How To Keep Mice Out Of A Mobile Home

Mice are so small that they can slip through a hole the size of a nickel. It's never easy to spot and block all possible mouse entrances, but when you live in a mobile home, patching up the gaps to keep out mice is even more challenging. That's because mobile homes are usually not secured to a foundation in the same way a house is, which creates hidden entry points.

With diligence, however, you can usually succeed in keeping out mice. The steps to take include exclusion and sanitation. If mice are already established in the mobile home, it is likely that you will have to reduce the population with trapping or poisons to have a mouse-free mobile home.

Mice, rats, and other rodents can be a problem no matter the type of housing in which you live, and this is true in both urban areas and rural ones. That's because rodents look for food and shelter, and human habitation usually has a lot to offer in the way of edibles and snug corners. Mice in particular find their way in through tiny holes in vents or pipes, crawl spaces, or drains.

Mobile homes are particularly susceptible to an infestation of mice. This is because they aren't attached to the ground the way houses are. The spaces beneath mobile homes are ideal areas for rodents to gather for warmth and winter protection.

Once mice make themselves at home under the mobile home, they will reproduce. Their numbers multiply, and they will eventually try to squeeze inside. They can push their way through ducts in the mobile home, chewing through foam insulation and electrical wiring. This can cause expensive damage not to mention the inconvenience caused by mice droppings, odors, and potential diseases. If you find chewed areas or mice droppings or if you spot a mouse in your mobile home, the odds are that there are more than a few that have made their way inside.

How are the mice getting inside? You should tour the outside of your mobile home, checking where pipes and lines enter and looking for chewed areas. Patching these holes is essential to preventing mice from getting into your home. For small holes, stuff them with steel wool since rodents cannot chew through this. Caulk may help to keep the steel wool in place. For larger holes, use lath screen or lath metal, cement, hardware cloth, or metal sheeting. Doors and windows must fit tightly. If you don't have skirting on the mobile home, it is important to install it.

Skirting makes your mobile home look attractive, but it protects it as well. Skirting is exactly what it sounds like: a "skirt" of vinyl, metal, brick, plywood, cinder block, or another similar material. This offers real protection, keeping pipes from freezing in winter and preventing rodents from getting inside. Some people believe that skirting is key to keeping out mice.

Skirting must cover the entire area under the mobile home to be effective. To figure out how much you need, measure the length of each wall of the mobile home and then the average distance the home is above the ground. Vinyl skirting panels will go all of the way around the mobile home, attaching to it with a top frame and then filling in the space to the ground, where it attaches to a ground track bolted in place. Make sure there are no gaps in the skirting since even a small one will be large enough for a mouse to enter.

Remember that mice are seeking shelter but also food. They have exceptional olfactory powers and can smell food, including garbage, from quite a distance. Mobile home dwellers will want to empty their trash cans as frequently as possible since the longer it sits, the stronger the mice-attracting odor.

For pet food, don't rely on the bags in which kibble comes. Buy plastic tubs with lids; small plastic trash cans work well. They will be less accessible and also allow fewer odors to get through. This goes for cat food, dog food, and even bird feed. If you are just getting a pet, consider the rodent-removal advantages of a cat. Most cats are affectionate with humans and helpful in ridding an area of mice.

Mobile homes have some mouse entryways that fixed homes do not. One is the outside corners of the siding. These corners are hollow, and that is important in order to allow them to drain, but it also allows small rodents to scurry up the siding corners and get into your mobile home from there. The answer to this dilemma is finding something that will block the mice from entering but still allow the water to exit. One good choice is a shower scrubby. It is bulky enough to keep out mice, but water can still drain.

To be thorough in your goal of keeping out mice, you'll want to crawl beneath the home. That's where the lines and ductwork come into the home. Find these areas and spray foam or caulk around them to close any holes. Repair any broken ductwork so that there are no gaps in it. Flue tape works well to prevent new problems once you've repaired the ductwork.

In an ideal world, with diligence, a mobile home owner can exclude all mice from getting inside, but if they do, exclusion and sanitation measures are rarely enough. You will have to kill or trap and remove mice.

This is the case if you find traces of mice in the mobile home ductwork. That's the time to bring out old-fashioned mouse traps. Use peanut butter as bait. Walk through the mobile home and set a trap in each run of ductwork by lifting each vent that connects with the duct. Replace the cover and let the magic odor of peanut butter do its work. Check the traps often since once a mouse has died, you want to get it out as quickly as possible to avoid serious odors.

There are also bait boxes available that kill mice. The downside of bait alone is that you can't be sure where the mice will die. It may be somewhere inaccessible to you, and the decaying rodents will definitely smell bad.

Some people swear that products and spices with strong odors, like peppermint oil, will make mice turn tail and depart. It doesn't cost much to give this a try. Soak cotton balls and set them out in mouse corridors or sprinkle cayenne pepper in the areas where you find mouse droppings. If all else fails, there are many professional rodent exterminators who will step in to do the job for a fee.