Help!! If you’ve ever had rats in your loft/wall space…

[Twingi50]

How were they getting into your loft and how did you get rid of them for good? We have rats in the loft and need a permanent fix, rather than just baiting and trapping, which doesn’t achieve anything long-term. I’ve read that the root cause can often be an issue with the drains as rats can escape holes / cracks in the pipes, burrow under ground and climb up the wall cavities into the loft. Did you have a CCTV survey and did you have non return valves/rat flaps fitted in the manholes? Did that solve the problem for good or did you end up having to get underground pipes fixed too/instead. Really keen to hear other people’s experiences and how you found a long term solution. And grateful for any tips and recommendations of companies you have used. This is taking over my life and I am turning into a nervous wreck with the worry that we won’t be able to fix this! Thank you in advance.

They were getting in through a hole about 2cm in diameter which had been left in an external wall when we had an extension built. Blocking that up and using a local pest control company sorted the problem, but it went on for far longer than it should have because DH and I use earplugs to sleep and didn't hear them for ages.

When we had a rat, it was due to a faulty manhole cover - they can get into remarkably small spaces. Since that has been fixed, we’ve had no problem. The trick is to find out where they are getting in, and block that up.

Ours was a collapsed drain enabling them to climb up inside wall cavities and into the roof space. It was awful. Drain fix, rat-proofing in the pipes, and a renovation later we're all clear. Be warned though, and let the pest controllers use traps rather than poisoned bait if they can. The smell of decomposing rats went on for months and im still haunted by it.

We had rats in a space above the cloakroom in an extension to the kitchen. And then they died there; the smell of decomposing rats is horrendous. Apparently it's quite a common problem; the builders didn't block off the old drains when the new ones went live, and that's how they were getting in. We had to take the ceiling down in the cloakroom to remove the dead rats and droppings - that was a fun weekend... We had a CCTV survey on the recommendation of the Council's pest control officer, and, as a result of that, had something pushed into the drain to stop their ingress. We haven't had any more visitations thankfully.

We used a spring trap called a “Big Nipper”. Like a normal Little Nipper spring mousetrap but three or four time the size.

Rats are more intelligent than you think and once they have witnessed few of their brethren meet a sticky end, they move elsewhere.

At least, the ones in our attic did.

We got pest control in. They put poison down which was like manna from heaven for rats, so had extended activity whilst they feasted. Unfortunately one died in the cavity wall so had horrendous smell for a while (still think I can smell it some times!) There was a hole by a drain and plastic air brick so blocked these with wire wool

I was tempted to move out!

I had rats in the loft! Made my skin crawl such disgusting things aren’t they? I had pest control out and they put bait poison down, also found that under the house before it was finished they had changed their mind where the sewage would go so there was a sewage tunnel under the house that wasn’t even being used but was probably the way they got into the wall cavities and into the loft! Since it has been filled I’ve not had any more this was last September.

The problem is that bait might kill them and then you have a smell to contend with, which is particularly horrible if the central heating pipes are nearby. I contracted MRSA from rats and it put me in hospital. I got an abatement order on my former neighbours to deal with the source of the problem and traps. You have to empty everything from the loft to prevent nesting. Do it with gloves and a mask on as their waste is toxic. Take a torch and identify any potential pathways into your house. Concrete up gaps or stuff oven cleaner metal scourers in any every gap. They hate chewing metal and it deters them. We had some success from placing peppermint oil and spray everywhere as it is something they also hate.

Lived ibn this house nearly 40 years, it's a barn conversion. Over the years we had repeated rat invasions in the loft. Pest control came and killed them but after a year or two or less more always came back. I was told that new rats can detect an old rat path.
BTW they don't often die inside because the poison makes them thirsty and they go out for water.
Lots of theories about how they were getting in. My own theory was always rejected - I thought they were finding holes in the two hundred year old wall.
We have rat traps and Blink cameras in the loft so we knew as soon as one came in and that seemed to be as much as we could do.
Eventually two years ago we threw a ton of money at it. The pest controller was fixated on drains so we had a full analysis of the drains done (£500). They didn't find anything. We had one way valves fitted, steel discs under the guttering, then had a long wall re-pointed at a cost of £1500.

Each thing we did reduced the frequency but the pointing solved it. Cost us about £5k altogether.

We called pest control in when we discovered rats in the cavity and ceiling in our hallway. Honestly they were absolutely useless as they couldn't seem to find the source of where they were getting in. In desperation I called our water company who came out the next day and found the source within 5 mins using drain cameras. As others have mentioned it was an unused drain that the builders had omitted to block off. We filled the drain with concrete and chicken wire and finally after 6 months were free of vermin. Good luck op!

It did get fixed eventually- contact your local council for advice. We had to get drain surveyors in and pest control. Eventually a new external soli pipe had to be put in.

How awful! You will need someone like Pestology to come and survey, then quote for rat-proofing. They are excellent. Good luck

the vast majority come from underground and dig up, relatively rare for them to come over ground and dig down
in my case we finally established it was a cracked drainage pipe that enabled them to tunnel to house wall then tunnel all the way along the house wall until they found the gap where another pipe came through the wall but had not been sealed properly so there was a space that gave them access to the underfloor void and, in our case, access to the inside of the box work around the internal soil pipe.
Took a while to understand the scratching sound was the rat climbing up inside the bathroom box work, not pigeons perched on the soil pipe above the roof.

Pest control eliminated them over the course of 5 weeks (as others say: oh boy, the smell under the floor !!!).
They did return, at which point we dug down to the cracked pipe (caused by cowboy driveway block pavers), had that repaired, along with digging along the tunnel to locate the gap in the wall.

Very unpleasant experience overall. One even got into the kitchen and destroyed wiring inside the boiler - shocking extra cost to have replacement wiring installed and no hot water until that was done.

We had this last year but couldn't figure out how they were getting in, nor could pest control. We had a drain survey done and they found debris in some old pipe work so cleared that out as they thought it might not be capped further up but it was. We have one way valves installed but that didn't seem to work initially. I'm Just praying they don't return this winter when looking for somewhere warm!

Ours were coming through roof tiles on an extension- we had to stuff all the gaps underneath

The rat man from the council put something very tasty in the eaves of my loft which killed it/them quickly. We never did work out how they were getting in, but we suspected from next door (was a semi). After the rat man, I invested in a slightly feral cat overlord who ensured the problem did not reoccur.

We had rat or rats and the pest control just put poison. The activity stopped and no foul smells so far. I live with joint walls to people who care 0 about others and who never dealt themselves or bothered with anything, sheds next to walls, rubbish in gardens, bushes, etc.

So far I am thanking God that the rats disappeared because I pray also

We filled every hole with wire wool. One say we caught 18, we had 25 traps
under the floorboards. It was hell for a while. We used Ferrero rocher in the traps, they bloody loved it.

We used Ferrero rocher in the traps, they bloody loved it.

We used sausage. They liked that too.

Our got in through air bricks where the ventilation part of the brick was plastic not actual brick. Replacing them was very cheap.

Got a cat, that solved it

Ours were coming along the terrace from an unoccupied and run down property according to the pest control company I got in. There were mice as well. It's likely all houses on the row had them. The company used tracking powder and identified where they were getting in, rodent proofed and then left traps to catch any that were not unable to leave. So far so good, that was last winter. I am listening for them now as the weather gets colder and they look for shelter. The problem house has since been renovated and someone has moved in so that should help there.

Soil stack is built inside a wall.. I get mice inside that wall <gnaw gnaw gnaw> ... little mouse gnaw is surprisingly loud. Traps in loft have never caught anything so TG, mice seems stuck in the wall, never gets above a certain height.

I had a house mouse in the kitchen (watched it scurry around...), I caught it & put in park across the road.

Can't figure out how they get in. I'm in a semi & could be entering via adjacent wall house.

Ours came in through the dishwasher 😭 Dd kept telling me she could hear running noises over her ceiling and I poo-pooed it.

The council pest controller wouldn’t come out as they “work from home” 😡 so paid Rentokil to have a look. They found 13 nests in the loft . We had all the (smelly and rat-wee sodden) insulation removed and the loft boarded. Also lots of traps round the house. Fingers crossed no more rats.

We had drain surveys both at our house and neighbours (Victorian drains all linked) and had rat flaps fitted in two separate places. We also located the entrance point and managed to cut some old redundant pipe work away (that hadn’t been properly capped off). It took months to solve.