How to keep mice out of a house. It’s the same question people have been asking for centuries. The problem is no one takes the time to really look at how they’re getting in. If they did most homes would be mouse free or close to, but let’s be clear rodent control is hard. As a matter of fact it’s probably the hardest service most pest control technicians provide.
The reason rodent control is hard is that finding the holes where rodents can gain access is difficult. Essentially every hole that’s about the diameter of a pencil must be filled. In some homes this can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. There’s a reason why every fall Home Depot stocks up the “do it yourself section” with rodent control supplies. They sell every last product and people will come back the following year and stock up again. Is there anything about that which sounds odd? You’d think someone would think of a permanent way to keep most if not all mice out. For good!
Same old solution to killing mice
To date most companies use the same products you can find at the hardware store (different names same active ingredient). What you’re paying for is the expertise of knowing rodent biology and habits. Not just setting traps and putting out poison. As part of any rodent control service the pest control company should ideally also plug holes where rodents are getting in. Most companies attempt this, but most fail because as we already know it’s hard to find every hole.
A new kind of rodent control,keep them out in the first place
The best way that I know how to keep mice out of a house is with a physical barrier. The installation of this barrier needs to be cost effective for the homeowner and profitable for the pest control company.
To the right there’s a picture from 2018 of a rodent blocking technique that we tried. If you look close you’ll see that beneath the blue siding there’s a white piece of aluminum. This piece was bent to size and placed around the entire exterior perimeter under the siding lip. It was effective in keeping mice out and looked good, but it’s entirely to expensive. This small home took 2 full days. We’d have to charge entirely too much to offer this on the open market.
Our company had everything to gain and even we thought it was to expensive. We’re pest controllers not siding contractors. We’re here keep the mice out and that’s it.
We went back to the drawing board with our original criteria and came up with the solution we were looking for. It worked great.
Cost effective rodent blocking from the exterior of the home
To the left you’ll see a open corner that was allowing mice directly into the attic. Mice were seen by the homeowner running up the corner of the foundation and disappearing under the siding. The perspective of this picture is taken from the ground looking up under the siding corner.
In order to permanently block rodent access we contracted an outside vendor to custom cut 1/4″ hardware wire into 3″wide x 100′ long lengths. Once we had the wire it was easy to cut, bend and maneuver into the tightest areas.
After the wire was cut and shaped we used small screws to permanently attach it under the siding. Our service person then continued around the remainder of the home and installed this under the siding lip.
How to keep mice out of a house. Permanently!
We accomplished what we set out to do. We now have a service offering to stop mice that can be installed on any home. The wire was cost effective and it’s not visible to anyone who looks at the home. In fact, the only evidence of it will be the absence of mice. This home was completed in 1 day which was 1/2 the time the first home took to install.
If you have mice and need a rodent exclusion call Envirocare Pest control at 1-888-879-6481. We can help.