In this article, you’ll find information on how to tell if you have a mouse problem with your walls.
Mice’s presence in homes presents a whole lot of challenges. These rodents will follow just about any entrance to gain access to homes. The bigger problem lies in mice building their nests within your home.
One of the areas they target to build nests includes walls.
Here is why you have mice in your home.
Mice In Walls But Not In House?
If you have a mice problem, your home’s walls may harbor these rodents.
However, identifying or detecting mice’s presence in your walls depends on what you know. If you don’t know the common signs to look out for, there’s still no problem, as we’re here to help.
Whether these mice got into your wall cavities through the eaves or an opening, there are common tell-tale signs they leave behind.
How Did Mice Get Into Your Walls In The First Place?
Many people are surprised to find out mice are within their wall cavities and ask how they entered. There are lots of ways through which these rodents gain access to your wall cavities.
The most common entryways include cracks in the foundation, deteriorating siding, and weep vents.
If you’re wondering what these are, weep vents are structural holes created in blocks to allow built-up water to drain out. Mice also get into your walls through chimney pipes, roof vents, inadequately sealed window and door frames, utility pipes & wire entries, and gaps in building materials.
All these create penetrable spaces for mice to gain access to your home.
These rodents will readily use such openings to either take up residence (nest) within your walls or as passageways to and from your home’s interior.
Signs of Mice Presence in Walls
You can easily detect typical signs of mice presence by simple observation.
These include droppings or urine smell around wall cracks or openings, damaged insulation, and noise (depending on your wall’s material).
Additional signs include signs of nesting materials along with or around wall openings and gnaw marks around ducts.
Finding Answers
It’s not enough to know about mice’s presence in your walls. You also have to find out how they gained entry in the first place. This action will seal up such open spaces and keep these mice out of your home for good.
First, you’ll need to inspect every accessible point of your home, from the roof down to the crawl spaces.
However, experience has shown that most homeowners could mishandle this process. Therefore, we recommend getting a professional to do this for you.
Pest management services offer a more comprehensive inspection. This involves covering every inch of your walls while searching for your mice entryways.
A unique plan is developed for every customer to ensure that you get only the best.
All holes are then caulked or sealed up to keep these rodents out. When significant damage is done, such as chewing electrical wire insulation, a complete repair must be done before sealing up the mice entries.
Keeping Mice Out Of Your Walls
Besides keeping them out of your walls, mice must be kept out of your home completely. Removing mice from your walls alone won’t solve the bigger problem.
These rodents are likely to find alternative entry points much later.
SEE: In-Wall Pest Control System And Cost
There are many ways you can achieve this. The best methods include being on the offensive and adopting preventive measures.
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Going On the Offensive
When faced with a mice problem, engaging such pests using various methods is best. As stated earlier, calling in the pros is one way to handle the situation better. This is a much more thorough strategy compared with most DIY techniques.
This isn’t to say DIY techniques aren’t effective.
Instead, you’re bound to make a few mistakes or ignore certain areas. Plus, most DIY strategies aren’t 100% effective. These need to be combined with others to achieve a greater success rate.
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Preventive Treatment
Having fully succeeded in removing mice from your walls, you must adopt a preventive approach.
This consists of a comprehensive strategy to ensure that mice do not make a comeback. Mice will always get attracted to homes and may end up in your walls if you don’t prevent them.
This preventive action includes closely inspecting all openings or cracks on your wall’s interior.
All such cracks must be fixed or sealed up immediately. Knowing that even the most minor holes can eventually be opened wide enough through consistent mice burrowing activity is essential.
As such, seal all such holes and keep your walls mice-free. The sealant you use will determine whether openings and cracks are effectively sealed.
When dealing with mice, you must avoid plastic and rubber fillers altogether. These fillers will quickly give way as mice can chew and gnaw on them.
Your best bet to seal up all possible entry points is through the use of quick-dry cement as well as wire mesh. These should be formidable enough to prevent mice access to your walls.
Mice are always attracted to food. This is one of the primary reasons you see mice activity within your walls and home. This situation can be halted by eliminating whatever food source attracts them.
Here, you’ll need to re-assess your food storage behavior.
All food should be stored appropriately, and food crumbs and spills should be wiped clean before bed. Your garbage can also be a key attraction for mice. These should be properly or tightly sealed to prevent entry.
If hedges, shrubs, or flowers are growing close to your walls, consider trimming these back to a safe distance (about 18 inches from your foundation).
With such cover gone, mice will hardly find a body to gain entry into your walls quickly.
We’ve discussed the different ways to tell if you have mice in your walls in addition to effective control measures to take. You don’t even have to be at a loss of what to do again when faced with this situation.