ANIMAL IN MY DRYER VENT OR AIR DUCT - HOW TO GET IT OUT

It is quite common for rodents and animals to enter into our houses and rest there. Birds, squirrels, mouse, and other rodents come in order to protect and hide themselves from the chilly wind of winters, scorching heat of summers or stormy weather. Mostly, these animals crawl back into the silent and dark corners of the house and end up by getting trapped inside. Usually, they enter through vents, air ducts, and other such ways and get stuck there. But the biggest and toughest challenge is to detect the exact place and find them out. It is important to find the rodent, squirrels, and mouse in ductwork as they can also cause infection. Confirming that there are rodents in your air ducts is pretty easy: If they are alive, you will hear scratching sounds inside your walls or above your ceiling as they scurry around (shudder). If they are dead, you will get the unpleasant experience of having the decaying smell fill up your home (especially when turning on the heater). If they have gotten into your closets, you’ll notice that some of the items you have in storage have been chewed on. And of course, the most obvious of all signs: mouse droppings. If you are dealing with rats, you also may see yellow stains seeping through your ceiling. Yes, that is rat urine. If you have been lucky to bypass that experience but have seen what appear to be little nests made out insulation in your home’s crawl space, you have rodents in there. Animals in air ducts can cause a lot of damage in problems down the road, so it’s best to prevent this from happening in the first place. Of course, if it is already too late for that it’s time for a game plan to get the pests gone (and keep them away). If you want to keep animals out of your air ducts, or think you already have them and want to know what to do about it, below are the ways to go about it:

SEAL OFF THEIR ENTRY POINTS

In most cases mice and other rodents will enter the house first before finding their way into the ductwork. So seal off those places where they are entering. It may be cracks in the foundation or rotten window frames around basement windows. The soffits on your home may be rotten and birds and squirrels may be entering that way. Alternatively, it could be the vent hood on the outside of the house has been compromised. Whatever the problem, fix it.

USE A TRAP

If you have a strong stomach to do it yourself, go get a flashlight, gloves, a screwdriver, mousetraps, and bits of food to lure the critters to the traps. Make sure to shut off power to your AC system before getting started (in addition to turning off the thermostat, also turn off the power breaker that supplies your air conditioner).

HAVE THE DUCTWORK SEALED

Once animals have made it into the house, they then find a way into the ductwork. In some cases, they exploit gaps between sections of ductwork. In other cases, they enter the HVAC unit in the basement and crawl up through it to the ducts. These situations can be avoided by having the ductwork inspected and any gaps or weak points fixed. The furnace/air conditioning unit can also be effectively sealed against intruders without too much fuss or expense.

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