There’s nothing worse than a mouse in your ducts … Except maybe, a mouse pooping in your ducts! So, what do you do?
After all, you can’t exactly put mouse traps inside your ducts, and then remove the mouse too! So you’ll have to be a bit more crafty …
Prevention
If there are mice in your house, chances are they’ll end up in your air ducts! They like to hide in dark corridors. So the best thing to do is to try and prevent mice from getting into your home, let alone your ductwork, to begin with. There are a lot of great ways to do this. One way is to add door sweeps to (outside) doors to make sure mice can’t slide in under the door. Also, screen outside vents and pipes, including your chimney, with mesh. If your home is sealed up, and weatherproof, it’s also mouse-proof!
One more tip: keep food, including pet kibble, in an airtight container. A lot of people don’t realize that if they leave leftover pet food in the bowl, this attracts mice!
When it’s too late
Of course, if you clicked on this article, there’s a good chance you already have mice in your ducts and are trying to figure out how to get rid of them. No worries! This problem is annoying, but here’s a step-by-step guide:
1. Turn off your HVAC system! Right now it’s still cold outside, which means that your vent covers are hot. They need some time to cool off before you do anything with them!
2. Next, remove all the vent covers around the house.
3. All you need to do now is take a mouse trap, and load it up with cheese, peanut butter, bacon, or even chocolate (yes, mice favorites are the same as human favorites!). Carefully place a loaded trap inside the duct, at each vent.
4. Replace the vent covers, and turn your HVAC system back on.
5. Once a day, you’ll want to look through all of these vent covers with a flashlight, to see if you’ve caught any critters!
Now what?
So you’ve caught your mice, but now what do you do? The first order of business should be to consider a duct sealing service to keep not only mice but also bugs out of the ducts. You also want to inspect ductwork throughout your house, to see if there are any little cracks between your ducts and the wall or the roof. These cracks should be covered with wire mesh to prevent any more mice from slipping through.
Last but not least … What if you’re concerned that the mice did damage to your ducts or your HVAC system? Well, that’s where we here at Ernst can help! We aren’t exterminators, but we are experts in HVAC maintenance and repair. If you think critters of any kind made the HVAC system in your Hamel home less efficient, call us for help! Call the best in the biz, instead of staying in the rat race: 618.217.1836