Attic Rat Removal and Cleanup in Louisville

Norway rats would rather stay low, but they climb when they have a reason. In Louisville that reason is usually a tree limb hanging on the roof, a vine on the brick, or an easy path up through the wall of an old house with no fire blocking. Mice go up even more often. Whichever it is, an attic full of droppings and torn insulation needs two things: the animals gone and the mess cleaned.

Since roof rats aren't common in Kentucky, an attic in Louisville with rodent noise is more often mice or a Norway rat that found a way up. Squirrels make attic noise too, mostly in the daytime. Tell us what time of day you hear it.

Signs it's rodents in the attic

Night noise is the big one: scratching, running, something being dragged. Squirrels are up and moving early in the morning and quiet at night. Rats and mice are the reverse. Other signs:

• Droppings on the attic floor, on top of insulation or along the top plates
• Tunnels and flattened trails through blown-in insulation
• Chewed wire jackets or a chewed bathroom fan duct
• A urine smell at the attic hatch or from the ceiling vents
• Stains on the ceiling below the eaves

Old houses, open walls

Many houses built before the 1930s in the Highlands, Crescent Hill and Old Louisville have open stud bays that run from the basement to the attic. Builders back then didn't put blocks of wood between floors the way they do now. A rat or mouse that gets into the basement can climb inside the wall all the way up. That's why the tech may start in the basement even though the noise is overhead.

Two-and-a-half story houses also have knee-wall spaces and little attic pockets behind the upstairs closets. Those need checking too. In newer houses, the usual route is a gap at a roof return or a soffit, or a limb touching the roof.

The cleanup

Cleanup comes after the rodents are out and the entry points are closed. Otherwise you clean twice. A light case can be spot cleaning: droppings and nests wetted down with disinfectant, picked up and bagged, and the area treated. A heavy one can mean bagging out soiled insulation, sanitizing the attic floor and blowing in new insulation. Ask who handles the new insulation and how they protect the rooms below.

The CDC's advice for rodent droppings is the same for homeowners and pros: don't sweep or vacuum them dry, wet them with disinfectant first, and wear gloves. Our droppings guide goes through it. If a smell is coming from one spot and won't go away, something may have died up there. See dead rat and odor removal.

Price depends on the size of the attic, how bad it is, whether insulation comes out and how hard it is to get in. A scuttle hole in a closet ceiling is slower work than a walk-up attic. The company quotes it after they look.

Related: Rat Proofing and Exclusion, Dead Rat and Odor Removal, Mouse Control

Serving Old Louisville, The Highlands, Germantown, Crescent Hill and Clifton, St. Matthews, Jeffersontown, Middletown, Prospect, Shively, Okolona, Pleasure Ridge Park and Valley Station.