Rodent-Proofing Your Home

Keep critters at bay with these simple step-by-step solutions

Hello and welcome to Joe Shows How! As the weather turns colder, mice and other small rodents are seeking warm places to spend the winter. And it doesn’t take much of a breach in your home’s exterior for critters to sneak in; an adult mouse can easily squeeze through an opening no bigger than a dime. So, now’s the time to inspect the exterior of your home for any gaps, cracks, or holes that can serve as entry points for unwanted visitors.

In this week’s video, I show how to seal up two places where mice often get into a home: the garage door and an exterior entry door. To block an oversize gap alongside a garage door, install sheet metal guards. Simply place the metal guard over the gap and screw it to the side jamb. In our case, the gap was pretty long, so we needed to install two guards.

At the entry door, I found that the mice had chewed clear through the bottom of the wooden side jamb. So, I first stuffed some stainless steel wool into the hole, and then sprayed in some expanding foam sealant. Unlike standard spray foam, Pestblock contains capsaicin, which is the ingredient that makes hot peppers hot. Most mice will turn away from the spicy sealant, but any that don’t, will be stopped by the steel wool.

I hope that you find these tips helpful, and that you don’t have any surprise visitors this winter! Thanks, as always, for your support.