Rodent Control in Downtown Overland Park

Downtown is the oldest part of the city. William B. Strang Jr. founded the town in 1905, and the depot at 80th and Santa Fe was the first building here. Today it's a mix of older houses, small shops, restaurants and newer apartments around Thompson Park and the Farmers' Market.

That mix shapes what people call about. The older houses on the side streets have the gaps that come with age, so most calls from there are for trapping house mice. The restaurants and shops along Santa Fe have food, back doors and shared walls. The newer apartment buildings have trash rooms and a lot of coming and going.

Detached Garages Off the Alleys Near 80th Street

A lot of the houses near downtown went up in the decades after World War II. Small ranches and story-and-a-halfs with block or poured foundations are common, many with a detached garage off an alley or at the end of a long side driveway. Over the years the sill plates shift, mortar cracks and old utility holes get left open, and a mouse doesn't need much room. Those detached garages often have little or no seal at the bottom of the door, which makes them a quiet first stop before the mice move into the house.

The lots are smaller and closer together than down in south OP, so mice go yard to yard easily. Mature trees drop seeds and nuts all fall. The streets just north and west of downtown share the same story as north Overland Park's older neighborhoods, and most of them need sealing around old foundations and pipes sooner or later.

• Check where the old gas and water lines enter the basement
• Look at the gap under the detached garage door
• Seal around window wells and old cellar windows

Rats Behind the Santa Fe Dr. Storefronts

Downtown businesses share walls and alleys, so rodents move from one unit to the next. The dumpster areas behind the Santa Fe storefronts draw rats, and the alleys give them a path from the dumpsters into backyards. Sealing one suite while the one next door stays open just moves the problem over a wall. Business owners usually go with a commercial rodent program with locked exterior stations and a service log.

Homeowners a block or two off Santa Fe should watch for burrows along the shed and the garage slab, and for droppings the size of a raisin. That's Norway rat work, and rats back here stay active most of the year, with more yard sightings in late summer when the gardens and compost are full.

October in the Old Town

Calls from downtown pick up in October, when mice move from yards and alleys into older basements and garages. If you can, walk the house in late summer and look at the foundation line, the old pipe holes and the garage door. Our guide on the fall mouse season has a short checklist. Neighbors just north in Mission and Merriam deal with the same older houses and busy retail strips.

Around Downtown Overland Park: Santa Fe Dr. · 80th Street · Thompson Park · Overland Park Farmers' Market · Matt Ross Community Center · Strang Hall (ZIP 66204, 66212)

Also serving North Overland Park, South Overland Park and Blue Valley, Corporate Woods and College Blvd, Leawood, Lenexa, Olathe, Prairie Village, Shawnee, Mission and Merriam.