How to Protect PEX Pipes From Rodents
Protecting anything from rodents can be problematic. There are so many reasons why a home could end up with rodents. Your first goal is to ensure that the home is sealed up with no holes for rodents to access your home. Trimming trees and keeping them from touching your home where rodents can gain access to your roof is key. Aside from your plumbing running through your walls, it also runs up into the attic space. If you happen to have PEX pipe flowing through your home, protecting it from rodents is going to be tough. How to protect PEX pipes from rodents? The goal is to keep rodents away by limiting access to food and shelter.
Let's look below at PEX pipes and why they might be desirable for chewing.
What Are PEX pipes
Since PEX pipe is a flexible tubing, it can be as easily chewed through as plastic. Rodents like mice and rats love to chew on plastic materials. If a rodent gains access to your PEX tubing, and begin chewing through PEX, your home will undoubtedly become flooded. PEX piping is used to carry hot and cold water through your water heater and throughout the home.
Why Are PEX Pipes A Problem
PEX pipe is a flexible tubing, it can be as easily chewed through as plastic. Rodents like mice and rats love to chew on plastic materials. If a rodent gains access to your PEX tubing and chews through it, your home will undoubtedly become flooded. PEX piping is used to carry hot and cold water through your water heater and throughout the home.
How Can I Protect My PEX Pipes
Luckily for you, there are ways to protect your PEX water pipes from rodents chewing. Let's take a look below at some of those preventative measures.
- Check for rodent activity - locating droppings or feces from rodents is a clear indication of activity in the area. Locating the entry points that rodents are accessing is key. Seal up and plug holes or openings with steel wool or other measures.
- Replace weatherstripping - seal up your doors and windows with new weather stripping. Also, check all vents to ensure that they aren't accessible to rodent entry.
- Provide a water source - placing a water bowl out for the rodents encourage them from drinking water that is easily accessed. This keeps them from wanting to drink from your PEX water lines. Also, it allows you more time to conduct preventative maintenance.
- Stay tidy and clean - keep your trees and bushes trimmed and free and clear from your home. Also, place all clutter into the trash can and away from your house. The more organized you can keep your home the less desirable it becomes to rodents.
Other Natural Deterrents
When it comes to keeping rodents away, you might not want to go the traditional route of poison, traps, baits, or other methods to kill the rodents. Consequently, if that is true, look into some more natural rodent repellents that prevent rodents. Also, using cayenne pepper, peppermint oil, black pepper, or even chili pepper is known to keep rodents away. Those rodents include mice, rats, and raccoons.
How Can I Control Rodents
The bottom line for controlling a rodent population is to keep your home sealed up and food choices away from the home. This includes sealing all vent pipes, crawl spaces, and sewer lines. Another recommended way to control rodents is to keep garbage stored in your garbage cans and tightly closed. Also, remove all clutter and debris from around your home. Rodents will use all clutter and debris to make a nest. Additionally, keep water away by fixing any leaking pipes.
Recommended Maintenance
Now that you know about rodents and PEX pipes, there are some other areas to take a look at for maintenance. One of those is mulch in the yard. Some people don't want to put mulch down because they think it attracts termites. However, this is not true. Many types of mulch actually repel termites so it is a good idea to choose one of those.
Another area is chinch bugs. In our yards, we may see spiders, ants, mole crickets, grubs, and chinch bugs. Chinch bugs might bite, but they let go quickly. They aren't interested in humans so if you are bitten, you may be left with itching and discomfort but it goes away. However, if you do have them, you want to get rid of them as they feed on the grass and destroy it.
Lastly, sometimes mice come into a home and you want to make sure you do what you can to keep them out. This may be looking at the exterior of the home to see if there is a crack. It also may be at the foundation, the basement window or doors, and even the air vents attached to the attic space. Sealing up the area is important to keep any rodents out of the home.
When to Contact a Professional
Getting rid of rodents from your home can be rather difficult. Some homeowners might look to the home remedies mentioned above in an attempt to get rid of rodents. However, it is recommended that you hire a local pest control company. Also, hiring your local pest control team allows you to find the exact remedy for getting rid of your rodent issues. Be sure to do this before you end up with damage to your PEX pipes.
Conclusion
Having rodents gain access into your home and chew on your PEX pipes causing a flood is not ideal. Be sure to follow the recommended ways to keep rodents away from your home. The more you can make the home impenetrable and undesirable to rodents, the better off you will be. Additionally, if you aren't sure what to do, call on your local pest control company. They can provide you with recommendations for preventative maintenance from a rodent infestation. Call on Gray Pest Control for all your pest control needs in Jacksonville, FL, and surrounding areas.