Building a mouse proof closet.

[Dave Shepard]

My kitchen, having been designed in the post-war era of idiotic architecture*, has no pantry. There is a short hallway leading from the kitchen to the den and the living room, and there is a small closet right next to the kitchen doorway. I'd like to turn this into a pantry, but need to mouse proof it in some way. Can I simply line the interior of the closet with tight fitting boards, and make sure the door is snug all the way around before building my shelves? It's open to the floor joists of the floor above right now.





*In most houses that I see built after WWII, there seems to be a lack of the common sense architecture of earlier houses. 2x4 walls with minimal insulation. Heck, oil is only 9 cents a gallon. : No pantry. Why would we want to store food? There's plenty at the supermarket! Put the chimney in the center of the house? Why would we want to do that? Well put it on the outside North wall. Heck, oil is only 9 cents a gallon! Besides, the fireplace is only for show anyway. Who would actually want to have a winters supply of wood ahead? Oil is only 9 cents a gallon! : : :

[Don_Papenburg]

Line it with light gauge sheet metal and cover it with drywall or cedar or some other cool wood .  1/4 inch hardware cloth would make the mice have a tooth ache also.

[thecfarm]

a mouse proof closet.That's easy.Use ¼ inch steel on 3 sides,don't forget the steel on the ceiling and floor too. Than make a door out of ¼ inch steel and weld it to the cube. Your mouse proof closet is done.  ;D  Them critters can get in the smallest hole. No hole,no problem,chew one.

[Mooseherder]

 :D :D :D
Dat was a good one. :D
(I have that problem at the cabin)

[Dave Shepard]

We'll have to start calling you Mouseherder. ;D

[Mooseherder]

The mice were real bad summer of 2014 at the cabin.
I don't get it.  Mow the lawn and they seem to multiply like Willard!
I have a battery box outside the cabin wall.  Always one or 4 in there when you open. DanG vermin.

[Dan_Shade]

Dave, you need a cat.

you also could go whaling to get some 9 cents a gallon oil....

[drobertson]

It seems like they migrate around, sometimes they are worse than others, weather has much to do with it too, as does food source. We had one for a spell, smart feller, but then he drown, so good for him,  trap em' poison them, keep the food put up,  and then one day another one tries to move in,,

[goose63]

I got 16 cats the mice are in short supply the ones I do see are the ones the cats are playing with

[Brad_bb]

It's amazing the tight spaces that mice can squeeze through.  The biggest problem will likely be the gap under the door.  I put a new floor sweep (rubber) on a door from my main shop to my storage space and within 2 days, a mouse chewed the corner of the rubber out.  I installed new rubber door seals on my new overhead doors and right away one got chewed, so I made these stainless steel brackets which have kept them from chewing out the corners.  They started out as stainless window springs made by National that I got at Menard's.  I cut them in half and drilled a hole. 


 

Back to the topic, with so many houses, shoddy builders left holes and gaps for mice to enter.  It requires a lot of trapping(Victor snap traps with large yellow plastic tongue are my preferred weapon), vigilant annual inspection for new entry holes in insulation and evidence near foundation, and lastly, sealing door areas better like my overhead doors etc.  Mice can enter the garage, and then easily find entry into the rest of the house.  I live in a post WWI,  pre-WWII farm house and have to deal with it as well as in my shops.