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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Original poster

Am I just going to invite rats with decking?

27 replies

AdditionalCharacter · 25/06/2021 03:22

I live in a mid terrace, so access to my back garden is through the house. This reduces the amount of work I can get done.

Garden backs on to allotments, and my cats have killed the odd mouse or rat.

Ideally we wanted to pave a patio, but impossible to get any digging gear in, so was thinking about decking for the full length of the house, and about 12 foot long wide.

Am I just inviting rats in to live there?

Decking would cover part concrete part grass area.

OP posts:
Anordinarymum · 25/06/2021 03:32

I have a huge garden and we have decking outside the patio doors which covers a large area.
My cats have brought both rats and mice into the house but I have never seen anything to indicate rats would live under the decking.
There is no food supply for them and the cats would soon see them off anyway

wombatspoopcubes · 25/06/2021 04:07

Frogs live under mine. I like frogs.

whatisthisinhere · 25/06/2021 07:51

I have decking over old cracked concrete, never seen a rat or mouse

DespairingHomeowner · 25/06/2021 08:14

I would really try to avoid decking: our neighbours have it and say they see rats in the daytime sometimes (it was done by previous owners, probably for same reason as you mid terrace).

Allotment is a food & water source, what other options are possible?

DonLewis · 25/06/2021 08:17

Possibly, but you can have inspection hatches built into the deck to allow you to clean underneath it and to bait (if you want to, not everyone does).

If I wanted a deck I'd make sure there were inspection hatches built in.

Blueskytoday06 · 25/06/2021 08:18

No

MereDintofPandiculation · 25/06/2021 08:26

You wouldn’t necessarily need digging gear for a patio, only if the land were very uneven and a lot of soil to be moved, but you would have problems getting materials through the house.

drpet49 · 25/06/2021 08:29

Decking attracts rats and mice and for that reason alone I will never have it. Our old garden shed had rats living under it.

GryffsMum · 25/06/2021 08:32

We had frogs under ours too

Blueskytoday06 · 25/06/2021 13:20

I've had decking for 15 years and have never seen a rat or a mouse or a frog.

BUT I wouldn't have it again because it eventually rots and is a pain to replace.

Not because of rats though.

applesandpears33 · 25/06/2021 19:58

To my knowledge, we haven't had rats or mice living under our decking, perhaps because there are a lot of cats in the area. We did have a fox for a couple of years though.

MsAnnFrope · 25/06/2021 20:01

I read this as rats with decking, as in the rats are bringing the decking so I’m probably not the best person to advise…

yourestandingonmyneck · 25/06/2021 23:13

@MsAnnFrope

I read this as rats with decking, as in the rats are bringing the decking so I’m probably not the best person to advise…
Grin
Original poster
AdditionalCharacter · 26/06/2021 00:54

@MsAnnFrope

I read this as rats with decking, as in the rats are bringing the decking so I’m probably not the best person to advise…
If they want to build the decking and provide the materials they are more than welcome to live under it
OP posts:
AntiHop · 26/06/2021 01:05

We moved into a house with decking a few years ago. Never seen any rats.

Gothichouse40 · 26/06/2021 01:07

Decking will bring rats and mice. Like a previous poster I won't have it either for that reason. The other thing that attracts rats are bird feeders. Rats and mice can smell food miles away. There was an episode on How Clean is Your House, a homeowner had to get rid off their bird feeder as it was attracting rats. Where I live rat numbers have increased during Lockdown. My neighbours have seen them whilst out walking.

13luckyblackcats · 26/06/2021 21:45

I have inherited decking. No rats. I was sceptical, but had to take some boards up to replace this Spring so had a really good look, and there was no sign of any at all.

If you do put decking in, make sure it can drain bitter

missbunnyrabbit · 27/06/2021 12:17

I got decking done a few months ago over my cracked concrete yard. It's all boxed in and no sign of any pests yet. :)

Original poster
AdditionalCharacter · 27/06/2021 16:46

Brilliant, thanks everyone. All comments taken on board.

OP posts:
DrHWeasley · 27/06/2021 16:52

We inherited decking when we bought- total pain in the arse, needs so much maintenance! We're ripping it out and putting a patio in.

huuskymam · 27/06/2021 16:54

We put rubble down before the decking went down. We've had decking for about 10 years and never had an issue with mice or rats.

NeedNewKnees · 27/06/2021 16:55

We’ve had ours 12 years. Occasionally see a mouse but mostly frogs. Frogs eat slugs, so I’m all in favour.

Ozanj · 27/06/2021 17:02

Rats, spiders, decking even attracts dying animals. We used to find so many cats there. It got to the point where if an elderly cat went missing neighbours would just come directly to us Sad. In this new house we have paving on concrete. Just bring the bags through the house and set it all up in your garden prior to starting.

BeepBoopBop · 27/06/2021 17:05

I had a massive deck for 10 years. Can honestly say I never, ever saw a rat in, under, or over the decking....

Floralnomad · 27/06/2021 17:07

We had our decking down for about 15 years until last year and definitely no rats .