Few homeowners get through life without having to deal with mice on their properties at least one time, if not more. In some instances, a mouse infestation involves the living spaces of a home; in other cases, mice infest the garage. If you’ve found yourself dealing with mouse infestation in your garage, you need to understand what tactics need to be used to eradicate mice from that space. You also need to understand what you can do to safely and effectively cleanup mouse droppings in your garage.
Mouse Droppings are Not Just Harmless Little Rice-Like Bits
Mouse droppings are about the size of a grain of rice. The little bits can look rather innocuous. The grim reality is that mouse droppings can present a serious health threat to you and your loved one, in some cases.
Mouse droppings can be what technically are known as vectors for disease. What this means is that mouse droppings can carry dangerous bacteria or viruses that have the potential for infecting humans and making them ill.
Examples of germs that can be found mouse droppings include salmonella and hantavirus. Salmonella can make a person quite sick but is not likely to cause serious illness. Hantavirus is far different. An infection by this type of virus can result in something called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. About 35 percent of people who develop this syndrome will die.
Hantavirus remains alive in droppings for an extended period of time. Mouse droppings become very fragile when they dry out. Hantavirus can also be spread in the air. When dried droppings crumble, dust is created that can become airborne, carrying hantavirus along with it. If inhaled, a person can become infected.
Safety Gear and Preparing to Cleanup Mouse Droppings in Your Garage
The first step you need to take to safely and effectively cleanup mouse droppings in your garage is to find proper protective gear. Technically known as personal protective equipment or PPE, you need to make certain you have gear that is designed for protection when cleaning up a biohazard. The gear needs to include:
- Tyvek suit or similar protective outer garment
- Protective eyewear
- HEPA mask or respirator
- Gloves
Cordon Off Garage
The next step you have to take is to cordon off the garage. You need to keep anyone who doesn’t have appropriate personal protective equipment or gear away from the garage. Access must be restricted in this manner until the garage has been fully cleaned up.
Prepare Disinfecting Formula
You require a proper disinfecting solution when it comes to mouse droppings cleanup in a garage. You can make your own formula using a solution made from 9-parts water to 1-part chlorine bleach. In the alternative, you can purchase a commercial disinfectant like Odoban Disinfectant. Odoban Disinfectant can be purchased in retail outlets like Home Depot.
Dampen Mouse Droppings
As mentioned previously, mouse droppings have a propensity to crumble easily. When that happens, germs like the hantavirus can become airborne. Thus, you cannot simply dispatch with mouse droppings in your garage by sweeping them up or vacuuming them away. Those types of cleaning techniques can result in droppings dust and germs becoming airborne.
Before you take a step towards actually cleaning up droppings you need to saturate them with water to avoid crumbling. This can be accomplished by taking a spray bottle filled with the disinfectant formula you’ve elected to utilize. You gently spay the droppings until they are saturated. You need to allow the saturated droppings to soak for about 20 minutes. When this is accomplished, you can clean up the mouse droppings.
Cleanup and Remove Mouse Droppings
You can use something like paper towels to clean up droppings. The paper towels and mouse droppings can then be placed in a sturdy plastic bag for disposal.
You need to make certain that local community ordinances permit disposing of mouse droppings in your normal garbage. Some locales do have restrictions in this regard.
Disinfect Contaminated Garage
The last phase of the process to cleanup mouse droppings is disinfecting the garage. This is done using the disinfectant solution you’ve elected to utilize. You can spray the contaminated area in the garage and any objects that may have come into contact with mouse droppings. Keep in mind that various objects in the garage as well as area in which droppings were not specifically found may be contaminated by dust from old droppings that crumbled.
Professional Assistance to Cleanup Mouse Droppings in Your Garage
If you want to be certain that mouse droppings in your garage are thoroughly and safely eliminated, you might want to consider engaging the services of a mouse droppings cleanup specialist. This type of biohazard remediator has the experience, equipment, tools, and resources necessary to accomplish cleanup of mouse droppings in your garage in an efficient, safe manner.