SUPERPROOF™ has solved a serious rat infestation that threatened to spread throughout several flats in a property owned by a housing association.
The Victorian terraced property had been infested with rats over a number of months, and the problem was gradually getting worse.
Its owner, Notting Hill Housing Association, in London, called in mouse proofing and rat proofing specialists SUPERPROOF™ to provide a comprehensive and permanent solution to the problem.
Housing Officer Sameira Bellot-Maynard said: “I was pleased with SUPERPROOF™ work. They presented us with a good plan of action, and carried out a thorough job.
“We wanted to ensure that our tenant and other residents in the property would no longer be inconvenienced by rodent problems, and that is what we achieved by working with SUPERPROOF™.”
When a tenant in a ground floor flat first reported rat problems, the housing association promptly investigated his concern, and appointed a pest controller to carry out baiting.
However, this did not solve the problem, and further investigations by the trust revealed a broken sewer pipe under the property.
A director from SUPERPROOF™, said: “Rats were using the pipe to get into the foundations. Baiting had killed some rats, but the infestation had become so extensive that it was not effective.
“Decaying rat bodies were adding to the odour problem. The sewer pipe was mended, but by then rats had developed other ways to move around the property.
“It’s a common rat infestation scenario. Rat behaviour and the ineffectiveness of baiting conspire to make an infestation problem worse, not better.”
In response, SUPERPROOF™ carried out a thorough survey of the property. Using its expertise in rodent habitats it identified multiple entry points, in the flat’s front room, bathroom and kitchen.
A major contributing factor to the rat infestation was the property’s dirt foundations. The solution devised by SUPERPROOF™ was to dig these out, and create a solid concrete slab that rats could not get through.
The tenant was moved to temporary accommodation during the work.
No ordindary rat infestation - rats had become well established and signficant work was needed to rat proof the property
Concrete was poored into the space under the foor to create a rat proof membrane and block multiple entry points
The SUPERPROOF™ team removed all floorboards, dug out approximately 1ft of soil from the floor void, much of it contaminated by rat urine and faeces.
Six tonnes of concrete were poured into the enlarged void to create a slab across the foundations 150-250mm thick.
Fibre-reinforced cement was then injected around the foundation walls, over a mesh backing, to seal the concrete slab to the walls.
New floorboards were laid – the old ones were too contaminated and damaged by the rat infestation. Kitchen and bathroom fittings, removed at the start of the work, were reinstated.
As a result of this work, all the flats in the property were odour-free. The tenant could move back in, and the property was thoroughly proofed against further rodent infestation.
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