steel wool and foam to plug holes to prevent mice

[colliehauler]

Another project on the Wildwood. I have always heard to use steel wool and foam to plug holes so mice cannot enter. Wouldn't the steel react with the copper lines? Should a person just use foam for the holes by the copper lines?

[Jagtech]

I just picked up a can of "Pest Blocker" foam from Home Depot. Will be trying it soon. Anyomne else used this stuff?

[bguy]

Hardware cloth. Steel wool will turn into an ugly rusty goo.

[nvreloader]

I have used this stuff and had Great sucess, comes with gloves and siccors to cut the tough stuff,WEAR the gloves when handling, this stuff is like shaking hands with a chainsaw, IT will cut you.

Sprial around pipes open hole and back fill with foam, have had NO entry since.

We are surrounded by fields, had been averageing 5-20 mice per day in the buildings, now down to 1 mouse per day, since all the holes/spots have been sealed with this stuff and sealed.

See info here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290953813370?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT#ht_735wt_908

Tia,
Don

[Paul_D_]

Had an issue where the little buggers used the heating duct for the FW tank to access the furnace and built nests in it and the duck work. Had to replace all the duct work, clean and sanitize the heat exchanger box and then added 1/4" hardware cloth to the 3" duct feeding the FW tank compartment. The urine smell was overwhelming till the bleach did its' job. Find where they are getting in and stop them!!!

[pkunk]

I had a rat chew through the mortar inbetween the boulders that make up my fireplace chimney. We could hear him chewing inside from our bedroom 18 ft off the ground. I went up on a ladder and put the barrel of the 22 rifle in the hole with ratshot and pulled the trigger. Went down and got my welding gloves and reached in almost 16" and pulled his carcase out. They are tough critters.

[Pass42]

Great Stuff now makes a foam that has a repellent in the formula... it works just like Great Stuff... and is pest repellent....

[myredracer]

If you have a "mouse hole" to push your power cord into, the most effective way to keep them out is to install a detachable shore power cord. We have LOTS of field mice where we live and have never had a single problem with a mouse getting into anything. Maybe the mice in different regions are more aggressive? I did have a mouse get into a car once tho.

I googled "rat quarter" and only came up with French Quarter rats....

On rats:

I was building a house years ago and a rat(s) gnawed a hole in the sheathing (exterior wall) plywood to get in. I put a plywood patch back in and it gnawed through it again. Then I was in the basement one day and encountered a rat. It ran over to a corner of a room and stared back at me with it's beady little eyes. I quickly turned around a grabbed a cardboard box and tried to throw it over the rat. The flippin' rat got up on it's hind legs and made a terrifying loud noise. Scared the shoot out of me and I thought it was going to jump at my throat. Moral is, never approach a cornered rat. I then bought rat poison and the rat(s) was gone.

If a rat ever got into an RV, I would have to think it could do some serious damage.

[down_home]

Go, with the brass, as rusting away, where moisture comes near is a real issue.
I understand the expanding foam sealers have ingredients that makes it unappetizing or toxic to rodents. When they located and sealed a place, where rats had chewed through concrete joint, into basement, that was what they said.

[Dog_Folks]

Gdetrailer wrote:


I think Mythbusters need to try out all the myths purported to repel mice..

Adult mice can squeeze through holes as small as a quarter....

Adult mice can squeeze through a hole the size of a DIME.

Rats a quarter.

Don't believe me. Goggle "mice dime" for 428,000 results.

[Gdetrailer]

janstey58 wrote:
PURE Peppermint oil on cotton balls all throughout RV in drawers and out. Never have a problem and the RV smells great at all times.

MMM.. Pepperminty fresh mice :S

I think Mythbusters need to try out all the myths purported to repel mice..

Adult mice can squeeze through holes as small as a quarter.

The BEST way by far is to simply close off any and all holes to the outside. Mice can chew through a lot of SOFT materials like canned foam insulation, Silicone (or pretty much any caulking), copper, aluminum, wood and I would EXPECT them to be able to chew through steel, stainless or brass "wool" type material. Although The fine metal wool pads might make it a bit more difficult on the mouses mouth I would not think it will stop a bunch of mice from working on it..

My solution is to take galvanized steel tin bigger than the hole, drill or cut a hole just slightly larger than the pipe in the center of the tin. Then I line the hole in the tin with flexible plastic grommet material. The plastic grommet prevents chafing or contact between metal and pipes.

To put my tin over the pipe in place I simply make a cut in the tin to the hole in the center. This allows me to open the tin in order to place it around the pipe. Once the tin is in place some screws in the corners of the tin will hold it in place.

Repeat this for all pipes and wire holes that go out to the outside world and you will never need to use any of the mythical wives tales methods like peppermint oils, dryer sheets, cat or fox urine, moth balls and so on..

Tin method works best for me...

[janstey58]

PURE Peppermint oil on cotton balls all throughout RV in drawers and out. Never have a problem and the RV smells great at all times.

[Johno02]

That stuff tastes awful!

[shawdowboss]

Actually, mice will "eat" through the brass or steel wool. I believe they actually tear it up and pull it out. Tried that trick once and still had the buggers getting to a spot I didn't want them. Found the remains of the steel wool all around it.

Tried foam once, but they just burrowed through.

The one item that kept them from doing anything was plain old LIQUID NAILS.
They quit coming in after I filled the hole with that. Never had any mice through any hole that's been filled with Liquid Nails.

[Carb_Cleaner]

Dis-similar metals in contact with one another require the presence of an electrolyte (water) to cause galvanic corrosion. If the hole isn't exposed to moisture, it'd be OK.