Help! I have rats in my crawl space!
lizsbiz
22 years ago
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tcl0361
22 years agoKaren_sl
22 years agoRelated Discussions
Crawl space moisture control with open vents...help!
Comments (7)Thanks, Worthy. I actually am quite familiar with the paper you linked and couldn't agree more with the author. I'm selling the house mentioned above so don't want to invest a lot of money to address this problem. All of the houses in the area are the same. But while I have your attention, perhaps you can give your opinion on the house we currently use. It, too, has a vented, unconditioned crawl space but has a sand floor and the A/C ducts run through it bringing the bad smells into the living space. However, we can close the louvers on the vents on this house because they are SmartVents, so the whole vent pivots open in the event of a storm surge. We closed the vents and installed a SaniDry dehumidifier, which has helped but not completely fixed the problem. We are going to have the floor covered in the next week. I would love to remove the batting under the floor above and insulate the walls and condition the space but I don't think the vents are sealed enough for this not to be a huge waste in energy. Opening the space more to the outside and treating it as pier construction is not an option due to the nature of the house construction. So, what are my options? I have an HVAC guy coming out next week for a full evaluation, replace any dirty vents and SEAL them well. This will improve indoor air quality but not moisture control in the space. Do you think it's possible to achieve RH...See MoreI have a rat or squirrel in my wall
Comments (12)we have a squirrel in our wall we live in austin texas and two nights ago we herd a scratching in our closet we went to go check it out and there was a small hole in the wall. today we heard it again so we went back to where we covered it up with duck tape and a big piece of metal and there was a big hole and we could only see two squirrels. we live in texas so we like to hunt we shot the squirrels with a bb gun and it turns out there are four. so we shot again and again and we killed the mother and one baby so the father and other baby are some where else in the wall so now we dont know what to do. should we fumigate them or wait till they come back and then shoot them...See MoreWill insulating the crawl space help reduce cooling costs?
Comments (3)yeah...Entergy is going to help you out! LOL! they do actually have a program in N.O. through Entergy using local energy raters. a little biased, but it is what it is. below is a copy & paste link to LSU AgCenter's study about insulating floors in homes with open crawlspaces. http://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/D33F711D-DC4B-4E4C-9ED6-A97DCE9DB026/79806/pub3187insulatingraisedfloorsHIGHRES.pdf I plan to insulate my floors with closed cell 3" everywhere...not average fill. once floor in bathroom is replaced and plumbing is finished. your biggest battle is going to be getting 3" everywhere, and not just averaged fill. plan to crawl under house before they leave. take a piece of wire with inches marked on it and a can of spray paint. have them come back and touch up low spots. knowing the foam companies you'll have to deal with, plan on double checking the work and not relying on their word that it is right. understand that closed cell is about R-7 per inch so 3" is R-21. actual R-values not quanitive values are what is important. best of luck....See MoreI hear RATS under my kitchen...
Comments (7)The only way to rid a crawlspace of rats/etc. is to permanently seal your entire foundation, exterior walls, and roof. ANY and ALL points of entry, no matter how small, must be repaired, filled, and sealed. Any overhanging branches from trees must be trimmed back so they do not touch your roof. Yes, it can be expensive, but do you really want to deal with a rodent problem or risk poisoning your pets? Our house was built in 1910. We had a similar problem. A rat died inside one of our walls, and the smell was HORRIBLE. We couldn't find it so we had to wait out the smell, which took a couple of weeks.We hired our exterminator to dig a 12" deep 12" wide trench around the entire perimeter of our foundation. It was then filled with concrete. ALL possible points of entry on the exterior of the house were repaired. This was completed in January 2013 and, knock on wood, we have not had any more problems with rats, squirrels, or chipmunks. I wish you good luck with solving your problem....See Moretwelvepole
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