Rodent proofing
The Gaps a Period Flat Collects
Most of the openings that matter in a Childs Hill flat are inside it rather than on the outside wall. They are small, usually hidden behind a kitchen unit, a bath panel or a radiator, and they lead into the voids that run between flats. The most common entry points gives the full list; these are the ones older buildings tend to have.
Holes around pipes through floors
Where a heating or waste pipe passes down through the floor, the hole around it is often ragged and much larger than the pipe. Under a sink or behind a washing machine, that gap opens straight into the void beneath. Proofing pipe and cable gaps explains what a good seal looks like.
Skirtings, kickboards and old fireplaces
Skirting boards in older flats have often shrunk away from uneven floors, and cable runs are sometimes tucked behind them with a notch cut at the end. The gap behind a kitchen kickboard is another favourite, and stopping mice behind kitchen units covers it. A fireplace closed off with a loose board can connect to a flue that serves other floors.
Basement doors, lightwells and air bricks
At the bottom of the building, the door from a lightwell into a basement flat wears at the threshold, and air bricks set low in the lightwell walls ventilate the floor below. Both need to stay usable: the door has to shut properly and the air brick has to keep letting air through, so a damaged grille is covered or replaced rather than blocked.
What the Hour Does, and What It Leaves to Others
The service is up to one hour of work on small, reachable holes. In a period flat that might be the pipe holes under the sink and behind the boiler, a gap at the end of a skirting and the threshold of a basement door, depending on how many there are and how easy they are to get at. What size hole a mouse can get through explains why small gaps are worth the time.
Some jobs are outside it. Rebuilding a crumbling lightwell wall, fixing a rotten basement door frame or opening up a floor is building work. A drain fault under the building is for a drainage contractor. In a block, anything on the staircase, in the basement corridors or on the outside walls is part of the common parts, and the managing agent or freeholder needs to agree to it, as the Pest Control Childs Hill page explains.
Treatment First, Then the Seal
Proofing follows treatment. Close a gap while mice are still using it and they can be shut inside a floor void, where they will gnaw out somewhere new. Book mouse control or rat control first, and proofing once activity has stopped. Before or after treatment sets out why the order matters.
Arranging Proofing in NW2
What to tell us
When you book rodent proofing, say whether it was rats or mice, when treatment finished, which floor you are on, and where you think they were coming in. If any of the gaps are in the common parts, say whether the agent has agreed to the work.
Getting ready
Empty the cupboard under the sink, pull stored items out from the boiler cupboard and move anything leaning against the skirting in the kitchen. If a washing machine or dishwasher sits over a pipe hole, it helps if it can be eased out.
Afterwards
You will be told which gaps were closed and whether anything larger needs a builder or drainage contractor. If fresh droppings appear by a sealed gap, get in touch; which holes rodents are using helps tell a live one from an old one. Rodent Proofing Barnet covers houses across the rest of the borough.
