A.R.S.E.

As I've mentioned in the possum thread, we're having fun with rats...

The situ is that they are (were) running rampant in the roof cavity. I've called a guy to poison them out, and it seems to have eradicated this family (altho now we have to deal with the smell of ripe carcases for a few days here and there). The bigger issue tho is the cheeky bastards *can* get into the roof cavity - because there's bloody nothing to prevent them. They just run along the gutter and climb in under the tiles.

Now I'm very much thinking about the gutter guard / leaf guard install.
It's that's a bit costly, though, and - as I read around - not as straight-cut a solution as I thought.
E.g. it still needs regular cleaning and/or maintenance afterwards. At least it'll prevent rats/birds/possums from entering.
But the small-holes aluminum is not very good in heavy rain plus won't let the gutter to dry out properly. The simple mesh/screen on the other hand catches and/or lets through smaller stuff so it requires more maintenance it seems.

I'm wondering if you guys have personal experience with this sort of stuff at all? What did you do and how did that work?

Is there any other way to prevent the poor little buggers entering? I'd not like to do any poisoning ever again, if I can keep them out otherwise.
(I was contemplating expanding foam along the edges...but it'd require a shitload of foam, a few days worth of work, and I'm not sure if it'd work at all, LOL)

We had rats in our roof a few months ago, luckily enough we were in the process of putting in new ceilings, so I made up a little home made crossbow and sharpened up a shitload of skewers. Every time i heard the bastards running around I would listen carefully and try to work out where it was and the shoot the crossbow at it. about 1 out of 10 shots would result in an awesome high pitched squeel. When I removed the ceiling I found 4 with harpoons...lol

LOL, well, we're not in the process of re-ceiling.

I'm looking around to install a leafguard, but these tradies are attrocious. They don't even contact you back to quote for the job ffs!

I patched up a area in my roof that birds were getting in with some Grill Mesh that my father-in-law had left over, worked great but if they can get in the whole way around that wouldn't help

edit - did a search and found this on eBay..... they say they send out a sample, you could hit them up for a sample and see how easy it is and if it's good enough do the job yourself

dvestate wrote:I patched up a area in my roof that birds were getting in with some Grill Mesh that my father-in-law had left over, worked great but if they can get in the whole way around that wouldn't help

yeah it seems (and sounds!) they walk along the gutter, and just squeeze under the tiles' arc. Pretty much anywhere around...I've had the roof checked and there are no obvious holes or larger ways in. And that's what we have heard all the time...pat-pat-pat in the gutter, then squeeze (tiles' grating noise when they lift them a tiny bit) then they're running around inside...cute, but it's WRONG!

Forgot the link....

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DIY-Aluminiu ... 3caac0302d" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks!

hm....lots of work but great savings at that price.
Concerns:
- Not sure how effective it'd be against rats.
- lack of slope - things will pile up on top of it
- it does not cover over the last tile, rather below it; I'm afraid rats might still be able to crawl in
- how long each piece is, what happens at the joint
Edit:
- different depth gutters - or indeed width! If you have to cut it all the way around you might as well forget it. And one size won't fit all.
if it's too small, then you can doubly forget it...

hm....ok this image looks convincing, it actually covers in front of the tile, somewhat, as well.
http://www.d-fencegutterguard.com.au/im ... 090305.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Oh, but there's another thing; if we cover the gutter but not the valley...bah!

Still, at this price...I dunno all the sizes, but ~50m is needed I reckon. @6.40 it's only ~$330
compared to everything covered (valley re-paint and covering included) it's ~$1700
Big difference!

I think I'll ask for a sample Thanks again.



Edit:
that sales pitch tho...it's extremely cheesy. I'll be very careful with this one.


Edit2:
australian owned, operated, manufactured....but where is he? Who is he? Hm....