Shared walls in converted terraces
Many of Hackney's Victorian terraces have been split into flats, and mice use the party walls that still link them, treating what was once a single house as connected space. One flat having mice is often a sign a neighbour has the same problem, even before anyone's said anything, true near Shoreditch too, where former industrial buildings converted into flats and offices.
Signs to look for
The usual first signs are droppings turning up in a cutlery drawer or under the sink, a chewed cereal box, and gnaw marks on skirting boards or cable insulation, whether that's near Hoxton, where warehouse conversions and estate housing close to Shoreditch, or elsewhere in the borough. If the scratching seems to travel along a wall rather than stay put, that points to a shared void between flats, as anyone near Shoreditch will recognise, where former industrial buildings converted into flats and offices.
Warehouse conversions around Dalston and Hoxton
In the old warehouse and loft conversions around Dalston and Hoxton, mice more often move through retrofitted service ducts and gaps around plumbing added when the building was converted, rather than through the original Victorian brickwork. A converted space with exposed pipework can give mice more hiding places than a straightforward flat.
Finding the way in
Mice hardly ever come in through a door left open, just as near Stoke Newington, where victorian terraces around Church Street and the reservoirs. In Hackney's Victorian terraces, gaps where pipes pass through party walls and damaged airbricks are the entry points most often found; in the borough's estates, gaps around service ducting and communal bin stores can also give rats and mice a way in.
What to do this week
- Move dry food, pet food and bird seed into sealed containers
- Pull out the cooker or fridge if you safely can, and clear what has built up behind it
- Note where droppings appear, and whether they return after cleaning
- Ask neighbours, a landlord or managing agent whether anyone else has seen signs
- Check cables and pipes behind appliances for fresh gnawing
Shutting the gaps afterwards
Once activity has stopped, the routes need sealing with materials a mouse cannot chew through - in a converted terrace that often means the join between flats; in a warehouse conversion it is more often the retrofitted service ducts and pipe runs.
Booking mouse control in Hackney
Mouse control anywhere in Hackney is £190 for a flat and £240 for a house, and because around Dalston, where dense Victorian housing and old warehouse and loft conversions around the junction and Kingsland, mentioning that when you book mouse control points us towards the likely route in, with the rest of the detail on the Hackney mouse control page.
