Those creaks and moans that an old house makes may not be ghosts or goblins. When the wind blows and it squeals and shrills, sending shivers up your spine bringing goose bumps to a rise, is it only the wind?
Those bumps and thumps within the walls of a new house as it makes itself comfortable and begins to settle down while the banging on the pipes isn’t playing out a song, is there nothing going on?
Think again. There may be something going on but it’s probably not supernatural. It may be that you have Rats. When rats get into the walls of a house you don’t always hear them. They could be living in the walls, the attic, the basement, around the water heater, under the floors for month’s even years without you knowing it except for an occasional creak, moan, squeal, shrill, bump, thump or a banging.
There are signs of rats that you can look for. In places that isn’t frequented you may have disturbed spider webs, small footprints where it’s dusty, rat droppings, gravel, small to large holes in floorboards, and crawl spaces. Anything stored a rat can gnaw through. Wiring may be chewed on and may be chewed in two. When wiring is chewed in two it can cause fires and it can cause things inside the house to stop working such as lighting. Insulation can be bitten and eaten on and dragged to other areas for rat nests.
Rats can eventually find their way into the house.
If you have rats and are waiting on an exterminator or pest control person to come and take care of the rat invasion you can do a few things to ensure they won’t come into your house or to dissuade them from entering.
If you have pets you’ll want to be cautious that they don’t inhale any fumes. Keep pets out of the room or area you are working in and make sure the room the pets are in has ventilation to allow any fumes that may spill over into their area a way to escape.
Rats don’t like to smell bleach. Water down bleach or use cleaners with bleach in it and wipe down floors, do not wipe down carpets, wipe down sinks, toilets, stoves, refrigerators and windowsills. Basically clean as you normally would. Make sure bleach is diluted enough with the water that it won’t take the color out of anything. The bleach smell will eventually fade but it will keep rats away temporarily for several days or until the smell is gone.
Vinegar seems to effect rats too. If you don’t have any bleach, squirt some vinegar around but be aware that vinegar can hurt the color of things. Vinegar can also make things sticky if too much is sprayed. You may wish to dilute it with water.