Rodent proofing
The Gaps in a Shop-and-Flat Building
A parade building has been altered many times. Each new tenant of the shop may have added a sink, moved a cooker, put in a new extractor or run a fresh cable, and each flat above has had its own kitchen and bathroom refits. The holes left behind are small, usually hidden, and rarely filled properly. The most common entry points shows the kind of thing to look for.
Where pipes and cables come into the flat
In a flat above a shop the first places to check are where the kitchen waste pipe drops through the floor, the space behind the boiler, and any boxed-in pipework in the bathroom. A ring of open space around a pipe, or a notch cut in a floorboard for a cable, is enough for a mouse. Proofing pipe and utility gaps explains how these are closed.
The back door and the yard
Doors onto a shared yard take a lot of wear from deliveries and bins. A worn threshold, a gap under a fire door or a broken brush strip gives a rat or mouse a way into the ground floor and the stairs. A gate into a garden from a service area can have the same gap underneath.
The Edwardian houses behind
Larger houses of this age usually have suspended timber floors ventilated by air bricks, and the old cast-iron or clay grilles can crack. Pipes for later kitchens and bathrooms were often pushed through the walls without being sealed. Stopping rats at air bricks covers the right way to protect a vent without blocking it.
Whose Permission You Need
In a converted house or a flat over a shop, the walls, the floors between flats and the doors to shared areas are often part of the building rather than your flat. If you are a tenant, ask your landlord before any work is done. If you own a leasehold flat, the freeholder or managing agent may need to agree to work on the structure or the shared parts. Sealing a gap inside your own kitchen cupboard is usually straightforward; a gap in a shared hallway or yard wall may not be yours to seal.
What the Hour Covers
- Filling gaps around pipes and cables where they pass through walls and floors
- Fitting mesh or a suitable cover to a damaged air brick so the floor can still breathe
- Sealing small gaps under doors onto a yard or garden
- Closing small holes behind kitchen units and around a boiler
Larger work, such as rebuilding a wall, replacing a rotten door frame or repairing a drain, is a job for a builder or drainage contractor. Rats and drains explains when a drain is the route rather than a hole in the wall.
Treat First, Then Seal
Proofing is done once the rats or mice have been dealt with. Seal the holes while they are still active and they can be shut inside a wall or under a floor, or simply gnaw a new way out. If you have not yet had treatment, start with mouse control in Golders Green or rat control in Golders Green, and the order is set out in whether to proof before or after treatment.
Booking Proofing
When you book rodent proofing, tell us whether it is a flat or a house, whether there is a shop below, what you have had and where you think they came in. Photos of any holes help. Clear the cupboards under the sink and around the boiler so the pipework can be reached. For proofing elsewhere in the borough, see Rodent Proofing Barnet.
