Dan wrote:

My wife & I have just bought a house in the Seattle area. House is 2 story,
about 3000 sq', on a 1 acre very wooded lot. The previous owner had a
problem which I understand is fairly common around here; rodents (mice &/or
rats) in the crawl space. He had a local Terminex address the infestation,
as of last week Terminex claims "no new activity", however the rodents
nested in the insulation between the floor joists, ripping it up & pulling
it down in spots, as well as urinating/defecating/probably a few dead ones
in & around the fiberglass. This is stinking up the space, which can be
smelled in the kitchen area. My plan is to have my own independent
inspector go over the space, make sure all entry points are closed & that
there really are no rodents present, then have the insulation and other
debris removed & new plastic put down. Since we're heading into the warm
months, I thought I'd wait until late summer/early fall to have new
insulation put in, to give the subfloor/joists/etc. a good time to air out.
I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with this, and if so what they think
of my plan. Any helpful suggestions appreciated.

TIA

Dan



Not a (helpful) answer to your query, but I was
working at a house w/crawl which had been infested.
The owner assured me that the exterminators had been
thorough in eradicating the rodents.

I had been working in the crawl, sprawled out on
the earthen floor, for maybe 10 minutes when the
ground began to shift and collapse! I got out the
scuttle hole as fast as I could.

Nothing more happened and we later figured out that
the rats had made numerous tunnels in the earthen floor,
which then had collapsed under my weight.

shudder

Jim