There isn’t a state in the US that doesn’t have a rodent problem, and that goes for coastlines as well. Everyone hates these pests invading our homes. This article looks at ways to stop mice from invading your beach house. Here are excellent tips to keep mice out.
Keeping mice out of your beach house can be achieved by following a few easy steps, like sealing cracks, gaps, and holes around the house. Keep shingles, doors, windows, siding, chimney, and roof in good condition. Install a rodent-proof cap over the chimney and cover vents with metal screens.
Mice can squeeze through tiny spaces as small as a nickel, and rats can get in through a quarter-sized hole, and that’s why it is essential to safeguard your beach house against these pesky invaders. Let’s find out how to exclude them from your beach house forever.
How to Safeguard a Beach House from Mice
Mice are relentless in searching for shelter, warmth, and food, particularly during fall and winter. Mice can cause a lot of damage to a property, chewing through cables and furnishings. They like to gnaw; it’s what they do.
They can survive on tiny amounts of food and absorb the water they need from their food. They can live anywhere. Therefore, turning your beach house into a fortress against mice is essential.
Seal up Your Beach House
To keep mice out of your beach house, you should first identify entry points and seal them thoroughly, making them impenetrable. Look for tiny cracks, gaps, and openings under the house, slab, sheds, or decks to find entry points. If there is any oversight, mice will locate it gain entry, and multiply rapidly.
Places mice like to enter are:
- Around gaps where electrical, water, gas, and data lines enter.
- Around AC units, water lines, and sprinkler systems enter a home.
- Around the fireplace and chimney.
- Crawl spaces and basements
- Dryer vents.
- Damaged roofing.
- Gaps around doors and windows.
- Gaps between the floorboards, baseboards, and walls.
- Holes or cracks inside closets near floor corners.
- Gaps between corners, siding, and j-channels.
- Sinks and bathtubs whose plumbing is incorrectly sealed.
- Tiny cracks in the home’s foundation.
Caulk and Screen
Use caulk to seal small cracks, gaps, and holes around the beach house. Caulk is an effective way to block mice from entering your beach house. With bigger holes and gaps like soffits and dryer vents, use galvanized mesh wire or screen to seal them.
Hardware cloth, lath screen, lath metal, cement, or metal sheeting is excellent for sealing larger holes and gaps to mouse-proof your beach house.
Expanding Foam and Steel Wool
With more difficult places to seal, use coarse steel wool tightly packed into the holes or gaps. Mice can’t chew through steel wool. Fill the holes with the coarse steel wool and seal around them to keep them in place.
Expanding foam is another product that works perfectly to keep mice out of a home. When you find a gap or hole, fill it with expanding foam. It is easy to use and inexpensive.
Seal the gaps and cracks with expanding foam, and once it is dried, cut the excess off flush to stop mice from chewing on it. For extra safety, you can fill the gaps with steel wool first, then secure it with expanding foam.
Not only will expanding foam keep mice out of your beach house, but also unwanted insects, ants, and spiders. Buy a mouse or pest-deterrent product for best results like Great Stuff Pest Block or DAP Mouse Shield foam.
Windows and Doors
Windows and doors are often overlooked; install door sweeps on the bottom of your doors and check if seals are in good order.
Mice have been known to chew through some screens; use heavy-duty steel screens for extra security. The most effective screens against mice are galvanized metal screens.
Beach House Foundation
Often, gaps and cracks can be found in the foundation block underneath the beach house and decks.
The beach house’s foundation is close to the ground where mice are active, so this area is particularly vulnerable. Gaps and holes in your beach house’s foundation will provide easy access indoors.
Inspect and seal the beach house’s foundation thoroughly to prevent mice from finding a way inside. If your beach house has a deck with a solid brick base, ensure it is appropriately sealed, and seal the weep holes with a metal screen.
J Channels and Corners Posts
The beach house’s corner posts are used to cover the beach house’s outside where siding meets. J channels are placed around windows and doors to hide the ends of vinyl siding, and because these are hollow, mice often find their way in through them
To stop mice from getting into your beach house through corner posts, use coarse steel wool and wire mesh to close openings and use caulk to seal j channels.
The Fireplace and Chimney Flue
If your beach house has a fireplace, thoroughly clean the flue, then close it tightly when not in use.
To find out if your flue is entirely closed, try to look up the chimney for light signs. Feel if a draft is coming through, or carefully light a piece of paper and place it inside the fireplace. When the flue is not closed completely, the smoke will travel upwards,
Mice can also climb down your chimney to get inside your beach house. Install twelve-inch-wide sheet metal at the chimney’s base to keep mice from climbing down the chimney. This will make it slippery for mice to go inside the vent.
Attached Garages
Attached garages are typical places for mice to get into a home. When a garage door does not close properly or has an uneven door, the gap it leaves allows mice and rats to enter the house. Mice and rats will chew through the rubber strips on the bottom sides and the door. Inspect the corners of your garage door for holes regularly.
Also, leaving a garage door open for extended periods will allow mice to find refuge and hide in the garage, where they can later make their way into your beach house.
To keep mice out of your attached garage, ensure the door seals properly and keep the garage organized and clear of clutter. Inspect for cracks, holes, and gaps in the sheetrock on the garage wall shared with your house and sealed them well. It is good to keep mouse traps always set in the garage.
The Roof
Mice will climb vertically up a textured wall and up downspouts and gutters to reach a roof from where they can find a way inside. Their usual place to enter is where the wall meets the roof. Attic fans are another culprit for letting mice get into a beach house. Attic fans are hardly ever adequately screened.
Downspouts and Gutters
Mice can easily climb up into downspouts and gutters to get to the roof, where they can find access through gaps in the roof.
To keep mice out, place hardware cloth or chicken mesh wire at the bottom of the downspout. However, the mesh wire must be removed occasionally to clean away trapped leaves.
Data, AC and Utility Lines
The most overlooked area where mice can get into a house is where an AC conduit enters the house. The sealant used around the AC conduit breaks down after a while, leaving a perfect hole for mice and other rodents to get into your beach house unobstructed. Use expanding foam and caulk to seal around the AC conduit properly. Dryer vents can have large openings around a vent cover, mainly if it is installed through vinyl siding.
For data and utility lines to enter your beach house, utility and internet provider companies will make openings on the side of your beach house. Unfortunately, these openings can be big enough for mice to get through. When your beach house has any of these openings, seal them well with caulk to prevent mice from getting into your beach house.
Preventative Measures to Keep Mice Out
Mice not only try to get indoors during winter, but they also do during summer. The following preventative tips will help keep mice away all year round.
Keep Food in Sealed Containers
Mice have a very keen smell and can smell food from far. Don’t leave any food in its original cardboard box, including dog food. Mice will chew through anything to get to the food. Keep all food in glass, plastic, or metal containers with well-sealing covers. Mice love dry food like crackers and pasta. Keep food high on shelves or in the refrigerator.
Use Peppermint Oil
Mice have a keen sense of smell and don’t particularly like peppermint. Spraying peppermint oil near places where mice get in can deter them from finding a way into your beach house. In some cases, Peppermint oil can cause respiratory discomfort to pets; if you see any issues with your dog or cat, stop spraying peppermint oil directly.
Use Moth Balls at Entry Points
Most rodents hate the smell of mothballs, and certain scents will deter mice. Place mothballs underneath the deck. Suppose your beach house is only occupied during the summertime. You could also place mothballs for extra security at suspected entry points to deter mice from entering your house.
Reduce Thick Plants in the Garden
Mice like to hide and find refuge in plants around the house. Keep your garden free from thick bushes and hedges where mice and rats like to hide. Garden waste is an ideal place for mice and rats to hide; make sure to clean up all garden waste regularly.
Call a Professional Pest Controller
When you find that mice have invaded your beach home, don’t try and solve the problem yourself. You might feel setting a few traps is enough to get rid of the infestation. However, mice are resilient and breed incredibly fast. Don’t hesitate to call a professional pest control company to deal with the infestation, or they will come back quickly.
You might spend a few dollars initially, but it is money well spent in the long run. Professional pest control companies deal with such problems daily and will help you deal with the problem quickly and permanently.
Tips to keep mice out of your beach house
- Always keep food like cereals, grains, dry foods, and pet foods stored in air-tight containers.
- Always clean up leftover food and spilled crumbs from kitchen countertops and floors.
- Always put pet food away at night.
- Take the garbage out at night and make sure the garbage bins are tightly sealed.
- Seal cracks, holes, and gaps around the house with rodent-proof wire mesh or caulk.
- Check the garage door seals and keep the door closed when not in use.
- Cover outdoor vents with wire mesh or metal screen.
- Stack and store firewood away from your house.
- Trim and thin out bushes around the house to prevent hiding places.
- Cut overhanging tree branches that touch the roof of your house.
- Clean up and remove garden waste and clutter.
- Inspect the beach house’s crawl space yearly.
- Inspect installed insulation yearly to prevent pests from finding refuge.
- Make sure you remove old birdseed at bird feeding areas.
- Adopt a cat or mouse-busting terrier to deter mice and other rodents.
Conclusion
If there is a way, mice and rats will find a way into your beach home, where it is warm and filled with abundant food. To keep mice out of your beach house, seal every crack, gap, or hole you can find properly.
We hope that your beach house will stay rodent-free by using these tips. However, if your home falls victim to a rodent infestation, don’t hesitate to call a professional pest control company. Yearly pest inspections from a professional pest control company are a great way to permanently ensure that mice don’t find refuge in your beach house.
Sources
- https://www.crittercatchersinc.com/critters/Mice/how-to-seal-house-for-mice.html
- https://natran.com/blog/how-to-make-sure-your-home-is-sealed-from-pests-and-other-rodents-during-the-winter-months/
- https://www.lakewoodexterminating.com/how-to-mouse-proof-a-home/
