#31
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OP again here.
We cancelled the attic remediation (that's what Orkin calls it). At the time of the inspection the Orkin guy showed us a whole bunch of photos on his iPad that he had taken, so we asked him to send them to us. We kept asking and asking, and he kept ignoring the requests, but eventually he said he was having problems sending them to us, and that was over 24 hours ago, so for some reason we suspect that he doesn't want us to have the photos, which just sounds strange to us. I decided to climb up there and check it out for myself, and I found one area of maybe eight square feet where there looked like something might have burrowed into the insulation, but I found no evidence whatsoever of mice living there right now, so it looks like they might have come up there at some point and nested, but could not thrive there and left. We also have a guy coming over tomorrow (Sunday) to inspect the attic. This guy is who we hired to do the original inspection of the house before we bought it two years ago, and he said there was no sign of mice then. He says this "sounds like a money grab", but he will give a more accurate opinion once he looks at the attic tomorrow. Thanks again, everyone for the responses. |
#32
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If there's mice there, there will be *lots* of droppings. Look atop any uninsulated area (e.g., attached garage), joists, headers, etc. Heck, set some traps or get those sticky boards. Mice are easy (not smart like rats). If you don't catch anything, there's nothing there.
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"I know in the morning that it's gonna be good, when I stick out my elbows and they don't bump wood." - Bill Kirchen |
#33
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That is an outrageous price, IMHO. We use a well known local company with great references when we need them and unless you have a gigantic attic with huge fire breathing mice, they would laugh themselves silly. Over the years they've taken care of rats and raccoons (we live in Florida) at nowhere near that kind of price.
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Phil Playing guitar badly since 1964. Some Taylor guitars. Three Kala ukuleles (one on tour with the Box Tops). A 1937 A-style mandolin. |
#34
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My wife had a bird feeder in the back garden (yard) so obviously we had mice in the undergrowth.
My wife also loves eating grapes. (makes a change from the bottles of wine!) She would put the grape stalks in the bin under the kitchen sink - Ta da - we got mice in the house. My first attempt was to buy some "kind" mouse traps, but I got tired of driving them a lime away to release them. So I bought some of these : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ales-Reusab...s%2C174&sr=8-5 I hate killing things - I get upset if I chop a worm in half when I'm digging. I also got some peanut butter and a bar of chocolate (two horrible things not normally found in my house) to prime the things. We caught 2, 4, 8, 16. 8. 4. 2, 0. At least they die very quickly - wouldn't consider poison. We found the aeration hole that they weer coming through, stuffed it with wire wool. No more mouses. Total cost, app. £20. Plus we now have Rupert, (he's longer than a size "0" guitar) -scares me! So them mouses are unlikely to choose us for grape stalks again. This is Rupert :
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Silly Moustache, Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer. I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom! |
#35
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My son owns a rental house in Nashville. He lives in California, so I am the fix-it guy.
The renters showed us video a mice in the house. I had an exterminator come look at it and he quoted me $1,800 to seal off the crawl space. I went to Home Depo and bought a some cans of Great Stuff and a few pieces of wood and sealed it myself. Total spent = $80 Mice are gone. |
#36
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#37
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As someone who worked for five years in the Baltimore City Health Departments division of Rodent and Insect Control, I would recommend that you make contact with whatever similar agency might be in your area. We used to give out lots of advice and recommendations free of charge. And we had no monetary axe to grind.
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Yamaha FG-411-12 String Oscar Teller 7119 classical (built in 1967) and a bunch of guitars and mandolins I've made ... OM, OO, acoustic bass, cittern, octave mandolin, mandola, etc. ... some of which I've kept. |
#38
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1st place- find where they came in from, they could come threw the founadation up the walls or climb up to the soffitt from the outside, this needs fixed,
2nd- put out some baited glue traps and leave a low light on, youll find out soon enough how many are up there, i wouldnt bait anything, if they die from the poison, they'll draw more, flies, and whatever else
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Fender GDC 200 S Telecaster-(build) Squier 51 Fender Strat Partscaster Ibanez SR400 EQM bass |
#39
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I had a huge problem with skunks under our house. Developers demolished about 60 houses below us on the hillside and all the rodents and small wild animals were forced up the hill. The quote to get rid of the skunks was astronomical and basically was going to be on-going until every skunk in the neighborhood was eliminated at my expense. What did I do? I bought a very effective, but inexpensive live trap, on Ebay from a guy in Tennessee and started to trap them one by one over a 4-month period. I then attached the trap to the trunk of my car, that had a spoiler at the back which prevented the trap from falling off, and drove the skunks, one by one, a few miles away and let them go. The trick is to get them far enough away, in terrain that is on the other side of a river or a long way away, otherwise they will find their way back. I caught some more than once until I learned to take them far away. I caught 24 skunks, yes, exactly 24 skunks in total and finally made my foundation skunk proof and that was the end of them.
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#40
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Wow, $14K. Glad to see you suspended any remediation activity, OP. I agree with your initial home inspector, sounds like a bit of a money grab. My guess is that they'd handle the pest portion and then subcontract out the work of removing your existing insulation, replacing it, etc. I can't envision removing and replacing batt or blown in insulation in a standard attic ever coming close to that much $$$, nor would I trust non-pest control work to a pest-control company, but what do I know.
We purchased a new home in the area back in late December. We've been waiting to move while we had the floors redone at the new place (with two dogs and two cats, refinishing wouldn't be practical any other time). So, while we were waiting for that, and with a mind to get in as quickly as possible, I hit up a local painting company for a quote to repaint the interior (ceilings, walls, trim). For a 3200 SqFt home the estimate came out to $37K. Apparently the one call I placed was to the Cadillac of local painting firms. A few hundred dollars in paint, a few new Purdy rollers, and I can still help my kid pay for college in a couple years. Sometimes I miss my renting days. Something break? Got a mouse? Make a call. Austin |
#41
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Mike My music: https://mikebirchmusic.bandcamp.com 2020 Taylor 324ceBE 2017 Taylor 114ce-N 2012 Taylor 310ce 2011 Fender CD140SCE Ibanez 12 string a/e 73(?) Epiphone 6830E 6 string 72 Fender Telecaster Epiphone Dot Studio Epiphone LP Jr Chinese Strat clone Kala baritone ukulele Seagull 'Merlin' Washburn Mandolin Luna 'tatoo' a/e ukulele antique banjolin Squire J bass |
#42
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You are most likely correct, but, I certainly didn't know that at the time. How would anyone legally get rid of skunks under their house without relocating or killing them?
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#43
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I know! I was thinking the same thing, although the couple of landlords that I had in the past were total cheapskates. They never wanted to do anything that they could avoid, and when they finally did make an effort it was always the minimum.
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#44
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If you are the homeowner or tenant, you can buy a live-trap and trap a raccoon, squirrel or opossum on your property without a permit. Learn more about appropriate trapping methods and bait to use. You can find traps at hardware stores and garden centers. You must then either release the animal within the same county on property where you have permission, or you can kill the animal (in compliance with local ordinances). |