How to Rodent-Proof Your Garage

January 27, 2026 · Regional Pest Guide Team · rodents prevention

The garage is ground zero for rodent entry. It has the largest opening in your home (the garage door), typically the most gaps and cracks, and often contains attractants like pet food, birdseed, grass seed, and clutter that provides nesting material.

Key Strategies

  • The garage door gap is your biggest vulnerability — install a heavy-duty threshold seal and side seals
  • Inspect the garage-to-house door — this interior door needs a door sweep too. If rodents get into the garage, this is their path into your living space
  • Seal around all utility penetrations — water pipes, electrical conduits, and HVAC lines where they pass through walls
  • Organize storage off the floor — use shelving and clear plastic bins instead of cardboard boxes (rodents love nesting in cardboard)

Additional Considerations

  • Store pet food, birdseed, and grass seed in sealed metal containers — rodents can chew through plastic
  • Keep the garage clean — sweep regularly and don’t let clutter accumulate, especially against walls
  • Remove vehicles from the garage periodically and inspect for rodent activity underneath and behind stored items
  • Set monitoring traps along walls — even if you don’t have an active problem, traps serve as an early warning system

Taking Action

The key themes here are garage sealing organization storage prevention. Start with prevention, monitor for early signs of problems, and escalate to targeted treatments only when needed. Most pest issues are far easier to prevent than to resolve after they’re established.

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