Prevent & Protect Your Home Against Future Rat Infestations
The final and most important step in our rat removal process is securing your home against future intrusions. While it’s crucial to eliminate the current rats, it’s just as important to prevent any new rats from gaining access. Rats are persistent, adaptable creatures, and their presence in urban areas is a reality homeowners must contend with. That’s why the best long-term protection for your home is to eliminate all potential entry points.
With over three decades of experience, our technicians are highly skilled at identifying and securing vulnerabilities that could allow rats to enter. Whether it’s a small crack in your foundation, a hole in your roof, or a compromised exterior wall, we’ll address every possibility, ensuring your home stays rat-free.
How Do Rats Get Into Houses?
Rats are known for their ability to squeeze through incredibly small spaces—any opening the size of a quarter or larger is fair game for these tenacious rodents. The first step in securing your home is a thorough inspection of your property, including the roof, foundation, and exterior. We look for the hidden cracks, gaps, and weaknesses that rats can exploit.
Each home is different, and the repair work needed will vary depending on the structure, design, and materials used. Some common areas that rats target include:
- Garage Doors: Overhead doors often fail to sit tight against concrete or rely on easily chewed rubber gaskets that allow rats to easily slip inside.
- Gaps in Foundation or Walls: Even the smallest crack or hole can become an i.
- Plumbing Fixtures: Rats may access homes through pipes, drains, or openings around plumbing.
- Roof Vents and Soffits: Rats will exploit vent openings or gaps in your roof.
Rat Entry Points
Rats are incredibly resourceful when it comes to finding shelter. They are constantly on the lookout for a safe, warm environment to call home. Common den sites for rats include attics, basements, crawl spaces, walls, and even behind appliances. These rodents are opportunistic and will quickly take advantage of any weakness in a home’s structure. Over time, rats will move between multiple den sites, depending on food availability and weather conditions.
Rats are also highly capable of recognizing vulnerabilities in a building. Rotted wood, gaps around windows, and poorly sealed doors are easy targets. As a homeowner, staying on top of general maintenance can help, but the materials used in modern construction—such as vinyl, plastic, wood and aluminum—may not be sufficient to keep rats out.
The Powerful Teeth of Rats: Why Proper Materials Matter
Rats aren’t just determined in their search for food and shelter—they’re also incredibly strong. Their teeth, which never stop growing, are powerful enough to gnaw through a wide variety of materials, including wood, plastic, and even soft metals. This makes it incredibly important to use the right materials and to install them correctly when sealing entry points around your home. If you don’t use the appropriate materials, rats can chew through weak seals and re-enter your home.
Their powerful teeth are one of the reasons why they are so difficult to keep out once they’ve found a way in. Rats’ constant gnawing and chewing habits are driven by their need to wear down their teeth, which grow throughout their lives. As a result, any weak points in your home’s defenses—whether that’s a poorly sealed window, a thin door sweep, or a small crack in the foundation—become prime targets for these determined rodents. Using professional-grade materials that are specifically designed to withstand a rat’s teeth is key to keeping them out for good.
Preventing Rat Entry: Essential Steps for Homeowners
The first step in rat-proofing your home is addressing the active or current entry point. This is where the rats are gaining access, and it’s the first place we’ll focus on during our process. Securing this entry point will stop the rats from re-entering your home, but it’s equally important to address all other possible entry points to prevent future infestations.
Once we’ve sealed the immediate entry point, our technicians will proceed to reinforce other vulnerable areas around your home. We use only professional-grade materials and techniques to ensure that your home remains secure without compromising its aesthetic appeal. After all, sealing your home shouldn’t detract from its beauty.
Key Areas We Address to Prevent Rat Entry:
- Ground-Level Entry: For entry points at ground level, such as beneath decks, porches, or sheds, we use heavy-gauge steel wire mesh. This material is buried underground to prevent rats from burrowing their way back in.
- Plumbing and Utility Line Checks: Rats can travel through pipes and drains, so we pay special attention to any gaps or openings around plumbing fixtures. We seal these areas to prevent rats from using the plumbing system as a means of traveling between rooms or floors.
- Windows and Doors: Gaps around windows and doors can be an open invitation for rats to enter your home. We reinforce these vulnerable areas with heavy duty materials such as weather stripping, door sweeps, and custom-fit seals to block any potential entry.
- Roof Entry Points: For rooftop entry points, we may need to scale the roof to inspect and reinforce vulnerable areas. This may involve installing durable barriers or reinforcing existing finishes to ensure rats can’t access the roof or attic space.
- Food and Water Sources: A significant part of long-term rat prevention involves removing food sources that attract rodents. Securing pantries, keeping food containers tightly sealed, and removing pet food or standing water around your property can make your home less appealing to rats. Additionally, removing bird feeders or trimming trees and shrubs that provide access to the roof can discourage rats from setting up shop near your home.
Peace of Mind for Homeowners
A rat infestation can be a stressful experience for any homeowner. The thought of these determined creatures lurking in your walls or attic can be unsettling. However, by choosing to invest in proactive rat-proofing measures, you are ensuring that your home will remain secure for years to come. Our team works tirelessly to seal any and all potential entry points, so you can feel confident that your home is protected.
Knowing that your home has been secured against future infestations can bring tremendous peace of mind. You no longer have to worry about rats causing damage to your home, spreading diseases, or disturbing your peace. With our lifetime warranty on materials and workmanship, you can rest easy knowing that we’ve gone the extra mile to protect your home from these persistent pests.
A Long-Term, Sustainable Approach to Rat Prevention
The key to preventing rat infestations lies not just in removing the rats currently present, but also in taking the necessary steps to prevent them from returning. Our goal is to provide a permanent solution to your rat problems. We don’t just treat the symptoms; we eliminate the root cause by securing your home against all potential entry points.
We understand the importance of using the right materials and the right techniques to ensure that your home is sealed properly. Our professional-grade products are specifically designed to withstand rats, and our skilled technicians are trained to install them correctly, ensuring that your home stays rat-free for the long term.
Lifetime Warranty – Lasting Protection Against Rats
At Skedaddle, we stand behind the quality of our work and materials. That’s why we offer a lifetime warranty on all our rat-proofing services. Our commitment to excellence ensures your home remains protected for the long term, giving you complete peace of mind. With expert craftsmanship and proven exclusion techniques, we guarantee a lasting solution to keep rats out—permanently.
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