Missives from the 6th Floor

Seems that when they built the house, they neglected to seal the sub-floor under the bay window that spans the living room downstairs and the master bedroom on the second floor. Reaching back under the trim allowed you to grab the fiberglass insulation in the basement. As Mac put it - if they're not getting in here at the moment, they will eventually.

So armed with a 10'x2' roll of hardware cloth, tin-snips, staple gun (the aforementioned misplaced tool), flashlight, and neat sheet I sandwiched myself between the shrubs and the house and did a reasonable job, I think, of sealing off access. I also determined that we've got some dry rot (and ants) in some trim wood on that corner of the house - probably because the previous owners were overzealous with the mulching and had it pushed up against the house. Rah rah.

Only time will tell if my efforts are effective at deterring the local rodent population. The exterminators going to keep coming 'till we no longer see obvious evidence of rodents week-to-week, at which point he'll call the job done, and I'll clean up the basement (with more preparation than the last time I did so).

I have a feeling that my line won't fare much better than it's namesake, but hey - you gotta try, you know?