She Bought Her First Home And Heard Scratching After One Week, Four Months And Several Pest Controllers Later A Smoke Test Still Could Not Find How The Rats Got In

She had owned her first home for about a week when the scratching started. Hazel heard it in the ceilings and inside the kitchen walls, the kind of sound no new homeowner wants to hear at night.

A gray rodent peeking out from between old wooden beams

Four months, several pest control companies and a growing problem with rat mites later, she made a call that finally got results. The crew behind the TwinHomeExperts channel says the job gave them a run for their money.

“After Just One Week” She Heard Scratching, And Four Months Later It Was Worse

According to the crew, Hazel had bought and moved into the property only a few months before she phoned them. She had already brought in other pest controllers, hoping one of them would get to the bottom of it.

Instead, things got worse. She was now dealing with rat mites, tiny parasites that live on rats and can move onto people.

Her last pest control technician was a fan of the channel. He quietly told her to call the twins instead, saying he was not supposed to, but that he understood his company’s limits.

Less Than 10 Minutes In, A Young Rat Was Climbing The Stucco In Broad Daylight

The team’s Brian spotted the first clue almost immediately: a juvenile rat trying to climb the stucco wall in the middle of the day. Then came a clogged downspout with no gutter guard, and inside it another live juvenile that finally fell out.

That raised the question of roof rats. The crew says that when they are called in after other companies, the culprit is usually a sewer rat, so they began where they always do, with a smoke test.

The Smoke Test Lit Up The Neighbors’ Yard But Not The Rats’ Way In

The idea of a smoke test is simple. Pump enough smoke into the plumbing and it will curl out of any break, showing exactly where a pipe is compromised. The crew says the more smoke you can put into a system, the better you will find breaches.

They got a ton of smoke, and the neighbors got a free test too, with smoke drifting out of spots well away from the house. One spot above the kitchen, right where Hazel said the mites were worst, sat over an old original pipe. The plumbing turned out to be in perfect condition.

The attic was next, and the roof had already been sealed up. Rats were visible up there before the crew even hit play on their camera. Still, no entry point showed itself.

Crawl Space Check Came Up Empty, Then The Crew Switched To Glowing Powder

The crew suited up for the crawl space, a dusty, tight place full of tracks. Thousands of tracks, they said, but the structure looked completely sealed. One small hole by the water main was too small for a rat to squeeze through.

So they moved to phase two: UV tracking powder. They built a cardboard box with a tunnel on each side, put peanut butter in the middle and dusted powder across the openings so it would coat the rats as they passed. They also mounted cameras.

The crew’s advice for homeowners is blunt. Skip scattering traps everywhere, because it wastes time and money and does not improve your catch rate. Put them right where the openings are.

Day Five Brought A Premature Celebration And An Apology

The camera footage showed rats moving along cables and across the clay tile roof, and at one point the crew celebrated what looked like the answer. It was not. The rats were only jumping onto a wire and heading back the other way.

On day five, the crew apologized for celebrating too early and said they were starting fresh. Then the black light came out in the attic.

Powder glowed all over a tree and along a wire the crew called the main highway. Inside the attic the trail led to a live rat, a rat nest and finally a hole where the rats had chewed through at the edge of the clay tile roof. They had been using insulation at the back of the house as nesting material.

A Second Hole Two Feet From The Flashing Was The Final Piece

One hole was not the end. Trapping on day six brought no luck, and the camera showed rats exploring without any desperation for food, a sign to the crew that another opening existed.

They pulled back more of the roofing paper on the other side and found a second hole about two feet from the flashing. They say the rats had been staying close to a parapet wall and slipping in there. Roofers were due to replace the tile, plywood and waterproofing that same week, so the repair was temporary.

Once the last opening was sealed, the trapping went automatic. They say the rats came in one after another, and they declared Hazel’s home rat free.

The Disclosure Question Every Buyer Should Ask

The crew also told Hazel to look at her real estate paperwork. She bought the home in March, and they say the activity clearly started earlier than that. If a rodent problem was not disclosed, she may have grounds to seek a refund of the work, and the crew says they have evidence the activity went back some time.

Rules on seller disclosure differ by state, so a buyer in this spot would be smart to check with a real estate attorney.

What To Take From It If You Hear Scratching

Do not wait. Noises in walls or ceilings within the first weeks of owning a home deserve a prompt inspection.
Check the outside too. Gaps near rooflines, scuppers, wires, downspouts and flashing can all be entry points.
Seal every opening before you trap. The crew says trapping works best once the rats are closed inside with a single way out.
Keep your closing paperwork and inspection report. They matter if the problem turns out to be older than your ownership.

It took six days, a smoke test, cameras, glowing powder and two holes, but the scratching that started in week one finally ended.

Willow and Hearth