Had a weird job this morning. Customer is bothered by some kind of rodent -
heard scratching under the dining room floor & also in the loft conversion.

Been going on for years off & on. Stops for a while then starts again.

Poison has been put down in the loft & dead rats found.

The council rat expert reckoned they were getting into the (insulated)
cavity wall space & climbing up all the way into the loft. Well maintained
end of terrace (four houses) in a nice area, other three neighbours nice,
clean respectable people. No squats, rubbish etc.

Guy employed me to lift some boards in the dining room & see if there was
any way they were getting in.

No sign under the floor of anything but loads of dust & a 1939 newspaper.
No droppings, no sign of any dust disturbance, plenty of undisturbed
cobwebs.

Can a rat really climb up two storeys through cavity wall insulation to
reach the loft?

Why would a rat want to do so? I guess its warm but no food source up
there.

Any thoughts?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Had a weird job this morning. Customer is bothered by some kind of
rodent - heard scratching under the dining room floor & also in the
loft conversion.
Been going on for years off & on. Stops for a while then starts
again.
Poison has been put down in the loft & dead rats found.

The council rat expert reckoned they were getting into the (insulated)
cavity wall space & climbing up all the way into the loft. Well
maintained end of terrace (four houses) in a nice area, other three
neighbours nice, clean respectable people. No squats, rubbish etc.

Guy employed me to lift some boards in the dining room & see if there
was any way they were getting in.

No sign under the floor of anything but loads of dust & a 1939
newspaper. No droppings, no sign of any dust disturbance, plenty of
undisturbed cobwebs.

Can a rat really climb up two storeys through cavity wall insulation
to reach the loft?

Why would a rat want to do so? I guess its warm but no food source up
there.

Any thoughts?

They can climb up the plastic soil-vent pipes and stick their little heads
up through the first floor toilet quite easily if they wish - so a cavity is
no problem.

I had the a similar problem many years ago in a depot maintenace office.
I'd be sat doing the old paperwork at the desk and be listening to the
scurrying of mice running around on the un-insulated ceiling - until I got a
little fed up one day and climbed up there armed with half a dozen traps!

I caught eight of the little perishers which cured the problem - but I never
did find their entrance hole.

Brian G

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
k...
Had a weird job this morning. Customer is bothered by some kind of
rodent - heard scratching under the dining room floor & also in the loft
conversion.

Been going on for years off & on. Stops for a while then starts again.

Poison has been put down in the loft & dead rats found.

The council rat expert reckoned they were getting into the (insulated)
cavity wall space & climbing up all the way into the loft. Well
maintained end of terrace (four houses) in a nice area, other three
neighbours nice, clean respectable people. No squats, rubbish etc.

Guy employed me to lift some boards in the dining room & see if there was
any way they were getting in.

No sign under the floor of anything but loads of dust & a 1939 newspaper.
No droppings, no sign of any dust disturbance, plenty of undisturbed
cobwebs.

Can a rat really climb up two storeys through cavity wall insulation to
reach the loft?

Why would a rat want to do so? I guess its warm but no food source up
there.

Any thoughts?

No food source? What about the insulation around the electric cables?

Adam

In article , The Medway
Handyman writes

Can a rat really climb up two storeys through cavity wall insulation to
reach the loft?

Yes.

I have an annual late Autumn problem with Wood Mice. They have access to
the house soffit through an adjoining timber barn and appear to come in
for warmth as they tend to bring their own food: Walnuts mainly!

Why would a rat want to do so? I guess its warm but no food source up
there.

Rats may just be optimists, hoping for a food bonanza behind that next
stud.

One source of food might be hibernating cluster flies of which we seem
to have plenty.

regards
--
Tim Lamb

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
k...
Had a weird job this morning. Customer is bothered by some kind of
rodent -
heard scratching under the dining room floor & also in the loft
conversion.

Been going on for years off & on. Stops for a while then starts again.

Poison has been put down in the loft & dead rats found.

The council rat expert reckoned they were getting into the (insulated)
cavity wall space & climbing up all the way into the loft. Well
maintained
end of terrace (four houses) in a nice area, other three neighbours nice,
clean respectable people. No squats, rubbish etc.

Guy employed me to lift some boards in the dining room & see if there was
any way they were getting in.

No sign under the floor of anything but loads of dust & a 1939 newspaper.
No droppings, no sign of any dust disturbance, plenty of undisturbed
cobwebs.

Can a rat really climb up two storeys through cavity wall insulation to
reach the loft?

Why would a rat want to do so? I guess its warm but no food source up
there.

Any thoughts?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

Actually experienced this, while taking the roof off a two story hose and
extending to an extension. There was a pile of straw that starlings had
carried into the attic for nesting over a long period of time. I had to
remove the straw and after the first hand full was removed a rat jumped out,
ran up the drop on to the wall plate along the guttering on to the
scaffolding and disappeared. When I told the occupier about the rat, she
said that explains the disappearing potatoes in the extension. the rat was
climbing down the new cavity wall into the roof space. the evidence was the
white rat **** found in the straw.