Key Tips to Keep Mice and Pests from Invading Your Garage

Even if you’re a confirmed animal lover, mice and other rodents shouldn’t be welcomed into your garage. They’re adorable, sure. However, they can also cause an immense amount of damage. Mice can and do chew through everything from wood to plastic. They can also damage the wiring to your garage door opener, which would make it pretty tough to get in or out of the garage.

Another challenge here is simply the speed at which mice can reproduce – every 21 days, a female mouse can give birth to up to 14 pups. Within six weeks, those pups are adults and are breeding families of their own. In just a single year, you could go from having a pair of mice to over 5,000 mice in your home.

Getting rid of a mouse infestation can be challenging and costly. Prevention is the best option. To give you the best fighting chance against mice and other rodent pests that would love to colonize your garage, we’ve listed some of the top pest-proofing solutions (and most are non-lethal).

However, bear in mind two things while you read – organization and insulation. We’ll return to those later and they’re important to achieving the right result.

Got Mice? Start Here

Have you noticed signs of mice in your garage already? If that’s the case, you need to eliminate them first and then worry about mouse-proofing the garage later.

What can you do? It’s a tough situation. If you put out traps or poison, you could harm your pets.

There’s also the fact that these are lethal solutions – harming the mice in your home might not be an option you want to entertain.

If you have mice and want a non-lethal solution, practice patience. Chances are good that they’ll move outdoors once the weather warms up. If you’re able to cut off all food sources and make the garage an active place for the family, you may discourage them from returning.

There are other things to consider. For instance, if you think there’s just one mouse, a humane mouse trap won’t harm it and will allow you to relocate the mouse somewhere else. Peanut butter works well as bait, and once you’ve caught the mouse, take it at least a mile from your home before you release it.

Mice can infiltrate anywhere, even places we don’t expect them to.

If you own a cat, let them into the garage every now and then. There’s a good chance that they’ll catch the mouse (note that this is also a lethal option).

Finally, if you have mice, you can fool their senses and limit their spread through the garage and into your home. White vinegar, peppermint, and other natural options can confuse their sense of smell. If you know a few mice already live in your garage, you can keep them away from the important things by toying with their senses.

However, don’t count on these tactics to be a permanent solution. They’re not. Mice will eventually find a way around them. So, once they’re out, you need to take steps to prevent them from getting back in. It’s pest-proofing time.

Crank Up the Hostility

It’s important to understand that mice are attracted to your garage because it’s a welcoming environment. By cranking up the hostility, you can reduce the chance that they’ll come back. How do you do that, though?

● Cut the Clutter: Is your garage disorganized and cluttered? Mice love hiding places and will flock to a disorganized garage.

● Food Sources: Do you store dog or cat food or even birdseed in the garage? Seal it tight to cut off food sources.

● Trash the Trash: Your trash is an incredible enticement to mice. Keep it out of your garage.

● Store Your Wood: Do you burn wood to stay warm? Store it somewhere other than the garage.

● Sweep It Up: Make time regularly to sweep the garage and check for signs of mice, like droppings.

Insulate and Prevent Recursion

In previous steps, we moved the mice out and made the environment less welcoming. Now it’s time to repel their next attack. A few steps are all you’ll need.

Trim Back Trees

First, look around the home’s exterior. Do you see any trees with branches that touch the roof? Cut those branches off.

This is a prime avenue for squirrels and other pests to reach your roof and then get into the attic and the garage. Keep branches as far from the roof as you can because squirrels can jump up to nine feet.

Insulate Your Walls

Mineral wool or foam insulation can help you prevent mice and other pests from entering your home. Our recommendation is polyurethane spray foam, but other types will work. Make sure the gaps in the walls are completely filled to prevent mice from being able to make their nests there.

Insulating your walls, whether with mineral wool or foam, will prevent mice and other small animals from nesting there.

Unlike other options, spray foam is not rigid. That means mice could, in theory, go through it with ease. However, because this foam contains nothing they can eat or use as bedding/nest material, that should not be a problem.

It is important to insulate your walls to prevent rodents to make their nests in.

There’s also the fact that mice love sugar, and polyurethane foam is bitter. A few bites may be enough to convince all but the most desperate that this is not the place for them. You can even find polyurethane spray foam that includes a rodent repellent for additional protection.

The Tiniest Cracks…

Mice and other rodents are masters of finding ways through most materials, but they cannot chew through metal. Metal siding is a great form of protection for your home, but even that will have its gaps. Make sure you check your walls and floors – even the tiniest crack could allow mice in.

There are many ways to fill in those small holes. Spray foam is one option, although mice will eventually chew through them. A more permanent option is to fill them in with something harder – concrete is a great option or finding ways to cover gaps with metal will work.

You also need to consider your garage door, which could be a huge hole in your defenses.

Does your garage door not sit flush against the concrete? Does it have holes in it? It’s definitely time for a replacement.

Understanding Your Options in Garage Doors

Deciding on a new garage door is rarely a simple thing. You’ll need to consider several factors – aesthetic, color, thickness, insulation, windows, and so much more. In this case, you will also need to consider the door’s ability to withstand rodents.

Let’s make this simple: avoid wooden garage doors and opt for metal. Wood will eventually give way before the rodent onslaught, but steel and aluminum will hold their own.

The door’s insulation level also matters. That’s important not just for rodent resistance, but for the ability to maintain the temperature in your garage.

You’ll find that our garage doors are manufactured from galvanized steel, which is far too tough for mice and other rodents to chew through.

The R-16 and R-12 garage doors, as well as the Standard+, Townships Collection, and the Acadia 138, all feature polyurethane foam injected at high pressure between the inner and outer metal sheeting to help make it impossible for mice to make their nests inside the metal structure.

We can see here how our insulated our R-16 door, with polyurethane foam.

It’s not just strength and insulation that make our doors stand-out options, though. They are designed just for your garage, and the weatherstripping we include helps prevent airflow in or out of the garage. Of course, that also means mice can’t scurry under, either.

It’s Time for a Change!

Is your garage door compromising your security against rodents? It’s time for a change. Get in touch with us at Norwood Door Systems You can call us today at 781-769-8988 or reach us via our website.

Not sure about your options? You can explore doors by price or by their style. You can choose to create a unique model if you prefer.

Feel free to reach out for a quotation by email.