In the past five years as a rodent exclusion professional, I have encountered many different aspects of rodent infestations as well as developed and honed numerous techniques for rodent exclusion practices. While the majority of my work has involved residential applications, a most recent case involving a physician’s office was particularly sensitive in the protocol needed to address the issue:

Prior to the first evidence and sightings of mice, there had never been any earlier case of rodent activity within the building. The first evidence was noticed in the administrative offices in the second floor of the building, followed by sightings on ground level in the examination rooms. The owner of the building first enlisted her regular pest control provider to address the issue, but soon realized that the regular “bait and trap” method for “controlling” the population would not keep the mice out of the building to begin with and as a physician she could not risk “sightings” by patients. To her credit, she responded swiftly to address the issue immediately and did not let the population of mice get out of control.

During the initial inspection and consultation with the customer, dozens of areas of concern were noted. In addition to the usual areas such as utility line entry points, stucco weep edges, and dormer vents for the attic; I observed that a section of the enclosed soffit panel was dislodged at roof level under an eave. This was perhaps the most concerning point of entry. Honestly, any animal (up to the size of a grown raccoon) that had the wherewithal to access the roof could have entered the attic through this opening. While we usually address the exterior of a building almost exclusively, due to the consideration of the customer managing a physician’s office, she requested the we include in the bid additional work to seal up any cracks and gaps in the drywall work and screen behind duct vents for the HVAC system. This additional layer of protection provided a redundant system to isolate and manage a future rodent intrusion should one ever occur.

Due to the sensitive nature of proofing a physician’s office, several extra steps of discretion had to be taken within the scope of the trapping and proofing: First, all traps had to be isolated in utility rooms, closets, and generally where patients would not see them; second, traps were only to be checked early in the morning before the first scheduled patient may arrive; last, all the rodent exclusion work could only be done on Friday afternoon when the office was open, but not seeing patients.

The process commenced smoothly throughout the trapping and phases of rodent exclusion. As was expected due to the recent development of the mice entering the building, only a few mice were trapped during the process. We continued to trap throughout the proofing phases and for a week after all exclusion was complete to be certain no mice were still inside.

Mark Dorsten,
Regional Manager
Rodent Proof, LLC