Anyone ever have to gut a building thats overrun with mice?

gayler · Jun 26, 2012

Any advice, other than a hazmat suit? The landfill office where I work is overrun with mice. After several years of telling the boss. he gave the ok to pull out the walls, and cleanup and put in new insulation,but he wants to do it cheap and save the paneling. This is a steel building on a slab floor and nothing for a rodent burier. We are thinking of pouring quickcrete to fill in the voids of the corogated steel. Any other ideas to block the mice from getting in? Sorry for the poor spelling, I'm a *******!

MoonRise · Jun 26, 2012

Not really joking about the HazMat suit.

Look up "hanta virus". Bad-bad-bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanta_virus

wb2vsj · Jun 26, 2012

Read this and then maybe think twice about re-using the paneling if it is contaminated.

http://shop.sixwise.com/thatlittlemouseinyourhouseisevenmoredangerousthanwethought3105.aspx

and some good info from D-Con here:
http://www.d-conproducts.com/docs/dCONinformation.pdf

If there is a hole, they will get in. It amazing how small of a hole they can squeeze through.

Once you get rid of the infestation, try to keep it so they have no need to come back. i.e. access to food.

I use mouse poison/bait in the shop, seems to help keep the population down, but not out. I'd place those bait traps around the perimeter so they get their "last" meal outside and don't need to come inside.

gayler · Jun 26, 2012

We have a pest control company put out bait inside and out.

rlitman · Jun 26, 2012

I've filled gaps loosely with very coarse steel wool (#2 or coarser), and then blown expanding foam into/through the steel wool. No way mice or rats are chewing through that (but expect to find ****** marks where they try; maybe even an embedded tooth).

Mice can get into a hole that a pencil fits in.

930dreamer · Jun 26, 2012

I wouldn't go cheap in the rodent world, bad things can happen. :scared:

BigV · Jun 26, 2012

Tyvek suits and respirators at least. Fresh air respirators outside the work area be even better, but at that stage hazmat suits might be a good idea, if indeed its that bad.

aero · Jun 26, 2012

Just let a vehicle idle in the building for a few hrs mice will be gone

olytdi · Jun 26, 2012

wb2vsj said:
Once you get rid of the infestation, try to keep it so they have no need to come back. i.e. access to food.

I use mouse poison/bait in the shop, seems to help keep the population down, but not out. I'd place those bait traps around the perimeter so they get their "last" meal outside and don't need to come inside.

I disagree with using bait of any type. You are trying to eliminate the mouse problem not attract them. Poison bait is the best marketing trick in the book -- you have to keep on buying it because they keep on coming! You never solve the problem. Do you really think that you'll extirpate all of the mice in your immediate area? Never going to happen. Bait attracts...over and over and over...You'll just end-up with a bunch of poisoned mummies and a huge body count. Ask me how I know.

What you want to do is eliminate the habitat (food, water, shelter), and access to the space in question. You do that by not having any of these elements available and by blocking access tight as a drum.

mdbeck1 · Jun 26, 2012

I always wanted to build one of these to see how well it works.

I've heard that using anti-freeze will keep the smell down.

OccupantRJ · Jun 26, 2012

Place a big rubber snake in the room. Works for birds, not sure about mice. We have a small porch overhang over the front entrance door at work, and the birds crapped off it all the time, making an unsightly mess around the area. I placed a rubber snake on top of the flat porch roof, and problem solved. No birds for over 10 years.

wouldworker · Jun 26, 2012

What ever you do take it seriously. I lost a friend to hantavirus several years ago.

jhelrey · Jun 26, 2012

Fire.......

PRH44 · Jun 26, 2012

MoonRise said:
Not really joking about the HazMat suit.

Look up "hanta virus". Bad-bad-bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanta_virus

I had a neighbor die from Hanta virus after he cleaned his barn. Please take precautions as it acts very fast. He was dead in 3 days.

cyamaha2007 · Jun 26, 2012

x2 on the foam with steel wool "rebar" embedded in it. The day before you do the clean out put 1 gal of gas in a small engine push mower or the like. close up the building and let it run till it dies. You will find lots of dead mice. Atleast they wont come back looking how to get home.

Buckgnarly · Jun 26, 2012

When i moved into our house, the detached garage had a ton of mouse droppings that I cleaned up by sweeping out, got pretty sick from that. No idea what it was, but I would highly recommend wearing a respirator.

Google the mouse wheel of death...I hate those damn things!

fireguy · Jun 27, 2012

We have mice in the shop. We do not keep food in the shop.

One of my guys said not get the rodent killer in a box or other loose poision. They will eat the stuff up and then die in the shop. He suggested a solid block of poison,then tying it to a shelf with wire or to screw the block to a shelf. you do not want them taking the poison away.

When we had a mouse problem in one house we lived in a child, my brother and I fixed the problem. We would go get a bull snake and let it loose in the basement. As a side benefit, the little kids were afraid to go in the basement. I don't know why they thought the snakes were rattlesankes. Our room was in the basement.

stan.riner · Jun 27, 2012

OccupantRJ said:
Place a big rubber snake in the room. Works for birds, not sure about mice. We have a small porch overhang over the front entrance door at work, and the birds crapped off it all the time, making an unsightly mess around the area. I placed a rubber snake on top of the flat porch roof, and problem solved. No birds for over 10 years.

I wonder if that would work here in Hawaii. We don't have any snakes here. Would the birds even know to be afraid of it? interesting question.

Garage5.9 · Jun 27, 2012

stan.riner said:
I wonder if that would work here in Hawaii. We don't have any snakes here. Would the birds even know to be afraid of it? interesting question.

I can see the retarded doves landing right next to it along with the mynas

ZAPPER68 · Jun 27, 2012

PRH44 said:
I had a neighbor die from Hanta virus after he cleaned his barn. Please take precautions as it acts very fast. He was dead in 3 days.

My old school buddy cleaned out one of his grain bins and was buried a week later. Hanta virus is some very nasty stuff...please be careful and wear suitable PPE.

camarotoolman · Jun 27, 2012

Pet snake might be the ans.

mmack66 · Jun 27, 2012

Shop cat.

Chukster · Jun 27, 2012

What with the hanta virus possibility, and the general un-cleanliness of mice all around, and a boss who wants to re-use the paneling, I'd get busy on lining up a new job, call the county health dept., boss's boss, maybe a TV station or two. This is no place to be working, and this is not just a 'problem' it's an 'infestation'.

Yeah, and print out all you can about hanta virus, and lay it on the boss's desk. He's breathing that air too.

IMHO, if he's so cheap as to want to re-use the paneling, he's either a *******, or ignorant, or both.

dartsportsteve · Jun 27, 2012

Chukster said:
What with the hanta virus possibility, and the general un-cleanliness of mice all around, and a boss who wants to re-use the paneling, I'd get busy on lining up a new job, call the county health dept., boss's boss, maybe a TV station or two. This is no place to be working, and this is not just a 'problem' it's an 'infestation'.

Yeah, and print out all you can about hanta virus, and lay it on the boss's desk. He's breathing that air too.

IMHO, if he's so cheap as to want to re-use the paneling, he's either a *******, or ignorant, or both.

X2

I completely agree with Chukster.

Vvmvbb · Jun 27, 2012

Chukster said:
What with the hanta virus possibility, and the general un-cleanliness of mice all around, and a boss who wants to re-use the paneling, I'd get busy on lining up a new job, call the county health dept., boss's boss, maybe a TV station or two. This is no place to be working, and this is not just a 'problem' it's an 'infestation'.

Yeah, and print out all you can about hanta virus, and lay it on the boss's desk. He's breathing that air too.

IMHO, if he's so cheap as to want to re-use the paneling, he's either a *******, or ignorant, or both.

Don't do this. This needs to be managed, and if you make it hard to manage, Managment will notice that. Make it easier, and they'll notice that too.
So educate your boss. He is probably just as ignorant as many of us were when this thread started. "Hey boss, bad news, but I've been reading up on the hanta virus and this is just not something that we can mess around with..."

Solve the problem and do yourself some good at the same time. Start blowing whistles if he's unreasonable.

gayler · Jun 27, 2012

The boss does not work in this office. Otherwise I think the problem would have been handled long ago. I agree that this is not something to mess with. I think it sould be hired out to someone that is knoledgable of these things. We will talk to one of the county commisioners this afternoon and try to talk him into getting someone else to do it. I feel the two of us working here are very lucky to not have gotten sick yet! When we come in in the morning after the office has been shut all night the smell is unbearable.When we come in in the morning we turn on the A/C and spray Lysol in the cold air return and leave for an hour. After that it is a little better.

Vvmvbb · Jun 27, 2012

gayler said:
---snip I think it sould be hired out to someone that is knoledgable of these things. We will talk to one of the county commisioners this afternoon and try to talk him into getting someone else to do it. ---snip.

That's the smartest at this point. Once you educate the commissioner you might just come across as expecting it to be hired out. "I'm guessing you want someone who knows what they are doing to take care of this" ---that kind of thing.

Good luck. Could be a good opportunity for you to impress the commish.

sam03 · Jun 27, 2012

Get a couple cats from the humane society.

Murphy4570 · Jun 27, 2012

mmack66 said:
Shop cat.

BINGO!

Want to get rid of vermin and pests? Get a cat or two. A healthy adult cat will take out pests as large as squirrels, chipmunks, and birds. Your average Tabby cat will do the job nicely, very nice breed they are. A large male will even fend off and keep away skunks, rabbits, and other medium sized varmints.

My family used to have a rodent problem in our house, they were in the walls. We got a cat, and the mouse problem fixed itself! The kitty would bring us dead mice as "presents" to show us how good a job she was doing too! That was a good cat.

I miss my kitty. :sad:

gayler · Jun 27, 2012

Cats tend to climb up in the engines of nice warm heavy equipment in the winter. It's no fun removing dead bloated cats from engine compartments.

dartsportsteve · Jun 27, 2012

MadMechMaster · Jun 27, 2012

Here is something radical:

How big is the office? You might be able to find a used office trailer for a few grand.

If I read right, this is at a landfill, just push the building over and park the trailer on the pad.

Anyone ever have to gut a building thats overrun with mice?

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