Help needed: Suspended floor (rats)

[chippy1]

Hi,

Please could someone provide alittle advice as not sure what to do!


I live in a home that was built around 1700 and have a suspended floor in my downstairs dining room. The gap between sub-level and floor is only very small, roughly 7 inches above ground level.

I am having major issues with rats running in this void each evening. I am a middle terraced house and my guess would be that there is a gap where the rats are running between all the houses.

Is it possible to fill this void(cement) and make it a hard floor or atleast fill the gaps along all walls with cement to block up the "runs" as when I lift up the floorboards it looks like there is multi areas when they could be running between properties. I've already had many visits from pest control and they are able to short the issue "short term" but as the gaps(runs) are still there, they have told me they cant stop future issues (and they havent!!)

Any advice would be appreciated....thank you!

 

[plasticpigeon]

Are you sure there are gaps in the walls between the properties? I thought party walls were solid. I'd have thought that if you make sure there are no means of entry and exit from the sub floor space then the problem will solve itself.

 

[Feltwell]

If you make it a solid floor you're likely to end up with damp issues.

I'd say identifying how they are getting in & out is the main priority - have you got an old phone you can tape to the end of a stick to put down there whilst filming a video? I've done that a few times for various problems!

Rather than paying for pest control each time, I found that bags of Neosorexa Gold did the trick when we had a problem with rats coming up from a drain. I keep a few bags stuffed in the entrance points to the underfloor space in my garage, just in case - first few disappeared but then the next batch has stayed put for over 3 years now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neosorexa-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KBDTQAFPEV52QV8508V1

 

[chippy1]

Hi,

Thanks for reply.

I'm the middle terraced property of 3 houses that were all one big house going back to the 1600-1700's. They were then converted into 3 homes, so I think some of the joint internal walls are stud walls/plaster board and not solid brick walls, so below ground level the internal (non-weight bearing) walls are supported but I'm guessing over the years an odd gap must have opened up.

The dining room is an internal room has no direct access from outside, so I can only guess the rats are coming into the void from a neighbour?...As these old houses need to breath, I wasnt sure how blocking up the void below the suspended floor would impact the house, if at all?


many thanks for all your help

 

[chippy1]

Are you sure there are gaps in the walls between the properties? I thought party walls were solid. I'd have thought that if you make sure there are no means of entry and exit from the sub floor space then the problem will solve itself.

Hi,

Thanks for reply.

I'm the middle terraced property of 3 houses that were all one big house going back to the 1600-1700's. They were then converted into 3 homes, so I think some of the joint internal walls are stud walls/plaster board and not solid brick walls, so below ground level the internal (non-weight bearing) walls are supported but I'm guessing over the years an odd gap must have opened up.

The dining room is an internal room has no direct access from outside, so I can only guess the rats are coming into the void from a neighbour?...As these old houses need to breath, I wasnt sure how blocking up the void below the suspended floor would impact the house, if at all?


many thanks for all your help

 

[chippy1]

If you make it a solid floor you're likely to end up with damp issues.

I'd say identifying how they are getting in & out is the main priority - have you got an old phone you can tape to the end of a stick to put down there whilst filming a video? I've done that a few times for various problems!

Rather than paying for pest control each time, I found that bags of Neosorexa Gold did the trick when we had a problem with rats coming up from a drain. I keep a few bags stuffed in the entrance points to the underfloor space in my garage, just in case - first few disappeared but then the next batch has stayed put for over 3 years now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neosorexa-...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KBDTQAFPEV52QV8508V1

Hi,

thanks for your reply...didnt think about damp issues...thankyou!

I've had pest control out 6 times and the first 3 times the rats were running round the rat poison and not touching the stuff. After a while they did start to take it and things went silent over the summer months but I've already started hearing scratching again this week and the dog is going crazy. Pest control have place many traps/poison at the enterance to some of the "runs" but said these are historic and been there for many years and without taking up the whole floor, difficult to block up every possible route they seem to have created...

 

[plasticpigeon]

You are right, the underfloor space should not be blocked off, but any holes big enough for rats should be blocked up. Are you friendly enough with your neighbours to inspect the walls of their properties? Hopefully the house has air bricks that allow air flow without letting vermin in. It is possible that any air bricks there presently have rotted if iron or broken if clay? I had 2 rats under my floor when I was digging outr my kitchen floor and stupidly removed the back step at the same time. 2 rats came in and were scurrying around under the suspended floor. I blocked up the entry points and put poison down. It took about a week for the buggers to die! If you find any holes the best thing to temporarily block them with before a permenent mortar or masonry repair is wire wool as they cannot chew through that!

 

[Craig89]

There should be holes in the dividing walls for cross ventilation under the floor so ideally these dont want blocking up. As above I would try and find out how they are getting in and block that up

 

[Zebra]

If the house is that old, then you're not likely to have very deep foundations. They're probably digging underneath. Cooperation with your neighbours is going to be key, because any blocking of passages would have to involve all the houses. Chicken wire dug in around the house might work, but you'd have to be very careful not to undermine the foundations of the house.
Might I be first to suggest a feline solution?

 

[Owain]

Might I be first to suggest a feline solution?

7" might be tight for a cat, but a ferret would do it.

Make sure the rats aren't baited though, as otherwise you risk losing the ferret. I don't want to think what a dead ferret stinks like but I assume it's worse than a rat.

 

[Feltwell]

I've had pest control out 6 times and the first 3 times the rats were running round the rat poison and not touching the stuff. After a while they did start to take it and things went silent over the summer months but I've already started hearing scratching again this week and the dog is going crazy.

Rats are "neophobic" apparently - intense distrust of anything new, so I'm not surprised that it was a while before they took the bait. I was surprised that the Neosorexa Gold I put down was gobbled up straight away - first 3 days it disappeared in large quantities, then they stopped taking it, and no more signs of any rats.

 

[Matt Green]

If you make it a solid floor you're likely to end up with damp issues.

I'd say identifying how they are getting in & out is the main priority - have you got an old phone you can tape to the end of a stick to put down there whilst filming a video? I've done that a few times for various problems!

Rather than paying for pest control each time, I found that bags of Neosorexa Gold did the trick

That's all good advice, but just for the record here that product is marketed and labelled for Professional Use Only and should not be offered for sale to the general public. I'm not looking for an discussion about who is or isn't professional or competent to lay products like that but secondary and accidental poisoning are the big drivers behind moves to ban anticoagulant baits.

As Feltwell said they are moving for a reason, either food or shelter, so finding out where they are getting in and going it the only way to address the root cause of the issue. DETEX BLOX might help you find out where they are moving, they are non toxic and they and the dropping they are contained in glow under UV.

 

[chippy1]

Hi,

Thank you all your replies, really appreciate it!

As things went silent over the summer, I think the 6 visits from pest control must have had an impact but at the time I was told, it is a short term fix and unless the "run" or "runs" are found, new nests (rats) will find there way in and it looks like that is whats happening. Next door dont seem to look after their property and the garden is overgrown etc, it wouldnt surprise me if they are finding a way in next door and digging under the internal wall spaces. Sadly, anyone I call out will only inspect my property and next door havent been overly helpful...

Looks like I'm going to have to take up the whole dining room floor and try to locate the runs and take it from there...


Many thanks again,

 

[plasticpigeon]

I don't think taking up yoru floor will help. You will need to find where they are getting in, even if that is through a neighbour's property. Ae you not friendly enough to ask if you can have a look, I can't imagine the neighbours like having rats under their floor either!

 

[chippy1]

I don't think taking up yoru floor will help. You will need to find where they are getting in, even if that is through a neighbour's property. Ae you not friendly enough to ask if you can have a look, I can't imagine the neighbours like having rats under their floor either!

The Property is empty alot of the time, as they have another home they live in, so difficult to actually catch them at the address...I did mention it to them before the summer and the back garden was cleaned up but not enough to make a difference...

 

[MatthewC]

I don't want to think what a dead ferret stinks like but I assume it's worse than a rat.

Believe me, dead rats smell pretty bad and I would guess a ferret would be exactly the same! Poisoning is all very well, but if the creature actually dies under a suspended floor, there's a huge problem.

 

[george2019]

I don't want to think what a dead ferret stinks like but I assume it's worse than a rat.

Believe me, dead rats smell pretty bad and I would guess a ferret would be exactly the same! Poisoning is all very well, but if the creature actually dies under a suspended floor, there's a huge problem.

For about a week in summer. In winter the smell is much reduced.

 

[Abi Cott]

Depends if the flies get to them and lay eggs. 40 freshly hatched blue bottles (though mine were reddish) in your room every day for a couple of weeks can be pretty off putting. I bottled it and left the other half to the window and door opening. I'm pretty sure that was from just one rodent carcase.
My advice would be deal with them now whilst it's cold, because you sure as hell don't want to be dealing with them in 6 months time

 

[MatthewC]

I don't want to think what a dead ferret stinks like but I assume it's worse than a rat.

Believe me, dead rats smell pretty bad and I would guess a ferret would be exactly the same! Poisoning is all very well, but if the creature actually dies under a suspended floor, there's a huge problem.

For about a week in summer. In winter the smell is much reduced.

I was the Bar Officer in an RAF Officers' Mess, and the awful smell of dead rats under the floor continued for several weeks after using poison - the bodies were out of sight and we (with advice from professionals) tried everything to mask the smell without much success. In such a well-used room in the mess, this did not go down well and I wish it had been only a few days!