Think of the last time your home or business was attacked by a deer or a bear? Odds are, it never happened. But if it had, the damage caused would’ve probably been covered by homeowners or renters’ insurance.
According to Progressive Insurance, “damage caused by mice and rat infestations is generally not covered by your home insurance policy. Like squirrels, these small critters tend to take up residence and gradually grow in numbers over a long period of time, so your insurer considers the damage preventable and expects you to take necessary steps to eliminate infestations before they cause damage to your home.”
That says a lot! So, the most likely animals to cause damage to your dwelling – mice or rats or even squirrels – will also cause you to pay for these issues out of pocket. What this really boils down to is one thing: prevention is everything.
Dr. Bobby Corrigan is a true expert when it comes to rodent control – he’s published more than 160 articles and is in the Pest Management Hall of Fame. He says protecting doors is the key.
“Doors of course come in different shapes and sizes we’ll have double doors in commercial accounts and in office buildings and hotels and even if we correctly seal them, we don’t often seal between the doors, that thing called the astragal gap. And because of that rodents come in sometimes just at will.
“For the PMPs they have to if they’re a reputable company proceed down the path of Integrated Pest Management (IPM),” he says. “And the reason IPM is the kindergarten level of pest control is because it combines all the good things. First you inspect to see, can you build them out? So, you’re doing inspections so that you can see are all the doors correctly sealed, do they have something as a pest excluder device. Check the all the doors, check the holes, check the penetrations. I always advise them if they’re not sealed you should offer to seal them. Do it for them, it’s a great service. So that’s the thing, keeping rodents out.”
To prevent infestations, door sweeps are necessary tools, and they stop dust, dirt, and pollen. Mice and rats can squeeze into a home, restaurant, commercial facility through the smallest hole under or on the side of a doorway.
Burrtec USA is a leading manufacturer of door sweep solutions, providing quality exclusion products to PMPs and building material suppliers. It is the North American division of Burrtec Co., Ltd., one of Japan’s largest pest control producers. To learn more about Burrtec, visit our U.S. website.