Three Ways Mice Get Into Your Home and How to Get Them Out

Mice are sneaky little things. They can also compress their bodies to fit through tight spaces. However, they cannot collapse their skeletons to fit through flat openings, despite what old wives' tales say. The problem is that mice want to come indoors when winters are especially harsh and cold, and food is scarce. That means your home is the first place they run to if they think there is enough available food and places to hide. Once the mice have found a way in, you will be hard-pressed to get them out. Here are three ways mice find their way inside your home, and how to get them out or seal your home to prevent mice from entering.

Foundation

If anything, mice are definitely going to try to get into your house via the foundation. Cracks in the concrete or cement that are an inch wide or more is all they need. Sometimes these cracks may not be seen above ground. They may be below ground in your basement. Additionally, if you have window wells or windows around the foundation that are even partly open, these are "doors" for the mice to get inside. Close and seal the windows in the fall, and thoroughly examine your foundation both above and below ground. When you spot a crack or hole, fill it with fresh concrete. Then, the mice can no longer use these routes to get inside your home.

Roof

Trees that overhang your roof are like bridges from one place to another for mice. They climb the tree, run out on the limbs, and drop down on your roof. From there, it is just a matter of finding a hole in the shingles or scuttling through a roofing vent that does not have any wire mesh to seal it off. Cut back the limbs or remove the trees completely to prevent this, then get a roofer to seal the roof and install wire mesh over the openings for roof vents.

Under the Siding

When the first heavy snow hits, mice are able to creep across the top of the snow and look for a way in under the lowest part of your home's siding. Most people do not realize that siding has space between the panels and the insulation. Mice use the snow to reach the lowest edge of the siding and get underneath. Then they chew through the siding to get into an interior wall. You will spot this by the feces they leave right outside their chosen entry and exit. Squirt some calk in this area in the mid-morning when the mice have likely left the house to forage. Then place poisoned bait right under the area to kill off any mice that have tried to get inside again.