.

Mice will also work great with silicone and polyurethane foam.

By the way, if you want to prevent mice and their “houses” from appearing in the walls of your house, do not use cotton wool or polystyrene foam for insulation even at the construction stage. Mice will quickly deal with them. It is better to lay the boards directly on the joists as tightly as possible.

Expanded clay castle

You can make a so-called expanded clay castle. To do this, a layer of expanded clay is laid very tightly - 30 centimeters thick.

Floor laying technology:

first layer: baked clay (expanded clay) is laid directly on the ground. The main thing is that it is thick and dense - at least 30 cm. This layer must be covered with polyethylene;
second layer: two OSB-3 boards;
third layer: laying expanded clay;
fourth layer: place particle boards on top that are treated with synthetic wax and boric acid. Mice cannot tolerate the smell of these substances.

Traditional methods

Few people are aware of the fact that mice and rats are unusually sensitive to odors. There are herbs that repel rodents for a considerable time:

Elder. It repels them with a smell that they cannot stand. In addition, the roots of this plant secrete hydrocyanic acid, which is lethal to rodents. Conclusion: where elderberry grows, there is no place for rodents. You can cut the branches of the plant and put them in the basement, then rodents will not threaten your harvest.
Blackroot (ratrunner). For a long time it has been considered the most highly effective plant against mice and rats, and is equally good in fresh and dried form. The powder is mixed into the bait as a poison. A bouquet of fresh grass placed indoors repels rodents forever. The poison is concentrated mainly in the rhizome.
Sagebrush. Who is not familiar with the bitter-tart pleasant smell of this plant? Fresh or dried wormwood grass is laid out in the expected places of their appearance - and long-term disposal of them is guaranteed (pictured on the right).
Tansy. It is a natural insecticide, helps in getting rid of mice, rats and all kinds of household pests: moths, flies, bedbugs, fleas.

Effective ways

Cat. Well-known folk fighter against rodents. Undoubtedly.
Ash. Sprinkle where the animals appear. Unable to bear the smell, they are forced to leave the place of discomfort.
Mix 1:1 sugar with quicklime. Sprinkle as bait. The lime corrodes the insides and the rodent dies.
Mousetraps, rat traps. They are reliable “comrades”, but you need to make sure that the cat does not touch the devices, otherwise the “smart” rats will avoid the traps.
If there are animals in the cellar, you can “smoke” them out of there like this: take a piece of rubber, burn one end and throw it on the floor of the cellar or basement. Rubber does not burn, but smolders, releasing a pungent odor that suffocates mice and rats.

We suggest you read: Lethal dose of rat poison. Lethal dose of rat poison for humans

Whatever method of dealing with rodents you choose, you need to remember one thing: you need to go purposefully and to the end. To do this, it is possible to use a control complex, which includes various methods of destroying and getting rid of them. The right choice is yours!

Before laying the floors, you can add various slag, ash, tobacco dust, mint or dry wormwood to the insulation. Rats cannot stand the smell of these substances. When laying the foundation, it is recommended to sprinkle broken glass into the cement. When the rats gnaw on it, they will certainly cut their gums and mouth on the glass, and are unlikely to continue drilling work.

When you are leaving somewhere and the house is left unattended for a long time, you can hang bunches of dried mint or wormwood around the perimeter of each room in each corner. Small branches can also be placed near the baseboards on the floor.

Rats don't like the smell of burnt fur. Especially your own. But if it is not possible to find tufts of rat fur, you can take any, set it on fire and fumigate the room. But remember the fire safety rules. Do not accidentally drop smoldering wool on the floor or carpet. Use a glass jar for this.

For the same purpose, block houses are treated with concentrated solutions of lime or borax. Rats also try to avoid these odors.

Simple wormwood repels rats and mice

Fine mesh mesh

One of the most effective methods of protection against parasites is a fine-mesh galvanized mesh made of durable metal, through which a mouse cannot crawl.

Even at the construction stage, this mesh must be laid around the perimeter of the entire floor and, in addition, wrapped around the base.

Below we will provide photos that clearly show how best to arrange the floors. The most important thing is to cover all the corners with this mesh, do not leave a single joint unattended.

This design protects the house well even after construction, when rodents have already begun to run around in the home.

The mesh must be buried around the foundation to a depth of 80 cm, and if holes have already been discovered, then even deeper. The foundation cladding is also made with a profiled sheet 1.5 mm thick.

Advantages and disadvantages

A high-quality frame house should be:

reliable, able to withstand any load;
resistant to earthquakes and other natural disasters;
environmentally friendly, not harmful to the health of those who live in it;
comfortable in temperature (cool in summer, warm in winter).

The undeniable advantages include the fact that it is built quite quickly

, that is, its cost is reduced and the owners can move into their home earlier. Frame-panel houses can be used in places with temperatures from -60 to +60 °C. They are durable - they can be used for about 100 years. Such houses are not afraid of hurricane winds, earthquakes, or snowfalls.

All costs for the construction of the building are easily recouped - the panels include insulation. This allows you to save on heating the room in the cold season.

Also, frame houses weigh little, which reduces the load on the foundation and soil - this also contributes to the durability of the structure. Such a building can be erected at any time of the year.

, because there are no so-called “wet” construction processes. Smooth surfaces also make it possible to significantly simplify finishing and bring various architectural ideas of the customer to life.

This little flaw

Frame houses would be ideal if not for one small but very unpleasant drawback - rodents

. These small animals dig holes for themselves in glass wool and expanded clay, and prevent the owners of the house from sleeping peacefully. Mice can live peacefully within the walls of a frame building, and the owners will rack their brains for a long time about how to drive away the uninvited guests.

The threat of mouse infestation is especially relevant for buildings in the construction of which cheap polystyrene foam was used as insulation.

Fighting mice and rats in private homes

If rodents live under the floor but cannot enter the house, follow these tips:

Do not insulate floors with cotton wool or polystyrene foam. Simply lay the floorboard directly over the joists;
to prevent mice from getting into the holes between the floor and the sheathing, you need to cut strips of galvanized steel 10 cm long and nail them on top of the floor;
the last stage: protecting the floor with sheathing or insulation - just cover these strips with it.

We suggest you read: How to get rid of rats in a barn

This is much more difficult to do than in apartments due to the fact that the floor in most houses is wooden, and this is not a barrier for rodents. We fill up the holes in one place, and after a while, the same cracks have already appeared in another. The fact is that when cold weather sets in, all the evil spirits “climb” to where it is warm. We need an effective way to get rid of them for a long time, preferably forever. Let's look at some of the methods:

Various poisons for rodents. It is sold in household goods stores, or you can prepare the deadly mixture yourself by mixing sugar with gypsum 1:1, laying out the bait and placing a bowl of water next to it. The plaster hardens within a few minutes and the animal dies. But if the animals die soon, then they do not manage to go far. Imagine what the smell will be in the house in cases of mass poisoning?
Ultrasonic repellers, of which there are also many on sale. But for a private house it is necessary to take a device with a greater range than for an apartment.
Call pest control experts to your home. Effectively and permanently gets rid of these pests: specialists have anti-rodent products that you can’t buy in a store. And it should be noted that deratization is carried out not only in the house, but also in sheds and chicken coops. That is, there is an absolute guarantee that rodents will not bother you in the near future.

Why do mice need foam?

Holes and depressions caused by mice in construction foam are not uncommon. Of course, they are unlikely to like the taste of polyurethane foam, especially when more tasty, natural materials or products can be found nearby.

In fact, mice chew foam for the following reasons:

Building nests. Animals like to make holes and beds inside the warm, light material, and carry pieces of it into their holes.
Grinding of teeth. Mice's teeth constantly grow throughout their lives, and they definitely need to sharpen them. If polyurethane comes into contact with rodents, they will sharpen their teeth on it, along with furniture and wood.
Construction of passages. Inside the foam layer, mice will be able to fearlessly walk around the home and move to different parts of it. To do this, they gnaw long and wide passages. Doing this in foam is an order of magnitude easier than in concrete or brick.

Mouse nest under the windowsill

other methods

Gnawed holes in the wall or floor can be filled with a mixture of cement and broken glass. Then this place needs to be treated with putty or a mass made of small sawdust with PVA glue. After everything is dry, you need to sand and paint this area.

Cover the floors completely with plywood sheets. You can also prepare a mixture of epoxy glue and sawdust and seal all the cracks and holes to prevent rodents. First hammer wooden plugs into large holes, and then pour this adhesive mixture.

Ordinary concrete mortar is also suitable for filling holes. You just need more cement and a little sand. You can also add gravel, aluminum chips or broken glass to this mixture. Rodents will definitely not be able to cope with such a hard surface.

It is better to replace the plank floor, at least the gnawed areas, as they will then rot. Instead of wood, put down fiberboard or laminate flooring - the holes will not be visible.

As a rule, the teeth of mice deteriorate the wall, floor and ceiling. The animals manage to make holes at the joints. To avoid this, you can tear off the baseboards and nail roofing iron in their place around the perimeter. And then nail the baseboards on top of it.

What will really help you

You can seriously and permanently seal up holes:

But alone, these remedies may not be effective. Therefore, it is recommended to mix cement and concrete with broken glass.

Roughly estimate the extent of the damage caused by mice to understand how much cement you will need. Pour the powder into a bowl and add water little by little, stirring constantly until the consistency of the mass becomes dough-like.
Add as much broken glass as you think is necessary. It is better to break glass light bulbs - their glass is quite thin and easily crumbles. With jar and bottle glass you will have to tinker with it to crush it.

Mix the mixture and, as quickly as possible, before it hardens, cover the cracks, holes and holes. In especially deep holes, you can first simply pour broken glass, and then cover it with a very thick layer of cement or concrete. Upon completion of work, treat the smeared areas with putty. Once dry, sand and paint areas.

After hardening, epoxy glue itself acquires a structure similar to glass. Therefore, it also seals mouse holes well and reliably. To save on material, you can add sawdust or broken glass to it for volume.

Try effective mice repellents:

Kotofey glue house against mice (1 piece) - A highly effective, non-toxic product designed to kill rodents. It has high catchability and long-lasting fixing effect on rodents. Absolutely harmless to humans and pets, does not irritate the skin. Kotofey glue traps are easy to use and can be installed anywhere, including food storage areas.
Kotofey trap-plates against mice (2 pcs) - 2 adhesive TRAPS against rodents. Glues all mice tightly, the glue on the backing does not dry out for more than a year, is odorless, does not contain toxic substances

But a couple of years ago I learned an interesting way that helped me avoid dangerous broken glass and not even bother with cement. And, by the way, the method is quite cheap. Do you know those metal dish scourers that housewives use to scrub away carbon deposits from pots and pans? So, these are the types of washcloths that need to be carefully pushed into the mouth of the hole. Of course, you can’t close narrow cracks with them, but it’s easy to get into a hole straight to the stop. For mice, this is literally an insurmountable obstacle. Because they won’t be able to get through this tangle, and they don’t like gnawing on the thinnest metal wire.