Hi Bill.
I had some mouse problems in my garage, and I found the real
problem to be that the framing around the car doors was
not sealed at the ground level. The mice were coming in
around the sides of the door. Keep in mind that it only takes
a hole the size of the mouse's skull for him to squeeze through.
I also found mice in the sheetrock of the walls that are warmed
by the house. After cleaning out the nests, I ran roof flashing
aound the bottom of the walls to keep the little critters from
chewing into it again. If you make a narrow bend in the flashing
along its length, it will not be easily bent if it's bumped.
Tuck the bend under the edge of the sheetrock.
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I did in fact replace the 7x8 doors with the cheapest Clopay
doors from Home Depot, and this probably helped too. They
have been up for about two years now, and work great.
Be sure to add the recommended bracing if you have an opener!
The doors are steel with a large flexible seal at the bottom.
If the sill of the garage opening is reasonably level, they
should work well to keep out the mice.
Jim
--- "William M. Gilroy" <wmgilroy@lucent.com> wrote:
>
>
> I am in need of a new garage door for my house. The door is for
> a single car garage. The current door is a really thin fiberglass
> and it has several cracks and the seal at the bottom is shot. That
> is allowing mice into the garage. Just tonight I found a nest in
> the trunk of my Midget, the wife heard a mouse in the attic (and
> it really wigged her out.) So I set some traps and about 2 hours
> later we hear my dog, Charlie Chan the wonder Shar-Pei crashing
> into the kitchen cabinets. By the time I get there I see him
> swallow a mouse. This further wigs out the wife. In the process
> of smashing his head under the cabinet to get the mouse he busted
> open 3 cuts, one that might need to be stitched close. This further
> annoyed the wife. So as I was sitting on the floor cleaning out
> the dogs cuts and stopping the bleeding, he barfs up one half chewed
> mouse into my lap. Now I am wigged out. Now it really time for a
> new garage door, I have reached my limit.
>
> Since I am hoping to move in about one year I don't want the worlds
> best door, and a roll up door is out. The door must be paintable to
> match the house.
>
> I guess my choices are a wood door or an insulated door. I do not want
> any windows. It must have a mouse proof seal at the bottom and at
> the edges. Is there anything I should take into account when
> shopping the door. Any recommendations. Type of weather stripping
> around the door?
>
> -----
> Bill Gilroy
> 77 Midget
> 90 Shar-Pei (who has to stay)
>
=====
James A. Babcock, Software Engineer (jbabcoc@yahoo.com)
Realtime Embedded Systems Specialist pager: (703) 706-8722
'80 Triumph TR7 '87 Dodge Dakota 4x4
'99 Nissan Sentra SE '92 Honda Accord LX
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