Mice in the walls: removal in Plano

The sound is hard to miss once you notice it. A light scratching inside the wall behind the bed, or a quick run along the ceiling over the kitchen, usually after the house goes quiet. In most Plano houses that's house mice using the wall cavities as hallways between the garage, the kitchen and the attic.

Mice don't live in the drywall itself. They move through the gaps around pipes, wires and ducts, and they nest wherever they find soft material near food. Getting them out of the walls means finding where they get into the cavity, trapping them where they come out, and closing the gap.

Where mice get into Plano walls

In a slab house there's no crawl space, so mice reach the wall cavities from the garage, the attic or the plumbing. The usual routes:

• The shared wall between the garage and the house, along pipes and wiring
• The bottom plate behind the dishwasher, stove or fridge, where the plumbing comes up
• The attic, down through the top plate along wires and vent pipes
• The gap where the AC line set or gas line enters through the brick
• Behind the water heater closet

What a thorough job includes

Mice in walls take a little detective work. A complete job usually includes:

• Listening with you to pin down where the sound is loudest and when
• Checking the garage, kitchen, laundry and attic for droppings that show the route
• Traps placed where mice leave the wall: under sinks, behind appliances, in the attic and garage
• Gaps around pipes and wires sealed at both ends with mesh and sealant
• Exterior entry points closed so new mice can't reach the cavity
• A follow-up visit to confirm the noise has stopped

Step by step

The technician starts with questions. Which wall, what time, how long? Then they look for droppings in the places that connect to that wall: under the kitchen sink, behind the stove, in the garage along the shared wall and in the attic above. Droppings along a pipe tell them which path the mice use.

Traps go where mice come out of the wall, not inside it. Opening drywall is rarely needed. Once the noise drops, the technician seals the pipe and wire gaps inside the house and the entry points outside. Skipping the outside work is how the noise comes back next winter.

If the scratching stops and a smell starts, a mouse may have died in the cavity. The dead rodent removal page covers what happens then.

Why it's harder in Plano

Two-story Plano houses have long vertical wall runs and chases for plumbing and HVAC that connect the first floor to the attic. Mice can travel from the garage to the second-floor bathroom without ever being seen. Houses with a bonus room over the garage are especially prone, since the knee walls beside that room open straight into the garage attic. The Frisco page talks about the same layout in newer homes.

What not to do

Don't put poison in the attic or the walls. A poisoned mouse can die where you can't reach it. Don't drill holes and spray foam into the cavity either; it won't stop a mouse and makes the later sealing harder. The mice in walls article explains how to narrow down the spot before you call.

Narrow down the spot before you call

You can save the technician time, and yourself money, with a few nights of notes. Write down:

• Which wall or ceiling, and how high up the sound is
• What time it starts and stops
• Whether it moves along the wall or stays in one place
• Any droppings under the nearest sink or behind the nearest appliance
• Whether the wall backs onto the garage, a bathroom or the kitchen

Related reading

• Mice in the walls: how to find them and stop them
• Noises in the ceiling or walls at night: what's making them
• The best rat and mouse traps, and how to use them

Related services: Mouse Control, Entry Point Sealing, Dead Rodent Removal

Service areas: West Plano, East Plano, Downtown Plano, Legacy West and Legacy, Willow Bend, Los Rios, Hunters Glen, Deerfield, Russell Creek, Allen, Richardson, Murphy, Frisco, Wylie, Parker, Carrollton, The Colony.