Noise coming from attic done up with timber?

MichaelR

Hello,

We bought a house less than a year ago and then we had a builder up in the attic. He put in a lot of insulation and a timber floor ovr it and some timber shelving too.

Recently, we have been noticing a noise from the attic at night. It is of a crunching kind, loke something eating through timber. We would suspect a mouse or rat, but there is no trace of rodent activity in the rest of the house, and there is no food for them in the attic.

How can we find out what it is, and whether its dangerous?

From what I googled... Might be termites or carpenter ants, and that might be a problem. Or might be a harmless (?) bat - there are vents under the roof big enough for that. Or something else? Or even just the new wood contracting in cold nights?

We would call someone in to look, but we are not sure what kind of "someone" to call. besides I don't think the noises are heard in the day and it would be tricky to get a specialist to spend the night waiting for the noise.

recipio

Letting the old imagination run away with you - there are no termites in Ireland.
Its almost certainly a rat or a mouse. Bats are hibernating at this time of the year. Set both a mouse and rat trap baited with peanut butter and you should get results.

DvB

Could be birds nesting in the eaves. We had this a few years back & I was convinced it was a mouse/mice... laid traps but no joy, copped the birds nipping in under the roofing felt one day when I was in the back garden & the penny dropped.

recipio

DvB wrote: »

Could be birds nesting in the eaves. We had this a few years back & I was convinced it was a mouse/mice... laid traps but no joy, copped the birds nipping in under the roofing felt one day when I was in the back garden & the penny dropped.

Its not the nesting season. Starlings will certainly start in April and will seek out any hole in the fascia to build a nest. The crunching sound strongly suggests a rat to me and they are clever and elusive creatures.I had one in my workshop and he was living off a bag of bonemeal.I'm assuming the OP is in Ireland :rolleyes:

BabysCoffee

When setting mouse traps place the baited part facing the wall. Mice run along the side of walls.

recipio

BabysCoffee wrote: »

When setting mouse traps place the baited part facing the wall. Mice run along the side of walls.

Yes, and set traps with a 'hair trigger' They will extract food and eat it off the trap if they can.

Miname

I've seen felt that was cut into tile vents flutter a bit and cause a weird noise at night. Follow the noise when you hear it. If it stops as you approach each time it's probably rodents, if not it could be as simple as a piece of felt or something just fluttering.

recipio

So, did you get the problem sorted ?

MichaelR

It's rats, proven now (found unmistakeable rat poo and some stuff was destroyed by teeth). Put in traps but no luck yet. The suspicion is that they climb in and out on the outside, because there is no food for them in the attic and no traces of them in the parts of the house where food is.

recipio

MichaelR wrote: »

It's rats, proven now (found unmistakeable rat poo and some stuff was destroyed by teeth). Put in traps but no luck yet. The suspicion is that they climb in and out on the outside, because there is no food for them in the attic and no traces of them in the parts of the house where food is.

Rotten luck. They are tricky beggars and I found that screwing the trap down stops it 'catapulting ' out of the way. They love peanut butter and can't run away with it .Best invest in at least three traps and check daily.

MichaelR

Will do, but the problem is, if they come from the outside, I can't exactly catch all the rats in the vicinity. And I think they do come from the outside. I need to get some pro to secure the vents, probably. The builder told me that the vents must be there, so I can't block them up. (The alternative of blocking the vents and installing a Velux window to be kept ajar is probably more expensive).

recipio

MichaelR wrote: »

Will do, but the problem is, if they come from the outside, I can't exactly catch all the rats in the vicinity. And I think they do come from the outside. I need to get some pro to secure the vents, probably. The builder told me that the vents must be there, so I can't block them up. (The alternative of blocking the vents and installing a Velux window to be kept ajar is probably more expensive).

Ventilation holes in the fascia should have a grid over them anyway - especially to prevent birds nesting.?
Mice will get anywhere so I'd set a few mousetraps also.Don't leave cardboard or rolled carpet lying around as they will breed in it. I'd be a bit surprised to find a rat in a residential attic - they usually like a food source. They are opportunistic creatures so once you have eliminated the first few residents, that should be the end of it.

my3cents

I have rat poison down all through the winter. We always get rats in the roof and you can hear them at nights rolling the bait around. This year I put bait traps up there and it less noisy.

One thing you need to be aware of with poison is if the rat(s) die inside and you can't get to the bodies the smell is something awful and it goes on for at least a couple of weeks. Never happened before but this year I've a dead rat somewhere in my workshop, smell is so bad I can't work out where it is from the smell, so I won't be using the workshop for at least another week.

wonski

MichaelR wrote: »

It's rats, proven now (found unmistakeable rat poo and some stuff was destroyed by teeth). Put in traps but no luck yet. The suspicion is that they climb in and out on the outside, because there is no food for them in the attic and no traces of them in the parts of the house where food is.

Set few traps around the kitchen anyway.

They do travel to get the food.

You sure it's rats? Not just mice?