Category: Pest Control

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Pest-Proofing Cast Iron Doorstep Grilles

Pest-proof Cast Iron Doorstep Grilles

The very thought of rodents such as mice entering our homes is enough to send shivers down the spine.  After all, although they might be cute and friendly, no one wants to share their home with a mouse, right?

And, one of the best ways to deter mice from entering your property is to block any gaps and entry points where they can access your property, clear up areas where they may build a nest, identify any food sources and invest in pest-proofing solutions. Remember, mice have incredibly soft skeletons and they are renowned for squeezing through the smallest and tightest gaps (that includes cast iron doorstep grilles) in search of both food and shelter.

We’ve created a helpful guide outlining everything that you need to know about doorstep vents / doorstep grilles to stop mice from stepping foot through your front door!

What are doorstep grilles?

First and foremost, what are doorstep grilles? Doorstep grilles are also known as air vents and are distinguishable due to their holes in brickwork or cast iron, which are designed to allow air to enter under the floor of buildings that have suspended floors. They come in a range of different designs and are generally found under the front door.

By having air circulating through doorstep vents freely into the cavity beneath floorboards, it means that cold or damp air does not remain in these spaces. This is incredibly important as if the timbers used in joists and floorboards are exposed to damp, they are more likely to rot and cause other structural damage.

Doorstep grilles are extremely common in Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian homes, which is why they come in lots of different shapes and sizes due to the nature of older properties.

Types of cast iron doorstep grilles

There are a number of different types of cast iron doorstep grilles available including the following:

Doorstep Grilles

Available in different widths, doorstep grilles provide the ideal solution for supplying air for ventilating underneath hallways. These grilles are also best suited to period properties, halls or manners, and can be shorted to 30 inches if required.

 Westminster Vents

Made from cast iron and with their elegant Victorian church design that will enhance any interior or exterior setting, Westminster vents are best suited to period properties and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Daisy Gratings

Elegant and aesthetically pleasing, Daisy Gratings are the perfect option for supplying air for ventilating purposes underneath hallways. They can also be used  for vent or drainage grilles in period properties, manors and halls . Avaialble in a wide range of sizes and finishes.

Slotted Gratings

Slotted Gratings are incredibly versatile and can be used in a wide range of modern and traditional properties. One of the main benefits of this type of grille is that it can be cut to order, which means it can be designed to accommodate the bespoke needs of your property.

Lattice Gratings

Perfectly equipped to supply air for ventilating underneath hallways or for vent or drainage grilles for period properties, manors and halls , Lattice Gratings are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. And, you will certainly be in good company if you choose this type of grille as it has been used for the Queen’s residence at Buckingham Palace, meaning it lends itself perfectly  for installation in period properties and listed buildings.

What are the downsides to doorstep vents?

One of the major downsides of doorstep vents is that their holes are large enough for mice and pests to squeeze through, which is why people turn to the MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard in order to tackle this issue.

How to pest-proof my doorstep vent

 The good news is that if you do have a doorstep grille, you can pest proof it by investing in the MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard – the latest pest-proofing solution developed by MouseMesh®.

Far more humane than using mouse traps or poison or glue traps to tack rodent issues, the MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard covers the doorstep vent with a 3mm stainless steel woven mesh system in order to deter mice from entering your property. At the same time, the MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard will also prevent slugs, wasps, cockroaches and help against other pest from entering your property via the doorstep vent.

Expertly developed to stop pests from entering your property through doorstep vents, especially in Victorian homes, the MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard can also easily be cut to size.

Providing you with peace of mind that mice and other pests have no clear route into your home, the MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard comes complete with high performance bonding tape which is already attached to the back of the frame. Find out more by watching the video below or watch our how-to video by scrolling further down.

If you are looking for further information about how to install our MouseMesh® Doorstep Vent Guard, check out our video here.

And remember, if you have air bricks around your property, you can also opt to install MouseMesh® Air Brick Covers to stop mice entering via air bricks. Available in three different sizes and six different colours, these air brick covers have been designed to provide an effective deterrent, without impacting on the aesthetic appeal of your home. All of our covers come complete with easy to follow instructions for a straight forward fitting.

The MouseMesh® Air Brick Cover can also be fitted over air brick vents that are damaged, saving you from having to replace the actual air brick and, with absolutely no interruption to air flow.

Where to buy MouseMesh Doorstep Vent from?

 You can buy MouseMesh® directly from our website MouseMesh.com or from other DIY stores and garden centres that sell our MouseMesh® products over the counter. These include Travis Perkins, Buildbase and Jewsons.

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Child Safety Week 2021: Mums’ Choice for Pest Prevention

June 7th through the 13th is Child Safety Week.

For mums, it is just one week out of a lifetime they spend caring for and ensuring the safety of their children.

Here at MouseMesh we received a testimonial so touching that we reached out to the mum who wrote it. We wanted to hear more about the emotional and psychological toll that having pests can take on a family…

Especially a parent…

“The fact of having mice or anything pest-related just sent me into a sheer panic,” Anna told us.

She felt things no mum should ever feel. Scared. Dirty. Ashamed. She couldn’t focus at work because all she could think about was mice. There were points when she didn’t even want to go home at the end of the day.

It was a constant battle.

“Sleeping was out of the question,” Anna said, “I was thinking of irrational things like the mice getting into our beds if we were sleeping and hurting the kids.”

Anna’s concerns are not irrational…

While it isn’t a common occurrence, mice, and rats in particular, have been known to climb into the cribs of sleeping children, drawn by the smell of milk, or any food left on their hands or faces.

Anna spoke about obsessively cleaning worktops and cutlery time after time because she was so afraid a mouse had urinated or scampered across the surface.

She was worried that her children, and now a new puppy would find and eat the poisons she was having to use.

She felt helpless, panicked, and exhausted.

A home should be a safe haven, and for Anna and so many other families suffering from a pest infestation, it was not.

Anna found MouseMesh and a pest controller who helped her find the right size to fit over her air brick vents.

“It was an area ruled out if anything did get in,” she said.

Anna sealed up a known point of entry, and the pest controller looked for and proofed any other spaces he could find. He also took care of the current pests so Anna didn’t have to place anymore poisons throughout her home.

“Discreet, smart, and affordable.”

“The peace of mind was instant,” Anna said, “For the first time in a long time I felt that my kids were safe. My house was clean! It finally smells fresh! I can have friends over and I don’t have to stress about them seeing a mouse dropping.”

The mental and physical strain of living with pests is real, and mums with kids feel it the most.

Help is out there! Don’t suffer in silence. Keep your loved ones safe and call your local pest controller to inspect and have MouseMesh air brick covers fitted to your home.

In honour of Child Safety Week, thank you for the testimonial, Anna! We’re so happy we could help.

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World Food Safety Day 2021: Pest-Proof Your Kitchen

Humane Mousetrap for Rats - RatMesh

“Safe food today for a healthy tomorrow.” This is the theme for World Food Safety Day 2021.

We are recognising the roles that pest prevention, pest control, and proper proofing equipment play in ensuring the safety of the food we feed our families, our friends, and our customers.

The World Health Organization estimates that 600 million people become ill due to a foodborne illness every year. Over 400,000 people die. Every year. From contaminated food or poor food handling practices.

We all have a story about bad food.

Contaminated food can contain viruses, bacteria, even parasites that can cause life-threatening diseases, especially in individuals with compromised immune systems or underlying conditions.

Food safety is nothing to take lightly…

So what can we do?

While most of us don’t have much say in how our food is handled before it ends up in our grocery stores, we do have a say in how it’s treated when it reaches our homes, grocers, and restaurants.

There are professionals we can turn to who can case our homes and businesses to make certain mice, rats, and insects can’t find their way in to dance their dirty feet all over Mum’s Yorkshire puddings.

The feces and urine of mice and rats carry diseases that are as nasty to contract as they are to say.

For example…

Leptospirosis – You can become infected with this through eating food or drinking water that has been contaminated by the urine of rodents.

Salmonellosis – Yep. Feces and urine again. People can get this by eating food or drinking water that’s been contaminated by an infected rodent.

These diseases are unsettling to think about. And there are steps you can take to reinforce your home or business against the animals that carry these bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

The right stuff…

Pest control and prevention specialists have the tools to assess a premises and shore up voids and points of entry. One of the main entry points happens to be very common, and easily remedied with MouseMesh Air Brick Vent Covers and Inbuilt Air Bricks.

Pest control professionals have efficient means to deal with an active infestation.  You will be spared lost time and expense due to an outbreak. Or the heartache of dealing with the social fallout from food contamination.

Anyone in the restaurant industry knows the stress caused by the health inspector’s visit. Imagine not having to deal with that because you know you don’t have a pest problem.

You’ve called your pest controller. They’ve installed MouseMesh air vent covers on your property. Sealed up the gaps in walls and around appliances. Dealt with any current pest issues.

World Food Safety Day doesn’t stop here.

Take proactive steps to protect your family, your business, and your food today, for a healthy tomorrow and beyond.

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World Pest Day: Recognising Pest Controllers

humane mouse control

Today is World Pest Day.

More accurately, it is World Pest Controller Day.

These professionals heed our call when our homes are invaded by pests like mice, rats, and insects.

It’s not just eradicating the pests themselves, but also the diseases and damage that they carry and inflict.

When you call a pest controller for help, you are taking steps to protect your family and your property. The professional will crawl into your home’s cracks and crannies, duck and dodge rafters and insulation in your loft, and paw through the hedges and bushes to find every space a rodent or insect could fit through.

They will go places you never dreamed you’d have to go. They will know your house better than you do by the time they’re done.

And this is exactly what you want. You’re delivering your home into the hands of pest proofing physicians and they will find the places that disease and damage are creeping in.

The pest controllers will proof your home from the outside, in. Once they’ve secured the perimeter, they will systematically work through the interior, efficiently eliminating the infestation. A return visit will ensure the methods are working and your home is pest-free.

So here’s to you. The pest controllers working to keep our families and our residences safe. Thank you for getting dirty. Thank you for going the extra mile. And thank you for making a house a home.

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Pest Control Professionals on the Front Line

It takes an army to battle a pest problem. Enlist the help of pest control professionals to tackle the problem.

On The Job

A pest infestation is overwhelming and frustrating, but a solution is just a phone call away.  Help will come in the form of pest controllers who will be armed with the tools to identify how the animals or insects are gaining access. The professionals will have the means to deal with and remove the current pests, and fortify your home against future invasions.

Mice, rats, and insects are insidious creatures. They’re able to sniff out even the most unassuming little crack in your armor. From broken or large-diameter air bricks to a door or window that doesn’t fit in its frame like it used to, they will find their way in. Many times their ingress is as innocuous as the tiny hole in the concrete that feeds in electric cables or plumbing.

A Solid Investment

For as long as humans and animals are living amongst each other, there will be potential for a pest problem. It’s important to involve the professionals so they can isolate the points of entry first and foremost, so the animals can’t continue to find their way in. The pest controllers can then strategize how best to remove the colony or infestation as efficiently as possible.  It’s better to pay for the advice of a professional early on than face the damage and misery of an infestation in the future. Prevention and proofing are key.

Proof and Prevent

MouseMesh has identified air bricks as being a main entry point for mice and rats, as the rodents are able to fit through a space the diameter of a pencil, and are voracious chewers capable of gnawing through traditional plastic air bricks. MouseMesh Air Brick Vent Covers are easily installed by your pest controller and are a valuable component of your pest prevention plan or treatment.

Invest in the advise of pest control professionals when implementing a pest control plan. Your family, home, and wallet will thank you.

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Got Mice? 3 Easy Signs of a Rodent Infestation

Does your home smell a bit “off?” Are you wiping the counters after dinner, only to see a mouse dropping here or there in the morning? What about that scratching and squeaking in the walls at night? You could be seeing the first signs of a rodent infestation, so now is the time to act quickly!

There are some red flags to look out for when it comes to these uninvited guests in your home.  Look out for these three easy signs of a rodent infestation.

Smell

No matter how many air fresheners you use, you can’t seem to get rid of that “smell.” Mice urinate frequently to mark their territories, and their urine has a very ammonia-like smell. Often the scent is strongest when the nest is nearby. Mice also leave droppings in seemingly endless quantities because they have to eat and chew constantly. According to this article published by LiveScience, the omnivorous nature of mice attributes to their mostly plant-based diets and frequent pit-stops.

Sight

Mice will make cozy nests for themselves and their offspring with materials like paper, fabric, and other fibrous matter. If you see bathroom tissue that’s been shredded, or bits of plaster that look to have been chewed, these are signs of an impending rodent infestation. It means they’ve found your house hospitable and are looking to move in!

If the ordinarily nocturnal creatures become comfortable in your home, you could see them during the day, boldly scampering along the floorboards. Mice typically take the same path time and time again, until they have it memorised. You can look for signs like urine staining and streaks, and the musty odor will be stronger as you close in on the nest site.

Sound

Very little is more disturbing than being woken up at night by scratching and squeaking in your bedroom walls. If you hear mice squeaking, they’re definitely calling to one another. They’re very communicative animals, just like humans. When you find a great restaurant, the first thing you do is tell your friends and family. Mice do the same thing when they discover a delicious morsel in the kitchen, or a particularly snuggly bit of insulation to nest in. An article in EarthWise explains that mice “make sounds to express emotions and to communicate where another friendly rodent can find food sources, water, and shelter.”

What you can do

By the time these signs become apparent, mice and rodents have already made your house a home. It’s time to take action before it gets much worse. Contact your local pest controller to implement a pest control plan and install MouseMesh Air Brick Vent Covers as part of your proofing treatment.  Stop animals at the door, and prevent them from becoming pests.

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How to Save Money and Property with Pest Control

Humane Mousetrap for Rats - RatMesh

Mice and other rodents make very expensive houseguests when they overstay their welcome. The diseases mice and rats carry, the food contamination they perpetrate, and the damage they cause will hold a hefty price tag when you’re faced with potential illness, repairs, and replacement of damaged property. What types of damage do rodents and pests cause, and how can you save your money and property with pest control?

What Rodents Leave Behind

Rodents will scamper over and chew open foodstuffs, leaving droppings and urine behind to mark their territories. Mouse and rat droppings and urine can carry diseases like Salmonella, Leptospirosis, Lymphocytic Chorio-meningitis, and Rat-bite Fever. These bacteria and viruses often require medical attention, which could be delayed as we fight this current pandemic.

The teeth of mice and rats grow constantly, which requires them to chew incessantly to maintain their tooth length. They’ll gnaw on anything, from your Persian rug to electrical wiring to pipes and flooring. This is an annoyance, or it is life-threatening. Mice have been to blame for structure fires after chewing wires and power cords, and have caused flooding after gnawing through plumbing and pipes.

Who Can You Turn To?

Pest controllers. These professionals will assess your home to identify locations of ingress, advise you on treatments, and carry out the necessary removal of the pests. They will install preventative measures like MouseMesh’s Air Brick Vent Covers to guard against pests entering your property through existing air bricks. The pest controllers will shore up voids and spaces around doors, windows, pipes, and cables to ensure your home is fortified against a future infestation.

If you decide to take the problem on yourself using traps or poisons, you may be faced with the animal dying in an inaccessible place, like behind a wall or under floorboards. In this case, a professional may be called to gain access to that space and remove the deceased animal.

The cost of replacing and repairing property depends on the extent of damage. If pests keep entering your home or workplace, you’ll be looking at repeating those same costs time after time. Depending on where the damage is, a homeowner or landlord could face a complete rewire or entirely new plumbing. Insurance will not cover the costs if the tenant is found responsible.  This is an unnecessary expense; funds that could be spent elsewhere, on far more enjoyable things.

The good news is that there is a cost-effective, humane answer to this predicament.

The founder and inventor of MouseMesh is a master builder with a big heart who has seen first-hand the damage, frustration, and loss resulting from such a preventable problem. He innovated MouseMesh to provide a compassionate, affordable, long-term solution for pest control.

Return on Investment

MouseMesh air brick vent covers range in price each from £6.95 exc. VAT to £10.95. With homes having between three and 23 vents, the average homeowner or landlord will spend approximately £300.00 to solve a problem at the source. RatMesh vent covers are a stainless steel investment against the most vigorous chewers at £12.95 to £21.95.

The MouseMesh PestBrick Air Bricks  are the answer to pest control and prevention in new builds. At £14.95 each for stainless steel faceplates, and £11.95 for the durable plastic, a newly constructed building or residence doesn’t have to experience a pest problem in the first place. The solution is built in.

Why not stop an infestation in its tracks. Speak to a pest controller or builder near you about installing MouseMesh on your existing vents or building it directly into your new premises, and just be done with the pest stress.

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Mouse and Pest Prevention: Proofing Your Property Investment

Building A Humane Future

Are you in the market for a new home, selling your existing home, or building a new residence? There are some things to consider with regards to mice, rats, and other undesirable critters possibly setting up shop in your premises. Invest in pest control and prevention. Work with your local pest controller to customise a pest prevention plan.  

MouseMesh® has developed a kind and caring new solution to mitigate the risk of mice and pests entering newly built properties. By proactively installing controls to stop a problem before it starts, time, money, and your property can be saved. 

Consider that some insurance policies are invalidated by the presence of rats and mice on your property. This means you will not be covered in the event that pests chew through wires, walls,  or expensive furniture. A recent 2020 article on Coverage.com explains that “Insurance companies see most occurring pest infestation as a result of poor maintenance upkeep. The thought process is that if the homeowner took proper care of their property, infestations would not have occurred.”

Additionally, if you’re looking to sell your property and there is evidence of pests, you may be faced with, “on average, a 9% decrease in asking price”, according to an article in The Guardian. On a home listed for £300,000, chop off about £27,000 if you’ve got unwanted guests living in your walls. Emoov.com has observed that “60% of people would be deterred from buying a property due to the presence of household pests.”

Stop Mice Entering Home

If you’re building a new home, office, or warehouse, consider the long-term peace of mind that will come with knowing pests, their damage, and their disease are not going to be part of your life.  

Introducing the PestBrick. MouseMesh®’s latest humane mouse and pest prevention innovation can be seamlessly installed as a new build is constructed. The PestBrick is designed to be mortared into the wall just like a traditional air brick.  Its two-part modular structure allows for single or stacked assembly to achieve necessary airflow requirements. The faceplate of the PestBrick comes in six different interchangeable colours so functionality and style are never compromised. Considerate of levelling up, the design features nesting spacers along the housing to adhere to building standards. In keeping with our original design, the faceplates are equipped with 2mm by 2mm stainless steel mesh to provide true protection against the ingress of mice, rats, insects and other unwanted pests.  Bearing in mind the effect that rodents and pests have on the probability of resale value of a home and the lack of insurance coverage for pest-related damage, installing award-winning MouseMesh® PestBrick in new homes and estates can be reassuring to buyers and estate managers that their premises is secure.   

By incorporating humane preventative measures, you can build and live with confidence that your home is protected against mice, rat, insect and other pest infestation.

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Pest Control – Pests in New Buildings

Pest Control New Build Homes - MouseMesh Air Brick Covers

Most problems have a solution, the challenge is finding it.

Innovation is about utilising new ideas to solve existing problems and introduce effective solutions. The concept and delivery of 21st-century pest control solutions for the building industry is now becoming a reality. Our investment in developing new unique and innovative products is enabling Architects, planners and property developers to consider pest control as an integral part of their planning and design.

The ingress of pests in new buildings continues to be a health hazard and prevention is the only effective solution. However preventative measures can also be aesthetically pleasing when incorporated with innovative design, coupled with the motivation to provide products which offer the building industry the opportunity to build pests out and in doing so, bring real benefits to human health.

Pests can only infest a building if they gain entry and survive and breed in it. To minimise opportunities for pests it is essential that the design of new build properties and refurbishments does not create points of pest ingress. There is a real need for architects, planners and builders to recognise and minimise the risk of pest infestation and disease transmission within new developments and ensure that they do not create conditions that encourage and support Pest infestations.

Air bricks are one potential area for pests to gain entry, so use our MouseMesh inbuilt air bricks or air brick covers to keep mice, rats, slugs and many other pests out.
Buy our mouse control products online

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Humane Mousetrap: Did you know?

Humane Mousetrap - MouseMesh

Ralph Waldo Emerson didn’t say it!

“Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door” is a phrase attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson in the late nineteenth century. The phrase is actually a misquotation of the statement:

If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods.

In 1889, seven years after Emerson’s death, came the invention of the current standard of mousetraps. That same year Emerson was quoted as saying:

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap than his neighbour…”

The phrase has turned into a metaphor about the power of innovation, and is frequently taken literally, with more than 4,400 patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for new mousetraps, with thousands more unsuccessful applicants, making them the “most frequently invented device in U.S. history”.

Source: Wikipedia

The world isn’t beating a path to Tony Carr’s door but sales of MouseMesh indicate that many people are buying MouseMesh Air Brick Vent Covers, invented by Tony. The main reason is that MouseMesh is a humane mouse (and rat) deterrent, designed to keep your home pest-free.

Compare MouseMesh with non-humane pest control devices.

Buy our mouse control products online