Thread: Don't underestimate mice

FRANKLIN, N.H. -- An elderly woman is homeless after her Franklin apartment caught fire just before 7 a.m. on Saturday.

Investigators say a mouse chewed through the wires that were connected to a lamppost in the front yard.

Neighbors at the Damey Street complex said it's filled with elderly and handicapped owners. All of them were forced outside when the fire started.

Crews had to use a chainsaw to let smoke out of the building. The majority of damage was due to smoke and water.
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I find evidence of mice in just about every home. I frequently warn people of the danger of mice chewing through insulation on wiring. Loose fill insulation in the attic is nirvana for mice, they can breed by the hundreds.
Signs to look for: Perfect cylindrical holes in loose fill insulation, insulation which has been taken from the attic and used for nests inside and outside the home, latrining ( dark urine stains on framing) where the mice repeatedly urinate, and obviously droppings. I disclaim rodents on my inspection contract, but if these signs are prevalent, I will refer them to a Rodent Control Expert.

In one case, I found six feet of Romex insulation chewed completely off at the sill, behind the batting. It actually flashed when I probed the area with my high tech probing tool, a wooden paint roller extension bar. The mice had chewed the outer white sheathing off to get to the black hot insulator, apparently it tastes better!

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Mice chewed up a telephone wire at my house. I was going crazy trying to troubleshoot the short in the wire. Eventually I just gave up, and then about a year later I saw the wires in the crawl space completely chewed off.

This would make a good case for why arc-fault breakers are a good idea.

Originally Posted by Annie-Laurie Hunter

This would make a good case for why arc-fault breakers are a good idea.

ESPECIALLY on smoke detector circuits.

A major grocery store I used to do rodent control for once had a deepfat chicken fryer go down. When maintanence pulled it from the wall a mouse had bit into the electrical cable and shorted it out. The mouse was still stuck to the cable, eyes wide open, dead of course.