Working in Bellingham and Whatcom County at King of the House Home Inspection, I know that, often, homeowners do not understand why there are mice or rats under the home. For the home inspector the answer might be quite obvious. That answer is that the rodents have easy access. These access points can be quite obvious, such as gaps at crawl space entry doors. Or the entry points can be more subtle. In the photo below, while quite obvious in the photo, this entry point would not be readily apparent to a person walking around the perimeter of the home. This is a dryer duct that extends out through the crawl space vent screen. Since we know that a mouse can get in a hole the size of a dime, then it is not so hard to figure that a mouse could move a whole family in through this hole. Rodent problems begin with easy access for the critters. This is a challenging problem, probably everywhere, but certainly in the local market. Thanks for stopping by, Steven L. Smith
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Steven, we do have mice, I can understand how little a place mice can squeeze through. Thankfully, we do not have rats...
Looks like Nutsy has been at it again at Steve's house
We had mice in our house a few years ago. They got in through a 1/4" gap where the putty had dislodged just a bit where the AC line enters the house!
Yikes - was that funny noise with your fan a mouse getting a haircut, James?
Recently I saw a full grown rat squeeze through a hole slightly bigger than that picture! It is always better to exclude the critters rather than trying to poison and trap them once they are in the home.