Rat-Extermination-One-Way-Door-Under-Deck

Case Study: Rat and Mice Extermination and Proofing in Davisville

This article will analyze and recount a rodent extermination in Davisville that required more than one visit. It will detail the steps taken in both exclusion and pest control, by the technician, to control and eliminate a rat infestation in Davisville.  This is located between Mt Pleasant Road and Bayview Ave is near to some large parks and some restaurants on the outer edge of the suburb.

The technicians, before exclusion or treating a pest issue must first inspect and confer with the customer on the issue and then must inspect for levels of activity. The customer’s original complaint was that there was digging in the back yard at the shed. A technician was dispatched to the property.

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Davisville Village: A busy family neighbourhood surrounded by restaurants. 

Davisville village is an area of Toronto near the intersection of Davisville Ave and Yonge street. It has its own subway station with the same name and directly abuts Mount Pleasant Cemetery which is a famous cemetery in Toronto. The area consists of dozens and dozens of apartment buildings and condo buildings built from the 1970s to now. The area is attractive to families as it has a lower population than downtown and has two schools within the subdivision. Davisville was founded in 1840, it opened its first post office, and that same building is now a Starbucks. The name is from the first person to lay claim to the land in 1840: John Davis.

Exterior Inspection 

When the technician arrives on-site, they will perform an exterior inspection of the outside of the house. The technician will be looking for possible damage that could be an entryway a rodent could use to enter your home. These entry points can consist of broken foundations, open drainage pipes and open vents. Weep vents are especially problematic and are common among older brick buildings.

The technicians arrived at the property to inspect for mice activity and found an open damaged wall vent and a gap in the concrete foundation which would allow rodents to enter. An opening in a wall for a gas and water line was open and accessible and a lattice was also found to be entryways and openings for rodents and was removed to be closed off with exclusion and for entryways in the foundation to be sealed.

The main entryway was a hole located in the concrete foundation as seen below which was found under the front of the home porch. Parging can get eroded especially in areas near to soil due to the increased moisture content emanating from the ground. The latticed area that covered the crawl space under the deck was also inspected and showed to have entryways.

Cracked Foundation
Aging foundations are prone to crack and present rodents with a way into the house.
Hole in Wooden Structure
Rodents have teeth that never stop growing and that are strong enough to chew through wood, plastic, metal, and rubber.
Latticed Deck Rodent Entry Point
The lattic surrounding the deck in this case had holes in it large enough to let mice through. From here, they could burrow through the foundation and into the home.
Utility Line Opening
Utility lines are often surrounded with an opening that should be sealed to prevent rodent entry.
Wall Vent Damaged by Rodents
Rodents can climb brick walls and into the wall vents. Here, the plastic wall vent was chewed and broken by rodents.

Interior Inspection

After the exterior inspection, the technician went inside to inspect the interior for rodent activity. An infestation was found and a treatment structured to control and exterminate the rodent infestation was set in place. Feces were found in the laundry room and the rest of the basement. Rodenticide was applied in tamper-proof stations in the areas of high activity. The interior inspection found a large number of openings on the inside that could allow mice to enter the structure as well and enter the walls.

Lattice Removed Deck Foundation
Removing the lattice around the deck allowed the technician to examine the foundation of the home.
Foundation Gaps Under Deck
Multiple entry points were found beneath the deck.
Steel Wool in Foundation Crack
Stuffing holes with steel wool can be effective at keeping rodents out but it must block the hole completely for it to work.

Initial Measures

Measures were taken for both rats and mice. On the interior tamper-proof bait stations containing commercial-grade rodenticide were placed on the interior in areas of highest activity while exterior larger weighted rat bait stations were placed outside of the home to control the external rat issue. The exclusion was done extensively to keep rodents and other animals out of the home and from under the deck, the lattice covered crawl space and the shed. The rat one-way door was installed over the opening to allow rodents to exit the structure swiftly. After the installation of the one-way door, the technician used Hospital Grade Botanical disinfectants to sanitize the area as rats carry a large number of bacteria on them that are harmful to humans and to eliminate their scent trail.

Proposed exclusion

The technician proposed sealing off entryways in the latticed crawl space beneath the deck, as well as sealing the foundation hole. The wall vent was excluded using a steel cage and the open area housing the gas and water lines were sealed with steel mesh. A later visit discovered rats in the yard, the crawl space behind the lattice beneath the deck was trenched with steel mesh and a rat door was added.

Utility Line Covered in Mesh
The gaps surrounding the utility lines were sealed with steel mesh to stop rodent movement.

 

Hole in Foundation Sealed
The hole stuffed with steel wool was sealed completely with silicone to stop rodents from entering.
The rat one-way door would let the rats exit. Outside, they would consume the rodenticide from the stations placed around the house.

Conclusion 

The initial inspection found a great deal of exclusion to be done as well as the implementation of the rat one-way door on the property. Steel mesh trenching was used on the deck, the shed and inside the lattice covered crawl space along with a rat one-way door. The treatment both inside for mice and outside for exterior rats was efficient and effective and the mice were exterminated quickly while the rats were slowly controlled and then exterminated and evicted.

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