Vinyl siding, when first installed is a fantastic treat for your home. It lasts much longer, is cheap and easily replaceable, comes in every colour in the rainbow and just looks darn good. However, this siding is not perfect. Being that it is made of a polymer, a plastic sheet made of molecules bound by ether or ester molecules it can be damaged by things like UV rays from the sun and rapid movements from cold to hot. This can cause the siding to buckle and warp, making it less sheer and opening holes and entryways that small things can enter. When the siding is warped and rippled like this, climbing it becomes much easier, for all types of invaders from cockroaches to squirrels. But mice are especially problematic. Mice can smell the food in your kitchen from outside of the house, so much so that they are desperate to enter any home that has dirty dishes, open garbage or a home where cooking happens frequently. If your mother makes breakfast lunch and dinner every day from scratch then it can be assumed that mice are pining for it and will be quick to enter the home through a gap in the vinyl siding. Remember, mice can condense themselves and enter a hole as small as a quarter.
While house mice rarely try to climb things, they prefer to enter through an open door or into the garage, but if the need calls for it they will climb and chew their way into your home. They cannot go very high, they are not wild mice anymore and have given up their ability to climb and jump for the ability to hide in plain sight. If your grass is overgrown, even by a little bit, mice can hide in it. If you have bushes or gardens against the walls of your home then these can be used by mice to hide while they chew an opening into your home. If you feed your pet outside or have BBQs and outdoor dinner parties you will be attracting mice to your property. Any food on your property and stored improperly in your home will attract mice.
If you have a severe mouse infestation then you can help resolve it on your own. Don’t feed pets or children outside and if you do make sure they do not make a mess. Seal all the food in your kitchen and glass and thick strong plastic with sealing lids. You can also move any bushes or gardens from the sides of your home and mow the lawn nice and short. This will take away the mouse’s ability to hide in plain sight while trying to get into your home. Do not leave doors open to the outside and make sure you store your garbage in tightly sealed containers in a garage with a door that is weather-stripped and meets the ground firmly. You can also purchase snap traps and domestic grade rodenticide bait that will be very effective in controlling and exterminating the infestation.
