Garage and Shed Rodent Control in Overland Park

The attached garage is the front door for a lot of Overland Park mice. It's warm-ish in winter, it's full of boxes, and plenty of us keep the bird seed, grass seed and dog food out there. Once mice are living in the garage, the step into the house is a short one, and pretty soon you need mouse control inside too.

Sheds and detached workshops are their own problem. A shed on a gravel or dirt base near the fence line or a creek greenway gives rodents cover year round. Rats like to burrow under them, which is when Norway rat control comes into it. Mice nest in the stacked patio cushions.

Daylight Under the Garage Door

Most OP garages share a wall with the house and have a door into the kitchen or mudroom. That's why garage mice become kitchen mice. Three-car garages, common south of I-435, have more seals and more corners to wear out. Stand inside with the lights off on a sunny afternoon and look at the bottom of each door. Then look for these:

• Droppings on shelves or along the wall behind the chest freezer
• Chewed bags of seed or pet food
• Nesting in the car's air filter box or under the hood
• Scratching in the garage ceiling at night
• Gnaw marks along the bottom of a shed door, or burrows under it

The Shed by the Back Fence

Outbuildings at the back of the lot see the most traffic, especially when the lot backs onto Indian Creek, Tomahawk Creek or a wooded common area. A busy shed works like a staging area, and clearing it out cuts down on how many rodents try the house each fall. Big lots in Leawood often have a pool house and a detached garage on top of the shed, and wooded lots in Shawnee are similar. More buildings, more to check.

Pool houses are a special case. They sit closed up from Labor Day to Memorial Day, so mice get months of peace in the towels and the cushions. Open it up once or twice over the winter and take a look around. Hardware cloth skirting buried a few inches into the soil around the base closes the gap underneath. Get stored stuff up off the floor and keep the woodpile on a rack. Our guide to wood piles, feeders and creek lots has more on the yard side.

What the Tech Checks, and What You Can Do This Weekend

The technician starts at the overhead doors: bottom seal, the corners where the door meets the tracks, the weatherstrip on the sides. Then the walls behind shelving, the spot where the garage meets the house and the door into the kitchen. Outside, they walk the sheds looking for burrows, gnaw marks and gaps under the floor. Traps go along the walls and behind stored items. If bait is used, it goes in locked, tamper-resistant stations anchored in place, away from the kids, the dog and the family car. The sealing plan usually means new door seals, corner pieces, mesh in wall gaps and skirting under the shed, and whole-house sealing can be done on the same visit.

In the meantime, move the seed and pet food into metal cans with tight lids and get boxes onto shelves a few inches off the wall. If a car sits for weeks, pop the hood now and then and check the air filter box. In spring, field mice from the open ground show up in sheds too, which is covered on the vole and field mouse page. If you've got warehouse or dock space, see commercial rodent work in Lenexa and around the county.

Related: Mouse Control, Rat Control, Rodent Exclusion and Sealing

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