Top Tips To Protect Your Electrical Wiring from Rodents

There are approximately 21 million homes invaded every year by rodents. They are attracted to the warmth of homes and the food that is often left in and near homes. However, rodents are a serious issue in homes, they carry a variety of diseases and can gnaw through a wide variety of materials, including plaster and electrical wiring.

This can lead to issues such as short circuits, power outages, and an increased risk of fire. That’s why, if you have a rodent issue, you need to get hold of the exterminators and have the issue sorted.  If you don’t know a specialist in your area you can check here for pest control near me.

Fortunately, there are several ways you can protect your electrical wiring:

Concrete

Concrete is one of the few substances that rodents can chew through. Therefore, if you have the opportunity you can encase your or electrical wiring in concrete, effectively preventing the rodents from getting to it. Of course, while this will protect your wiring it does make it impossible to change the cabling in the future.

Sealing Holes

Perhaps the best possible approach is to seal your home against rodents. To do this you will need to walk around the property, checking the interior and exterior walls. Rodents can get through spaces as small as a sixpence. This means any crack or gap you find needs to be sealed. Vents should be sealed properly to ensure the rodents can get in.

If the rodents are unable to access your building they will be unable to damage your wiring.

When sealing gaps don’t forget to check the roof. There are usually plenty of access points here and rodents will climb trees to jump across. To prevent this you need to trim the trees and make sure none are overhanging your home.

Consider Cable Routes

Wires that are flat or sit on top of joists are generally ignored. Rodents don’t tend to worry about these, they will gnaw the ones going through holes that are effectively on the path they would take.

Keeping it tidy around the cable is a good idea, as this offers fewer opportunities for a rodent to create a nest or any reason to gnaw your cables.

Of course, it can help to encase your cables as this may not stop the rodents from gnawing but it will make it harder for them to get through to your wiring. You can also use roadblocks to prevent the cables from being used as a highway by the rodents.

Coat The Wiring

It is also possible to purchase wiring that is coated in a substance that deters rodents, but it is also possible to purchase wiring that attracts rodents simply because manufacturers are trying to be environmentally friendly.  For example, many wires now use coatings derived from soy. This will certainly attract rodents!

Check what your wiring is made of before you install it in your home. Using the wrong stuff is a costly mistake in more ways than one!