If you have mice in your house, they may creep around the house looking for food while you are asleep at night. During the day, they retreat to their hiding places, which are usually behind the walls. You may hear them moving around back there, which can be a very unnerving experience. If you see or hear any signs of mice in your walls, you should call for professional rodent removal as it is very difficult to remove them on your own.

It can be bewildering to hear mice inside your walls, and you may wonder how they got there in the first place. There are a couple of routes from which they may have made their entry.

1. Unsealed Utility Pipes

Water supply pipes, sewer lines, and sump pump hoses may come in and out of your house via holes in the foundation. Ideally, the space around the plumbing should be sealed so that there are no gaps around the pipe. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. Either the space wasn’t sealed properly, to begin with, or the original seal has worn away over time. In either case, these spaces are often large enough to allow mice to get into the house. They do not need a wide opening as they can squeeze into a space one-quarter of an inch wide. The pipe or hose also allows the mouse to climb up into the hole like a ladder. You should perform an inspection of the foundation of your property periodically to check that there are no unsealed utility pipes that could allow mice to get in.

2. Weep Holes

If your home is made of bricks or other types of masonry, you may have noticed small gaps in the mortar located at strategic intervals near the foundation. They are not an oversight by the bricklayer or a sign of shoddy workmanship. They are called weep holes, and they are put there on purpose to allow a path by which any water that gets into the wall can flow back out. Water trapped behind bricks can result in structural damage, so it is not a good idea to close up the weep holes. On the other hand, while the weep holes are small, they are wide enough to allow mice entry into your walls. It may be possible to screen them so that the water can get out but mice can’t get in.

3. Torn or Broken Vents

Have you ever wondered how air gets in and out of your house when all the windows and doors are closed? Your home is ventilated with a series of small openings placed at various locations to facilitate airflow. There are vents in the attic and under the soffits. There are vents in your basement or crawlspace. There are vents from your dryer and your sewer to allow harmful gases to escape. Each of these openings is covered with a screen or mesh of some sort to allow air in or out while preventing debris from getting in and clogging it up. Unfortunately, sometimes the vent covers are not always built to withstand animal depredations, or maybe they are old and have deteriorated over time. In either case, there may be a hole large enough to allow entry to a mouse. Otherwise, the material may be brittle enough that a mouse can chew its own way through.

Contact Truly Nolen for Rodent Removal

Pest control in Barrie may involve more than you realize. Not only do we remove pests from your home, but we also perform an exclusion to identify potential entry points and seal them off so the rodents can’t get back in. Mice reproduce quickly, so call us at the first sign of infestation to prevent it from escalating to an even bigger problem.