Finding and closing the gaps mice and rats use to get into tenements, row houses and co-ops, after the animals are dealt with.
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Rodent exclusion is the work of finding how mice and rats enter a building and closing those routes with durable materials, usually after trapping or baiting has cleared the animals already inside. In New York it focuses on pipe chases, gaps around utilities and old masonry. New York Pest Control schedules inspections across New York County and nearby boroughs, with the price approved first.
Trapping a mouse without closing its way in is like mopping while the tap runs. In an attached New York building, rodents use shared walls, basements and utility spaces to travel between apartments unseen, so a hole behind a radiator pipe in one flat can feed a problem three floors away. Sealing is what makes treatment last longer.
Exclusion is the part of the job that looks closely at the building itself: where pipes and conduits pass through floors, where old brick has opened up, where a cellar door meets the sill. It usually follows mouse control or rat control, and it can also be done on its own when a building wants to close routes before a problem starts.
They enter through gaps around pipes and conduits, broken masonry, cellar doors, vents and the spaces between shared walls and floors. Mice need only small openings, so a gap too narrow to notice can serve as a doorway. Rats favour cellars, yards and low openings near trash and harbourage.
Old buildings accumulate openings from repairs, renovations and utility work. Pipe chases are tall, hidden channels that connect floors, and a gap at the bottom can serve a whole stack of flats. Cellars add another route, with old coal chutes, vent grates and cables entering through foundation walls.
New York's health department publishes pest management guidance that describes the integrated approach as prevention-based, aimed at underlying causes such as holes and gaps, with sealing around pipes and conduits as part of the work. That is the framework for exclusion work here.
Mice are the usual first sign. They tend to use the same route again and again, which is why droppings return along one baseboard even after a thorough clean. Finding that route, rather than cleaning the evidence, is where the inspection starts.
Sealing before clearing the animals can leave live rodents inside walls, where they may die or look for another way out, often into an apartment. A sound plan removes or traps the animals first, then closes the entry points in stages, and checks for activity afterward before declaring the work finished.
Technicians usually leave one planned exit while trapping is under way, then close it once monitoring shows no activity. The sequence depends on the building and the species. Mice may be inside a wall void for weeks, while rats often have burrow entrances outside that need separate treatment.
If rats are using the yard or a tree pit, tree pit and yard rat burrow treatment deals with the outdoor side, and exclusion deals with how they get indoors.
In a building with a managing agent, it also helps to agree the order of work in advance. Sealing a pipe chase on the third floor while the floor below is still being treated can push activity into a neighbour's flat, so the plan names who is treated when and who gets the written report.
New York's Housing Maintenance Code requires owners of multiple dwellings to keep premises clean and free from pests, and says dwellings erected after 1947 must be rat-proof. Article 151 of the NYC Health Code requires owners to keep property free of rats and address conditions that lead to pests.
For a renter, the practical point is that sealing common-area openings is generally an owner's job. You can report a problem to the owner or managing agent in writing and call 311 if it is not fixed. HPD can cite owners for pests, and a written service report listing the entry points found can support a request.
If an owner is already facing a notice, our page on landlord pest violation response explains what work usually follows.
Inside your own flat, you can usually cover small gaps under a sink or behind a cabinet with metal mesh and sealant, and fit a door sweep. Pipe chases, common-area walls, cellars and masonry are generally the owner's responsibility, and cutting into walls without permission may breach a lease.
A technician cannot open a wall that belongs to someone else. If the entry point is in a shared area, the report becomes the document you take to the owner, board or managing agent.
Do not stuff gaps with steel wool or foam and consider the job finished, and do not seal a wall over a live infestation. Rodents can be trapped inside, and some sealants can be chewed. Call and have the entry points inspected first.
A technician checks the cellar, the base of walls, roofline and utility penetrations, and inside cabinets under sinks. Droppings, rub marks and gnawing point to the routes rodents already use.
Every gap is noted by location and type: a pipe collar, a broken mortar joint, a loose vent cover, a door gap. The map goes into the service report so owners and managers can see what was found.
Sealing over an active infestation can trap rodents inside walls, so trapping or baiting is usually done first. The technician explains the order of work and when it is safe to close the last openings.
Gaps are closed with materials rodents cannot easily chew through, such as metal mesh, hardware cloth, cement-based patching or metal plates, chosen for the surface. Foam alone is not treated as a seal.
After sealing, traps or monitors show whether rodents are still active. The written report lists each repair and any larger masonry or plumbing work that an owner or contractor should handle.
This is the most common job in apartment buildings. Gaps around pipes, drain lines, gas lines and conduits are closed where they pass through floors, walls and cabinet backs. Sealing a chase inside one flat does little if it stays open in the flat above, so these jobs often cover several units.
Old brick can lose mortar over time, and cellar walls can open at joints or around old openings. Small repairs are done as part of the visit, while larger masonry work is referred to the owner and a contractor.
Door sweeps, vent covers, window wells and gaps around meters and cables are checked and closed. This is the outside half of the job and is especially useful for ground-floor shops, cellar doors and rear entrances.
Tell us what's happening and we'll tell you honestly whether it's a quick fix, and what rodent exclusion & sealing should cost.
The housing that makes exclusion work necessary is the same housing that makes it hard. The tenement wave on the Lower East Side ran through the 1860s and 1870s, and the 1901 New Tenement Law later required larger lots, fire escapes and private facilities. Buildings of that age have been patched many times, and each patch is a possible seam in a wall or around a pipe.
Bushwick grew in a rush after the elevated line reached Broadway in 1879 and the Gates Avenue stop opened in 1885, producing speculative rows in wood frame and masonry cladding. Wood frame was allowed until 1905, when masonry became required. Rowhouses in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Park Slope and Sunset Park share walls and cellars in a similar way, so a sealed unit can still be reached from its neighbour.
In Hoboken, five-storey brick tenements and two- and three-storey rowhouses stand on narrow streets, with 47,202 people per square mile at the 2020 census. Attached buildings share walls and cellars there too, which makes a coordinated approach more useful than a flat-by-flat one. New Jersey work follows New Jersey rules, which the local company can explain when you call.
Mice and rats leave different clues, and a technician reads them. Mouse droppings are small and scattered, while rat droppings are larger and often found in groups near bins, cellar doors and yard edges. Gnawing at the base of a door or the bottom of a wall suggests where the way in is. Those clues set which materials are used and how much of the building is checked.
Ask the local company which certified NYSDEC applicator category covers rodent work on your building, since structural and rodent control sits within a specific category under New York's pesticide rules.
Mouse trapping, sealing and follow-up for attached New York buildings, where shared walls and utility spaces let mice move between apartments.
Norway rat inspection, baiting and sealing for New York cellars, yards, tree pits and restaurant back doors, with a written report after each visit.
Pest control for shared cellars, boiler rooms, laundry and storage in tenements, row houses and co-ops.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
New York City now requires businesses and small residential buildings to put trash in lidded containers instead of loose bags on the kerb.
It depends on the building. A single apartment with a few small gaps may take part of a visit, while a whole building with multiple pipe chases and a cellar can take several. The technician explains the scope and the price before work starts.
Not on its own, and no one can promise an outcome. Sealing removes the routes the technician found, but rodents can find new weak spots, and neighbours' units may still have openings. Follow-up checks show whether activity has stopped.
Often, partly. Cabinet backs, under-sink gaps and door edges inside your flat can be closed. Gaps in shared walls, pipe chases or the cellar need the owner's agreement, and a service report helps you ask for that work.
Small mortar and patching jobs can be done as part of exclusion work. Larger masonry, structural or façade repairs are referred to the owner and a building contractor, and the report notes what needs doing.
Sealing materials are placed in gaps, not through pipes, and the technician avoids anything that would block ventilation or access. Ask beforehand if you have a historic interior or a rent-regulated unit where changes to the fabric matter.
One sighting can mean more are nearby that you have not seen. An inspection tells you whether it was a stray or a sign of a route worth closing, and you decide what to approve.