Mice in your hot tub can be a terrible problem. I know this first hand as it happened to me not long ago when I sold mine. I was so mortified at what happened as it was carted away I offered to fix the problem for free.
Mice in your hot tub is bad, but for me it was worse
Having mice is bad enough, but when you’re a well respected exterminator it’s worse. Three years ago my wife and I put in a pool and because of our yard size we had to part with our hot tub. The hot tub while only a few years old just wouldn’t fit in the yard any longer. My wife mentioned this to a friend and she offered to purchase it from us. The one condition was that they had to cart it away. They agreed.
Mice and the big move
On our big moving day our friends showed up with a flat bed truck and six people. Together, we lifted the empty tub onto the flat bed, strapped it down and off they went. On the way up the driveway I was mortified to see mice jumping off the flat bed and onto the driveway. I had no idea, but evidently the recent leak I had was caused by mice in the hollow insulated frame of the tub (who knew).
After apologizing and all of us having a good laugh I promised to fix the issue.
Fixing mice in your hot tube
As with all living things that enter a house, car or in this case a hot tub. There has to be a way they’re getting in. The trick is finding it.
In our case that way in was under the lip of the hot tube siding and the hole for the electric. In order to fix the gap on the underside of the tub we screwed in 1/4″ hardware wire. We left screws near a mechanical door that would need to be opened in the future.
Next, we used copper mesh from the inside and plugged the hole that the electric came through the siding.
IT WORKED, to date the family that now has our hot tub has not had a single mouse inside it.
Fixing damage when you have mice in your hot tube
The final and worst part of this project was the cleanup and fixing of the damage the mice were able to do. In the 3 years that the tub was in our yard the mice were able to hollow out 10-15 very large areas in the foam insulation. We surmised that this is likely the reason that the tub was on so frequently and drew so much power.
To fix the issue we cleaned all the excess droppings (safely) and then purchased commercial grade blown foam insulation. With the foam in hand we were able to replace what had been damaged and even add an extra layer.
If you have mice or know someone that does, please call 1-888-879-6481. Envirocare Pest Control we can help.