Tips for Keeping Rodents Out of Your Wood Pile

Having a good supply of firewood in your home is a great way to stay warm during the cold season and enjoy a barbeque night out around the bonfire. Unfortunately, wood piles attract all manners of unwanted pests including mice and rats. While rodents living outside your house may seem harmless, the urine and droppings they leave on your firewood can transfer serious diseases to human beings. If the pile of wood is too close to your house, you can be sure the rats will find their way to your house because they are sneaky and fast. So how do you ensure that rats and other pests don't invade your pile of firewood? Here are four effective ways;

Make a Platform

Leaving your wood on the ground is the fastest way to attract pests especially termites because you make accessibility easy and the ground is moist. Instead, build a platform with treated wood or stones where you will be placing your firewood after harvest to dry. Ensure there is enough room beneath, on top and on both sides of the woodpile to ensure enough ventilation so the wood can dry fast. Be sure that the platform or the wood are not leaning on anything such as a tree or any other structure that pests can use to climb up or build a trail. Cover the pile with a dry polythene paper to protect them from rain because moisture is the number one reason why pests are attracted to wood.

Build a Shed

If you harvest a lot of firewood at once, it might be a good idea to build a shed for them somewhere in the compound. Remember that the wood should be kept at least 20ft away from your house to ensure any pests don't access your home. A shed can either be made of treated cedar wood or stone and make sure there is no space where pests can use to get in.

Use Rodent Repellent

The use of pesticide to keep rats away is a bad idea because the poisonous fumes will end up in your kitchen for you to inhale. However, no one said you couldn't use a few rodent repellents around the firewood such as peppermint oil, carnivore dung, chili, and other commercial repellents. You can also bring plenty of cats or build a bird cage near the woodshed to attract bird and owls which scare away and eat rodents.

Keeping rodents out of your wood pile is possible with these and other tips. However, if you already have a rat infestation on your hands, call a pest control company so professionals can handle the problem for you.