mice ruined my insulation

[sawyer40]

This is the 2nd year in a row where the mice ruined the arch insulation. The hood keeps the pans covered so they not been in them. But just behind my fire box I have vermiculite up to the top of the fire box with a loose layer of brick covering it all the way to the smoke stack and have(or had) the wool insulation on the sides. I've now decided to brick the sides. But first I have to bring up the leval of the brick that are just layed out on the vermiculite. They have either setteled or the mice did something there to. Does anyone know where I can get either vermiculite or perlite to put under the brick? I spoke to a chimminey sweep guy and he said the vermiculite I have is differant than what is available today. He said the vermiculite today is mixed with a cement like powder and you add a little water and mix it to an oatmeal consistancy. He sugested trying to get some perlite at a garden store. They mix it with the soil for potting plants.What is used to fill that void behind the fire box in new evaporators today? I guess if I have to I could dig up some of the vermiculite behind my fire box throw in some old broken brick to take up space and bring up my leval then smooth out the vermiculit I removed on top. But I realy don't want to disturb whats there and would rather add new to leval it up. Anyone got any suggestions?

[Flat47]

Vermiculite should be available at most home & garden stores or at landscaping supply places. Vermiculite is all the same as far as I know.

Perlite is like a sponge and will hold moisture, so I wouldn't put it in any evaporator.

[vtsnowedin]

Real pain in the keaster there. You probable have a nest or two down in the vermiculite hense the voids and settlement. First time you fire it up they will burn away and some more settlment will take place. If you have time I'd take it apart until your sure you have found all the voids and rebuild with new materials. If you dont have the time now you can just fill the voids with mason sand and cover with loose half brick if you have them or just use it the way it is as long as they haven't pushed up a pile to touch the flues but it will not be as efficent as it was.

[sawyer40]

The old vermiculite I have is kind of like corn flakes the vermiculite I'm being told about is kind of like a soft cement paste. I was told by the chimminey sweep guy perlite is pebble like and sort of like crushed lava rocks.

[sawyer40]

well I went to Lowes and found vermiculite. There was 8-2lb bags on the shelf so I took em all. It still isn't enough but it's a start. I'll look around this week and see what I can find. I think I'll stick with the vermiculite. Thats whats there now.

[maple flats]

I got my vermiculite from W.H. Milikowski, a greenhouse supply house. They have vermiculite in 2 sizes (particle size) and I paid about $35 per bag for huge bags. At that time I had found it at Lowes and the price comparison was like 10x or was it 15x more for a given volumn at Lowes. Milikowski's have several distribution centers and must be other stores because the Milikowski's I bought it from is in Syracuse, NY and that one does not show on their website. Try this link :

http://www.whmilikowski.com/contect.html

[maple flats]

On another note, try this for mice. I place a few pieces of exlax around on the floor if I see evidence of mice. This gets rid of them and I never found or smelled a dead one in the sugarhouse. I did find a dead one several feet from the sugarhouse, towards a water drainage ditch draining from under the sugarhouse, exiting to the surface and about 15 feet from the sugarhouse. The mouse never made it to water.

[sawyer40]

Thanks maple flats I'll give them a call today about vermiculite. I'll also remember the exlax thing when I'm done this year.

[Maplewalnut]

Sawyer-

Try any Ace hardware store. They can order the large bags. Even Tractor supply probably can.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

What form of exlax are you using??

[Dill]

One thing I've found that keeps mice away is dryer sheets, not sure why. But I've been putting them around camp, and in my motorcylce saddlebags. And no droppings in the spring.
Never heard of the exlax before.

[sawyer40]

I tryed tractor supply and no go and called the link that maple flats gave me there out but expecting more pallets next week. I can't wait that long and there quit a distance away. Theres an Ace hardware in town I'll give them a try. If not I'll go back to lowes and ask if theres a pallet some where out back.

[kinalfarm]

you could use mineral wool. it works very well under my fire bricks and pretty easy to find and easier to instal

[sawyer40]

The brick need to be raised as much as 3-4" in some spots that have settled. So my plan is to bring them up to within 1" of the bottom of the drop flu and brick the sides of the arch. No more wool blankets for the mice to ruin let em chew on the brick.

[maple flats]

I'm not sure what they call it but it looks like a Hershey bar with lots of little squares to break apart. When I use it I use the whole package and put pieces around the sugarhouse in sections of 3 or 4 of those squares. It works on most but not all mice, occosionally I see one after the treatment. I'm not sure if he didn't eat any or not enough or if ih might have been immune to it but the 2 I have seen like this were both the ones I call kangaroo mice, with an extremely long tail. Might be they don't eat chocolate. For those (not 2 in the same year) I put a pail 1/3 full of used antifreeze out with a rod across the top and peanut butter on the rod on a loosely fit can. That trick took 1 night to work each time. Make sure nothing else can get into the antifreeze, like your pet cat.

[sawyer40]

My grand father used plaster of paris mixed with cow feed and set a dish of water next to it.

[Dave Y]

Set A 5gal bucket with a little dog or cat food inthe bottom and add about an inch water. you will be suprised at the number of mice you catch. they die of exposure and the is no poison to worry about.