Sam Shueh
Campbell, California
No this is not about how to deal with rat race in Silicon Valley. It is a different race.
With Krissy the cat passing away from old age, we are again dealing with a fundamental problem above our ceiling. Gus Jr. the rat family is returning to stay with us uninvited.
I went up to the attic saw a couple of traps and they have done what they are supposed to do. I still hear them roaming around. What now?
I saw a local newspaper ad that advertises visit your home for $200 they will vacuum the dropping for the entire attic. The guy came in and went up in a few minutes he showed dropping of raccoons and claimed I have a bigger problem. Oh my. The only thing is these photos are not taken from my attic. Rather they were shot from another home. I built the home and you don't think I can not tell? The guy says it is a real big problem and they have a special promotion they will vacuum the floor remove the fiberglass insulation batts and bring in new blown-in flame retardant shredded "paper". It is marked 50% off but I have just 5 minutes to decide. Sign up now. It will be only $3000 today. Normal price is $6,000. I asked what about that $200 promotion? The guy says it applies to a 6 by 6 ft storage space.
As a realtor you think I do not know what high pressure sell tactics is? The guy also stated he will also seal any entrance crack as he sees. Ah, that is the only thing he says that makes sense.
I found two more roof joint openings which I blocked the opossum family still leaves a hole or two to allow rats to enter or leave. I blocked them and leave a trap at EL Portal to increase my chance to get them outside.
Seal all holes leading to the attic
The next order of business is get an over-all suit, goggles and a small shop vacuum system to suck the small animal droppings off. Apparently, neighborhood squirrels Chip and Dale also help themselves by hiding walnuts under the insulation blankets. I am not sure where they crawl into. But I can block their favorite almond tree trunks with spikes. The Punjabi spikes staked turned out be more cosmetic than functional. The black Dale and brown Chip showed me how they meandered around the booby traps and get through the spikes. Now I have to order in quantities and realize Amazon is the place to order spikes in quantity. More on rats.
The house attic was insulated with R-19 fiberglass batts. The new home code calls out R-30 to be energy efficient. So I ordered a few rolls of R-13 and place them over the existing fiberglass to make it R32 equivalent.
The house gets air circulating both attic and below the house. Most of us never realize how dirty these places are. Rats poo, dead animals, germs and fungus is what we are breathing everyday. I sprayed the entire attic with Lysol and vacuum as much as I do in the living area. I also installed planks so I can walk around the attic easily. Total cost for DIY with a shop vacuum, fiberglass insulation rolls is a mere $250.00. It surely beats getting an attic load of blown shreded paper.
Not to take chance I also ordered an animal trap as I know no one will come to rescue us when I see racoon inside. The Punjabi spikes are helping but I think Chip and Dale are getting trained with new obstacles.
Punjaji spikes for Chip and Dale
As monitoring measurement there are planty of peanut coated traps and even glue sticks. The glue sticks do not work well. However, I can hear them hopping at night to get their feet off the sticky mats. So far all is quiet.
I will continue doing what I have to deal with other types and how to get them out of the house through my version of Silicon Valley eviction process.
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Sam Shueh Realtor
I've called San Francisco South Bay home for over 37 years. We love this area and all it has to offer, and I enjoy sharing what I know about homes. I documented in several books about Silicon Valley history. I have much expertise in real estate...please give me a call. Silicon Valley Realtor Sam Shueh Website (Four-O-Eight) 425-1601
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