Once mice get into your home, it’s hard to figure out where the infestation started. The garage and attic are where these wise guys often start, and where problems fly under the radar the longest.
Use this checklist to conduct your own inspection of both spaces. It won’t replace a professional assessment, but it’ll tell you what you’re dealing with and give you a head start on preventing mice from claiming your turf.
- Inspect the bottom seal on your garage door. Hold a flashlight at floor level and look for light gaps under the closed door.
- Check where utility lines, pipes, and conduit enter the garage through the walls or foundation. Look for daylight, drafts, or visible gaps around every entry point.
- Examine the corners where the garage walls meet the floor. Settlement cracks, gaps in the slab, and deteriorating caulk are common here and easy to miss unless you’re looking at floor level.
- Look at the side door if your garage has one. Check the door sweep, the threshold, and the condition of the weatherstripping around the frame.
- Cardboard is a great nesting material, and mice will shred it and move the pieces to a nesting site. Move storage into plastic bins with tight-fitting lids.
- Check for droppings along the walls, behind stored items, on shelving, and near any food sources, including pet food, bird seed, or grass seed.
- Look for grease rub marks along the base of walls and in corners.
- Inspect the door between the garage and the living space. The sweep and threshold seal on this door need to be tight.
Attic Checklist
- Check the eave vents and soffit vents around the roofline. Screens should be intact, flush, and free of holes or gaps. Damaged or missing vent screens need to be replaced.
- Inspect the fascia and soffit junction. Look for daylight coming through from outside the attic.
- Examine any plumbing stacks, electrical runs, and HVAC ducts going through the attic floor. Even a small unsealed gap is an entry.
- Look for disturbed or compressed insulation, especially in corners and along the exterior walls.
- Check for droppings on top of the insulation and on any exposed framing or decking.
- Look for gnaw marks on wood framing, rafters, and any wiring visible in the attic space. Chewed wiring is a fire hazard and should be evaluated by an electrician.
- Check the attic hatch or access panel. Mice already in the attic can use a loose or gapped hatch to access the living space below.
- A musty, ammonia-like odor in the attic is a good indicator of active or past infestation.
What to Do With What You Find
If you complete this checklist and come up empty, great. Do it again before fall. If you find evidence of activity, you need to call in the pros.
Worked through the checklist and found more than you bargained for? That’s what we’re here for. Get in touch with Mice Mob Exterminators and let us take it from there.