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socks12345

Crawl space vents, critters access under house

socks
9 years ago

Is there a way to securely replace the wire screens which cover the crawl space vents? (I didn't measure the vents, but they are approx. 12"x4".) Rats/mice have poked holes and go in and out, and I'd like to secure the crawl space to prevent them from making it their home.

If these screens are standard size and can be purchased, how would they be attached?

Comments (16)

  • jackfre
    9 years ago

    Depending upon the type of siding and the location of the vents you can buy new screens. Mine have a half inch galvanized metal band surrounding the screen and the screen is a heavy gauge, so they will not be chewed through, by one set of teeth anyway. You can secure them with screws. Your local hardware store will likely have them for you.

  • snoonyb
    9 years ago

    "Hardware cloth" can be purchased at most hdw. vendors, which can then be shaped and secured with short, "A" point, truss head sheetmetal screws.

  • socks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    OK, thank you both. I'll look into these options. (BTW, the house is stucco.)

  • catherinet
    9 years ago

    I feel your pain. We've been dealing with the same thing. The newer ones that were put on (17 years ago) were flimsy louvered things with whimpy screening. We had squirrels and mice chew right through it. My husband went into the crawl space and actually cemented in a piece of 1/4" hardware cloth. On the other ones, he somehow attached 1/4" hardware cloth behind all the other ones. Although he did forget one, and sure enough, there's a little hole in it. So I took a rectangle of the hardware cloth and forced it into place, slightly under the lowest wood panel of the siding and places a rock in front of it
    . Man, those rodents can get in just about anywhere. In my other post, I mentioned that we found a mouse stuck right above the mesh filter below our hood fan.

    Be careful dealing with the hardware cloth. It can really scratch you. Wear safety glasses when you're cutting it.

  • snoonyb
    9 years ago

    In the case of stucco, you will need to deepen the shape to compensate for the 7/8" stucco thickness an attach to the rim joist, sil and floor sheating with at least a 3/4" screw or roofing nails, which have a wider head.

  • nerdyshopper
    9 years ago

    Why not stick a few boxes of Decon mouseproof in the crawl space where they are easy to see and remove. Mice and rats get thirsty and usually go out for a drink before they die.

  • catherinet
    9 years ago

    Another thing that seems to work for us as a deterrent is the most highly secented fabric softener sheets you can find. It's kept mice out of our shed and deck boxes.
    I have to vote against decon.....as anything that might eat the dead mouse/rat will also die (owls, hawks, etc.)

  • catherinet
    9 years ago

    On a temporary basis you could put steel wool in those holes. They don't like that at all.

  • bus_driver
    9 years ago

    Any screening reduces the area for air to flow, but it is unavoidable. Some mice can squeeze through holes of 1/4" hardware cloth and any smaller size holes typically are formed of lighter gauge wire. So I use two pieces of the 1/4" and move them out of alignment to make smaller holes with great strength. If one wants them to be in place permanently, NP1, sold at commercial roofing supply houses, does a great job of holding them. The NP1 is difficult to get a really smooth and neat bead.

  • catherinet
    9 years ago

    Here's a curious development at our house........The crawl space vent that had been chewed through and was grand central station for mice and red squirrels (smaller than gray squirrels), my husband cemented in 1/4" hardware cloth on the inside (in the crawl space). The outside of the vent has 3 louvers, and if you press down on one, all 3 louvers close (with a bit of pressure). Well.......I closed it several times yesterday, and I keep finding it completely open.

    I've checked the hardware cloth and it is all still intact. Even if a mouse could get out of that, I doubt it would open the louvers as wide as they are being opened. What do you think? I'm thinking maybe a red squirrel is trying to get back in there? Seems like it might be a larger animal......but not sure why it would keep doing it. I have a dog, but can't imagine that she uses her sensitive nose to push open those metal louvers from the outside.
    I think we have a crawl space gremlin.
    Dh sets mouse traps and they either are sprung with the food gone, or the entire trap is missing. We can't seem to catch a break here.

    DH set a rat trap a couple weeks ago and we caught a red squirrel. :( I went out and bought a small live-trap and we set it in the crawl space with apples and peanut butter. The trap was never sprung, but the mice got through it and ate all the bait. haha

    I would prefer not to kill a red squirrel. Their cuteness just overpowers my irritation with them. Plus.......they are sooooo hyper, I'm sure we'd hear another one in the crawl space.

  • socks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Do you have raccoons? They have "hands," and can pry things open pretty easy. Of course if something is opening it in the daytime, it probably would not be a raccoon. Maybe you need to go on daytime watch duty! (just kidding) If critters are in there, the dog might be wanting to get a better sniff.

    It's fall, animals are desperate to get set up in snug places.

  • catherinet
    9 years ago

    Thanks socks. Yes, we have raccoons, but it's usually during the day that these louvers get opened. Plus, I haven't seen a coon recently. We'll see how determined it is, since I put a bunch of stuff in front of the vent.
    (I do feel bad ousting anything (ants/spiders, mice, chipmunks, etc., etc., right before winter.........but such is life).

  • socks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Catherine, don't feel bad. They'll find something. You are too tender hearted! LOL You don't have to be winter hostess to every critter in the neighborhood. :-)

  • catherinet
    9 years ago

    Fortunately, hubby is the one who checks the traps. I tell him to apologize to them......

    Last Fall, hubby severely pruned back a vine growing up one of our chimneys. We realized that there were holes in some of the mortar.....which is probably how some of the mice were getting in. He plugged all those holes up. A day later, we started getting TONS of mice in the house..........In the stove, the cabinets, the shelves. It was awful. One night, a mice peaked out at me from the element on the stove top!! EEEK!

    My Husband must have cemented them inside and they were trying to get back out.....and ended up in the house. We finally got rid of them all. But man, did I have a lot of cleaning to do.........every single cabinet/drawer in the kitchen, the dishes, the stove, everything! The kitchen probably hadn't been cleaned that good in forever. haha
    Every once in awhile I get a scare......but realize it's just the flax seed from hubby's bread. :)

  • socks
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I got a bag of steel wool and stuffed it in the holes. I realize this will only work for a while, if at all. They'll just chew new holes.