[Greenbuilding] new houses vs. retrofitting existing houses.

[Sacie Lambertson]

Interesting piece Corwyn,

One point that jumped out can be applied to new houses as well:
*
**The problem in old houses is access; the air sealing needs to happen at a
single contiguous surface across the entire structure to be most
efficacious. This means getting into the guts of the building somehow
*
Our new house was pretty well built and sealed.  But the core of the thing
is foam (EPS).  One way or the other, all unknown pts of entry, mice have
found their way in.  Foam* makes it so easy.  I actually don't mind the
mice themselves, it's the route they have taken to come in that bothers
me.  These, in my mind, are small air passage-ways that over time will be
increased I'm sure and I have not the slightest idea how to find the
initial point of entry or what to do about it.  We poison the mice where we
know they temporarily live (on the tops of big beams that hold up the
roof), but beyond that we feel sort of helpless about the situation.

I've talked about this before in this forum; no one has offered a
solution.  As you say, the problem is access, either that or it would be
wonderful to find where the critters get in.  I feel like I'm living inside
Swiss cheese.

*I read btw, that one could stuff fine steel wool in a mouse entry hole,
that would stop them.  It does not.  I can attest to that.

Cheers,  Sacie
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