Workshop insulation

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purplehaze

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Nov 5, 2008
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Location
Bridgewater, Massachusetts
Anyone know of an insulation that repels mice? I had to tear out all of the fiberglass insulation in my 14X14 shed because they were living in it.

My workshop is located on the edge of some pretty thick woods, about 20 yards from a river. I have sealed up all access points I could find but I need to reinsulate my shop and I am at a loss as to what to use. I only want to do this once.

There is no sheet rock, for now I just hung 4X8 sheets of peg board screwed into the studs. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
 
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Moth balls, but dont know if you could stand the smell....:eek:

If that doent work use cats. They'll quite down after you finish nailing them.:biggrin:
 
Mice and Rats are very difficult to get rid of. That's why the Egyptians started keeping cats...
If they can get their head through a hole, their body will squeeze through.
Something is there to keep them around. Source of water and food and safe bedding. So, bait and traps are the first order and then see about entry points and food/water sources...
My parents in NJ were plagued by huge rats. One of my sisters is a RN. She and Dad made Barium Cookies and scattered them around. Then they put out all kinds of water containers. Rats need to chew constantly as their teeth keep growing and would not allow them to open their mouth... The Barium combined with the water caused them to bloat and die...
So, plug all holes and look into spray foam insulation. They do it commercially. You can go to an Industrial Supply and buy it too. It has two components and does a great job. Cover the walls with OSB (oriented strand board) and they will have no access. Plus this gives yo plenty of hanging space. If you find any holes, plug them with coarse steel wool. Hopefully, you'll soon be mice free.
 
I dont have access to Barium so I use rat pelllets crushed to a powder mixed with peanut butter and places in little pie tins the disposable ones for cookies and such spread them around . This will dry them up from the inside then they die and seldom smell.
 
Keep in mind if you use any sort of poison, you will end up with a smell worse than moth balls. They tend to find unreachable places to go to die. also take due care where unintended animals are targeted of course. You do not really need to worry about dogs and cats with rat poison. the dosage is actually really low for animals that much larger.
I suggest traps for a working space this way you can discard the bodies.
The problem is they are coming there for a reason. and there are plenty more where they came from to take there place. a better strategy is to remove the reason they come.
My shop sets about 10 feet from a ditch full of water, is heated 24/7 as well as insulated. not a single mouse in it. I have some rules to keep it that way. no food of any kind is ever left in my shop. this include things you would not at first think of as food like grass seed, bird food or other things. winter is hard on the mice and they will eat anything.
if the mice are there for the warmth. remove it. but most likely they also have a near by food source. find that and remove it and the mice will leave.
 
You have to know what you are doing when you buy the electronic repellers. But the right ones do work really they do. As a rule the cheaper ones do not. I always have it in my head that if it does not cost $100 don't bother. To be a little more specific about what works and what does not. The device has to change frequency in order to continue to work. What happens if it only makes one tone or noise is that the critters get used to the noise and move back in. so you will notice they left for a few days to a week and then they return. The higher priced units change the tone of the noise they make every day or two so the Mice never get a chance to get used to the noise. There are also frequencies that work better than others as it actually causes the rodents to get sick but I have never found any that actually list the frequencies they use so getting one that falls in that range is luck of the draw. I am not even sure what frequencies you would need for that anymore. anyway they work by making a noise that is irritating or even painful to the mice that humans cannot hear. they also should not effect houshold pets. They take a few days to work and you will sometimes notice very odd behavior int he mice, spiders, roaches, or anything else in the area. So if you get to the shop one morning and find the mice making shoes. just blame it on the repeller. But yes the good ones really do work but there is a lot of garbage out there.
 
insulation

Thanks for the posts guys.

Here is a little more info:

There has never been any food in my shop and no bird feeders on the property.

It's not heated unless you count the return from my DC.

There is a lot of wildlife in the area so the only other attraction my shed would have is shelter from elements and predators.

I have thought about the expanding foam insulation but I just assumed it would be just as ineffective due to them burrowing into it.

I had not thought about the sonic repellers, good idea.
 
I 'googled' spray foam, with regards to mice...

Quote: THERMOSEAL™ insulation offers no food value, but it would not present a sufficient barrier to their entry if they decided to gnaw through it. Normally, pests take "the path of least resistance" and if they cannot detect a food source then they would normally not attempt to go through. In this sense, THERMOSEAL™ acts as a physical barrier and an odor barrier that has shown to significantly reduce the number of pests entering the homes.

A forum thread discussing the issue is found here:
http://forums.jlconline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48562

That's all the help I can give you now, as I've got presents to wrap! Good luck!

Andrew
 
On a small shop you can take some 22 ga. flashing and bend it to fit the sole plate of the stud walls or if possible slide it under the sole plate. to slide it under yuo would have to pull or cut the nails/screws. by using smoth metal the rodents can't get a starting place to chew through.
Mark
 
Look for a product called "squeak out" it's actually a lubricant that is used in the aircraft industry, but it was discovered by accident that it makes a great mouse repellent..
 
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