Rats Chewing Through Roof Vent

If you think overhead utility wires are serving as a highway contact your utility.

Rats chewing through roof vent.

Steel wool for instance or a mesh screen. The soil vents also known as a vent stack can let rats into your home. Rats climb down and get into your plumbing system and get into your home through the toilet. Though they may be cute these critters can cause major damage by chewing on housing materials and eating stored foods.

Rodents such as rats and squirrels are constantly chewing to keep their teeth healthy. With few exceptions most homeowners will go to great lengths to keep rats from entering their home and disposing of those that do. Wildlife and other pests tend to gain home entry through open roof joints in and around eavestroughs ridge vents and gable vent screens gaps in soffits and fascia roof vents all of which they easily chew through and if left unchecked can cause damage to the structure of the home. Partly it is because rats spiders snakes and mice are traditional among the most despised of all animals.

Skittish smooth furred and not well adapted to cooler temperatures roof rats are often mistaken for house mice. Use the correct fastener either heavy duty staples or even screws depending on the material of your home. The first is electrical wire and the answer is yes rats can chew through wire. Wire mesh can be used to stop rats from entering vents but you need to be aware of the size of each hole within the mesh.

If you have overhanging trees textured walls or anything that would let a rat climb on your roof then you should have aluminum screens installed on all your soil vents. You can use hardware cloth and copper mesh in conjunction with expanded foam. Seal roof soffits and vents with a material rats don t like to eat. Expanded foam is no challenge for a rat.

They can also tear off siding or shingles and chew or scratch until they get inside. In late fall roof rats seek out warm nesting sites like the upper levels of your home or garage. Wire mesh with very small gaps is an excellent way of sealing a vent. But rats of all these animals are the most destructive.

Rats can easily morph their shape to fit into seemingly impossible openings. They can chew through or tear open the soffits to gain entry to the attic space or they may gnaw through the screens or grates and enter through a soffit vent.