Help please! Rodent chewed through wires

[helpmeratty]

So today all of my upstairs sockets and two of the bedroom lights have stopped working. Checked the fuse box and one of the rcd switches was down. It refuses to switch back up, I've unplugged every single thing, tried resetting etc.

Over Xmas we heard some chewing/scratching sounds coming from underneath my bedroom floorboards in the middle of the night, so loud it woke me up. Was also heard under son's bedroom which is above the kitchen. No evidence of droppings anywhere so far. Was going to call a pest control person in the new year.

I'm guessing that a rodent has chewed through some electrical wiring ☹️

I have no idea what to do now. Do I call an electrician first, or pest control? Home insurance? We are so skint as well it's an absolute nightmare. I've had direct debits bounce today. It feels like this house is cursed.

Will pest control pull up floorboards? Or would that be an electrician? I just don't know what order to deal with this in. If an electrician has to rip up floors to fix wiring what's to stop more rodents coming in and chewing. Do I need an electrician to identify problem before trying home insurance? I don't know how big a job this is or if it's even covered.

We have no heating or hot water as boiler in loft is also not working. All wiring in loft looks perfect I've just been up there and no signs of issues.

So wise people who aren't in a panic and feeling sorry for themselves like me- what would you do first?

It's a fire risk so you will need an electrician to trace the faulty wires and replace which means floorboards coming up. Your household insurance should cover the cost.

Just checked home insurance- not covered ☹️ I can't believe it

Working out where they are getting in is the hard bit.
I blocked up all the obvious points of entry but they were still getting in through the gaps in my pointing. The gap only needs to be big enough to squeeze their little skulls through.
You'll inevitably need to lift floorboards to find the mouse house aswell as sorting any wiring issues.
Plug in sonic mouse deterrent are available on amazon to keep them out/stop them moving back in.
Got mine out of the house but they have now moved into my car instead. I believe battery powered sonic deterrents are also available.

Please don't use glue traps, those things are fucking inhumane.

The mouse starves to death - It could take days for the mouse to die naturally if left on the glue trap unattended. ... The mouse dies trying to break free - Mice have been known to break their necks, tear off their skin or even chew their own legs off trying to make their escape, resulting in a painful death.

Nothing wrong with glue traps. As long as you kill them and get them out then they can cause havoc in your home. Rodents are dangerous. The last thing you should be thinking about is how much pain they're in when they die. They could kill you, they've already chewed through wires. That's dangerous

Whilst it does sound like you have a rodent issue, the electric issue may be unrelated. Start with an electrician and don’t panic quite yet. My switch kept tripping. When it was tested, it was found to be over sensitive, ie it was tripping when it didn’t need to.

Shit OP sorry you going through this, i have a plug in sonic deterrent and it seems to be helping, we've had no mice in 4 days now, took a few days to start working as it's in my bedroom and mice in the loft.
Have you called your insurance to double check they won't cover the re wiring at least? They wouldn't cover pest control, if a small infestation you should be able to deal with it with traps/deterrent's mentioned, if large then likely you'll need pest control as they will need pest control

get to screwfix and buy some snap traps at about £4 each. Bait with peanut butter. Check daily. Not glue traps, really cruel and there's no need, snap traps are a quick death and infinitely reusable.

not pricey crap from Amazon and not perfumes. (you will note the person telling you all this is also flogging their pest control service - get the boards up yourself and fit your own traps)

worth a chat with the insurers, pest control won't be covered but damage may well be.

Will pest control pull up floorboards? Or would that be an electrician?

No a joiner would, an electrician deals with electrical a and pest control would do an assessment of the external and internal canvas.

He would not rip up flooring, he would set traps in the obvious place.

If you have a faulty wire, the electrician would locate and repair, this however is a massive fire risk and needs to be sorted asap.