I have a 40 m2 garage whose walls I want to insulate rat-proof. Stud walls with 100 mm standing studs, exterior cladding, and interior sheet material. Mineral wool, cellulose, and foam are excluded. One option is sawdust mixed with burnt lime that I can shovel into the space, but maybe there is something better?
Anyone have rat-proof suggestions with good insulating capabilities and that can seal cracks?
Replace sand in concrete with leca balls?
Cellular concrete?
Foamed concrete?
Concrete with foam glass?
Loose fill foam glass?
Concrete with charcoal?
Is there a risk of damage due to condensation of warm air halfway into the wall if using materials other than sawdust mixed with burnt lime, as was done in the past and is proven to work?
Best regards!
Daniel
Anyone have rat-proof suggestions with good insulating capabilities and that can seal cracks?
Replace sand in concrete with leca balls?
Cellular concrete?
Foamed concrete?
Concrete with foam glass?
Loose fill foam glass?
Concrete with charcoal?
Is there a risk of damage due to condensation of warm air halfway into the wall if using materials other than sawdust mixed with burnt lime, as was done in the past and is proven to work?
Best regards!
Daniel
Using a lock panel is counterproductive for stopping rodents. Raw plank against the studs on the outside and other heavy solid wood to prevent intrusions in the roof around/between the roof trusses. All gaps tightly packed, and if you want to be really sure, use clay/mortar to seal over.
Raw plank on the inside walls and ceiling further reduces the risk. Especially against them gnawing through the plasterboard on the inside and then causing costly damage to the car's electrical system...
Lime-treated sawdust is probably also okay. However, it does not insulate as well as wool, but offers significantly better resistance against rodents if/when they get through the outer layer...
Raw plank on the inside walls and ceiling further reduces the risk. Especially against them gnawing through the plasterboard on the inside and then causing costly damage to the car's electrical system...
Lime-treated sawdust is probably also okay. However, it does not insulate as well as wool, but offers significantly better resistance against rodents if/when they get through the outer layer...
Sure, wool insulates excellently, but both moths and rats love wool, so I won't take that risk. What makes rats avoid sawdust is partly the lime it's mixed with and the fact that the passages collapse. Clay plaster probably stops mice but not rats. Therefore, I'm considering various concrete solutions. The garage is already built, otherwise, we would probably have built it with wide Leca blocks and plastered it.
Do you have personal experience?L LarsDaniel said:
I ask because I myself live in the countryside (farm) and have occasional problems with rats. (There are constantly mice in kilotons, but rats cause trouble in a completely different way.)
I think it's not ideal for them to gnaw through mortar, and clay mortar is the most elastic/flexible mortar, which is suitable in a wooden construction that moves with the seasons and sometimes a bit with the wind and snowfall as well. It's one thing that they can get through, but if it's difficult, a strong incentive is usually needed. Heat and food smells are two strong incentives. By caulking all gaps and also using mortar to make all potentially rodent-inviting edges, etc., more rodent-unfriendly, it further helps to seal gaps so that warm air and food smells do not escape as easily. (Food smells are hardly a problem in a garage, but heat is, and the worse the insulation, the more heat leaks that can be detected from the outside.)
If clay mortar is not sufficient, you can also use cement mortar or concrete. It may not be hermetically sealed against the substrate in the long run, but it should stop rodent attempts at weak/sensitive spots.
Sounds reasonable, but unfortunately, the rats also gnaw through concrete floors and barn walls made of cement blocks, possibly as a result of the concrete being soaked with manure, which has weakened the concrete.
Sure, rodents are good at getting in, but that depends on them finding weaknesses. If there are weaknesses, it's only a matter of time before they find and exploit them. They get through old poor-quality concrete slabs that are cracked, have low-quality concrete, and very thin concrete. I have such an example in one of our horse stalls. However, I am completely convinced that a well-cast 10-15 cm thick reinforced concrete slab on a solid layer of macadam is something they can never get through.
When you look closely at rodent holes, my opinion is clear: they exploit weaknesses - always. That's why you have to be extremely careful with every millimeter, to avoid weaknesses in the construction. For example, if our old stable had been built on a 15-20 cm layer of macadam (16-32) it would never have had any problems with rodents getting in through the foundation. If there had been at least 2-inch thick beams fitted exactly to the millimeter between the roof beams at the walls, and reinforced with, for example, 21x45 battens on the inside around all the edge gaps, no rodents could have entered via the roof either.
They are rodents, not beavers. They don't willingly chew through 45 mm of solid wood in the middle. The problem is more practical. There are many edge gaps/seams that all need to be reinforced/secured. If the house wasn't built that way from the start, it's troublesome to access everywhere afterward. Clay mortar/cement mortar could then be a quicker and easier way to make it uninviting for rodents.
Gypsum boards, paper, and plastic are definitely unsuitable materials if you want to avoid rodents.
When you look closely at rodent holes, my opinion is clear: they exploit weaknesses - always. That's why you have to be extremely careful with every millimeter, to avoid weaknesses in the construction. For example, if our old stable had been built on a 15-20 cm layer of macadam (16-32) it would never have had any problems with rodents getting in through the foundation. If there had been at least 2-inch thick beams fitted exactly to the millimeter between the roof beams at the walls, and reinforced with, for example, 21x45 battens on the inside around all the edge gaps, no rodents could have entered via the roof either.
They are rodents, not beavers. They don't willingly chew through 45 mm of solid wood in the middle. The problem is more practical. There are many edge gaps/seams that all need to be reinforced/secured. If the house wasn't built that way from the start, it's troublesome to access everywhere afterward. Clay mortar/cement mortar could then be a quicker and easier way to make it uninviting for rodents.
Gypsum boards, paper, and plastic are definitely unsuitable materials if you want to avoid rodents.