mobilehomerepair.com

hi, searching for the best procedures to keep mice out of my mh..have good new skirting installed..don't want cats... what can i do ?

Check out the discussion topic- mice deterant

READ THAT,, THNKS.. BUT,theres gotta be better approaches to this problems.. i jus bought an older 1980 mh, need to know what should i do to make it mouse proof? does anyone know about the underbelly materials that deter mice ? do they work ? what other steps should i take ? thank you very kindly

You need to insure that every possible opening larger than 1/4" allowing access under the home is sealed. Once they are able to access under the home preventing them from actually getting into the underbelly and then into the home is impossible in my opinion. The only method I have ever found to be reasonably successful is placing poison under the home. Traps, cats, sonic devices, even snakes has only provided me with moderate success in controlling but not eliminating mice in my 30 years of living in rural areas.

As a example of how futile preventing mice from entering is I once saw a mouse climb directly up the outside corner of my cottage, push up the aluminum soffit and enter into the attic. It was a space I could not even get the tip of my little finger into.To prevent it from happening again I would have had to seal and screw every inch, house and eve side, of the soffit all the way around the building.

yes, but my concern is, if the mh is on just dirt not on cement slab,but has new skirting.. can't the mice crawl under the skirting ? so, my thinkin was to clean out underneath mh, and fix any rips or tears in the plastic material,and tape tight around where the blocks are ,water pipe,and any other obstacles going threw the plastic under mh...i think the plastic material is the hard kind..

Yes, they can get under the skirting. All you can do is seal as best you can, they will find a way in if they really want to. We are on dirt also, but gave only had mice about 3 times in 25 years, usually after the landlord has been digging nearby. We are next to a corn field. The last time was this year after a dirty neighbor moved out. Their home was filthy, garbage bags in the front lawn, etc. Keep the place clean and dry, they'll head for easier pickings.

The best method I have found to prevent mice from going under skirting is to dig a trench all the way around the home below the location of the skirting, extend the skirting down into the trench and then fill the trench with pea gravel.
Alternately, when dealing with a existing skirting, you could place a 2X4 frame inside and outside the skirting and fill it with pea gravel. Sort of a raised trench.
However it all still comes back to the same point if you poison them before they can enter the belly of the home it doesn't matter how many get under the skirting. They will go for the poison first thing and the problem ends before it begins.

so, the mice cannot dig threw this pea gravel ? how deep should this trench be ? now,that i already have new plastic viynl skirting,i can't make it long to go into a trench, possibly dig trench along bottom of skirting hold molding add a strip aluminum from home depot into trench and fill pea gravel ? or no aluminum at all,just gravel ? just trying to figure out best way before i start.. thanks my friends

I'd think 6" would be good, and the aluminum wouldn't hurt. Maybe put the aluminum with about 1" sticking out of the ground on the inside of the skirting and bend it over the edge of the bottom rail?

The idea of the pea gravel is that it fills in around them as they dig.

Greg

greg and commodore=thank you for advice,,

I realize this is an old thread, but decided to post this anyways. I like redundancy built into a rodent repellent system. I hate mieses to pieces, like the old cat cartoon character used to say, and when I found evidence of one in the house a couple of years ago, got to work after my heart slowed down enough to do so.

The dog and I moved into a motel room for a couple of days when I called in an exterminator.

Once we moved back into the house, I had a friend trench around the outside perimeter of the skirting, and installed six inch corrugated metal edging strip around the entire house. I filled the trench with white landscape stone.

I then bought several boxes of Brillo pads and unwound them so they made long strips of steel wool. I got under the house and wrapped all pipes and cables at their entrance point into the belly board, extending a "flange" of a couple of inches of flattened out steel wool in a circle on the belly board itself. I stuck all this down with silicone caulk.

I wrapped all entry points of pipes in cabinets and on floors with the same flattened out Brillo pads, and sealed these up with caulk.

I bought some fairly fine gauge hardware cloth at the Tractor Store (my go-to place for gardening supplies,) took a pair of tin snips, and fitted screens for the inside of all forced hot air registers and the air conditioner return duct.

Next, I put trays of D-Con Mouse Pruf on piers at all four corners of the skirting. I replenish the bait when I change out the solid panels for vented ones, or vice versa, in the spring and fall.

The final touch was to go through all cupboards and store all dry-good foods in heavy plastic containers instead of leaving them in the original boxes.

As obsessive-compulsive as all this sounds, I haven't seen either a mouse, or evidence thereof, since taking these measures.

Drastic times call for drastic steps!

I know what you mean, I hate em too. First noticed them in the crawl space Oct 11, and been fighting them ever since. Over a hundred dead mice later, haven't caught one under there for over a month now, but it still smells terrible down there from previous ones dying. One thing about the screens in your heating ducts, make sure you check them often because dust and other debris will clog them in no time.

Yeah, I thought about that, but didn't care. I pull the vents and brush out the screens when I'm doing my weekly heavy-duty vacuuming.