10/15/2026
October is peak season for mice and other small rodents moving indoors.
They're actively and urgently searching for a warm place to spend the winter, and a heated Fort Erie home full of food and insulation is exactly what they want. Once inside, they can remain hidden and active for months before you hear the first scratch in the wall.
Mice can fit through a hole as small as a dime. If a rodent can fit its nose through, the rest of its body can squeeze through, too. Mice can also detect warm air escaping from your home and use those tiny openings to follow the heat right inside.
Every small gap where warm inside air is leaking out is like a flashing neon sign pointing a mouse toward your walls and insulation.
Grab a flashlight and a notepad, and slowly walk the perimeter of your home. Look at eye level, at ground level, and anywhere where two different materials meet:
🐁 Around every pipe, wire, and utility pe*******on through the exterior wall
🐁 The foundation sill plate — the most overlooked entry point on most homes
🐁 Where siding meets different materials
🐁 Weep holes in brick veneer
🐁 The gap between brick and soffit
🐁 Garage doors and the gaps around them
🐁 Basement windows, window wells, and ground-level vents
Mice also have an amazing ability to climb, so they can enter your home through openings well above ground level. Check where roof vents, ridge vents, and soffit vents are screened, look for gaps where fascia boards have pulled away from the roofline, and check around chimney flashings and where utility lines attach to the exterior of the home near the eaves.
Most entry points can be sealed quickly and inexpensively with materials available at any hardware store:
🔹Steel wool packed into gaps, sealed with caulk
🔹Copper mesh
🔹Exterior silicone caulk
🔹Door sweeps and garage door seals
🔹Weep hole covers
🔹Expanding foam (use it as a filler behind steel wool or copper mesh rather than as a standalone barrier)
Don't forget: Seal from the outside in. Trapping rodents already inside a home solves the immediate problem, but without sealing the entry points that let them in, new rodents tend to find the same gaps.
Stop by the store and we'll help you put together exactly what you need to seal your home up tight before the first hard frost of the season.
