Pest Control
Not sure what you are dealing with? Start here. An inspection tells you what it is before anything is treated.
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Mouse control in London
Mice nest inside the structure rather than outside it, which is why the same cupboard keeps producing droppings. Closing the gaps is most of the work.
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The problem
What you are dealing with
The house mouse differs from the rat in a way that changes the whole approach: it does not need to commute. A mouse will nest inside the building — in a wall void, under kitchen units, behind a boiler, in loft insulation, in the back of a rarely-opened cupboard — and live its entire life within a small radius of that nest.
It also needs very little. A mouse can squeeze through a gap around 6mm wide, gets most of its water from food, and nibbles at many places rather than feeding in one, which is why droppings turn up scattered along a route rather than concentrated in a heap. Small quantities of crumbs, pet food or birdseed are enough to sustain a population.
They breed quickly, and they gnaw as a matter of course — including on cable insulation, which is the reason mouse activity around consumer units and appliances is worth dealing with promptly rather than tolerating.
Signs to look for
Signs of mice in a property
Mouse evidence is small and scattered. The usual indicators:
- Droppings around 3–6mm, dark and rice-grain shaped, scattered along skirting, in drawers, in cupboards and on shelves
- A distinctive stale, musty ammonia smell in an enclosed cupboard or under the sink
- Shredded nesting material — paper, fabric, insulation, cardboard — tucked behind or beneath something
- Gnawed corners on food packaging, or small holes in stored dry goods
- Light scratching or scurrying inside walls, under floors or above ceilings, mostly at night
- Smudged grey smear marks along regular runs where they travel close to a wall
Why it needs doing properly
Why professional treatment may be needed
A couple of traps under the sink deals with the mice that find them and leaves the nest, the rest of the population and every gap they are using exactly as before. Mice reproduce fast enough that this rarely gets ahead of the problem.
The harder part is proofing. Mice use gaps that are easy to walk past: the hole where a pipe enters under a unit, a gap behind a kickboard, an unsealed service entry, the space around a soil pipe, a worn door sweep. Finding those and closing them properly is what turns a treatment into a result.
In flats and shared buildings, mice move between units through risers and wall voids, so a single-flat approach often will not hold. That is worth knowing before you spend months on it.
What the inspection involves
- We look for droppings, smears and nesting material to establish where the activity is concentrated and how far it extends.
- We check under and behind kitchen units, around appliances, beneath the sink, in airing cupboards and around boilers and pipe runs.
- We examine the fabric of the building for entry points: service penetrations, gaps behind kickboards, cavity openings, loft eaves, door thresholds and floor voids.
- In flats we consider shared routes — risers, ceiling voids and party wall penetrations — since that often explains why a previous treatment did not hold.
How the treatment works
- We place treatment along the active runs and close to harbourage, in covered points positioned away from children and pets.
- Because mice feed at many points rather than one, treatment is distributed across the route rather than concentrated in a single location.
- Proofing is carried out or specified as part of the job — sealing the gaps identified in the inspection with materials mice cannot gnaw through.
- We monitor over follow-up visits and adjust placement based on what the evidence shows, rather than leaving points down indefinitely.
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Dealing with mice? Talk it through with us.
Call and describe what you have found. We will tell you what it is likely to be, what the inspection would involve and what happens next. The line is open 24 hours.
Open 24 hours · London and nearby areas
Preventing it happening again
Treatment deals with what is there now. These are the things that reduce the chance of it coming back.
- Seal gaps around pipework under sinks and behind appliances, and close the void behind kitchen kickboards.
- Store dry food, pet food and birdseed in rigid sealed containers rather than bags or cardboard.
- Sweep under and behind appliances regularly — the crumbs that collect there sustain a population on their own.
- Fit or replace worn brush strips and thresholds on external doors.
- Keep loft storage in sealed boxes rather than cardboard, and check insulation occasionally for disturbance.
Mice in London properties
Mice are one of the most common pests in London flats, and the reason is usually the building rather than the flat. Converted houses and purpose-built blocks are full of continuous voids, shared risers and service penetrations that let mice move freely between units, so treating one flat while the neighbouring void stays open tends to produce a short quiet spell and then a return. Where the inspection points that way, we will tell you what needs raising with the building.
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EVO Pest Control works across London and nearby areas, in homes and in commercial premises, from 1 Fulham Palace Rd, London W6 8AB.
Areas we coverQuestions
Mice — common questions
If your question is not here, call and ask. It is a quick conversation and it usually saves a visit either way.
07886 109682Roughly 6mm — about the width of a pencil. That is why proofing is so much fussier than it sounds, and why the gaps that matter are usually ones people have walked past for years.
They contaminate food and surfaces with droppings and urine, and they gnaw persistently, including on cable insulation. That combination is the reason to deal with them promptly rather than tolerate a low level of activity.
Mice are largely nocturnal and stay close to cover, so droppings, smears and nesting material are usually the only evidence you will find. That evidence is more useful than a sighting anyway, because it maps the route.
Yes, and in converted buildings they often do, travelling through shared risers and wall voids. If the inspection suggests that is what is happening, treating your flat alone is unlikely to hold and we will say so.
Proofing is part of how we approach mouse work, because treatment on its own tends to be temporary. We will identify the gaps during the inspection and tell you which are within scope and which need a builder.
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