rats and soil pipe

Ms Porter · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:22 am Post Subject: rats and soil pipe

I have an internal bathroom with a soil pipe running from roof, right down into the ground. The floor is concrete but the area round the soil pipe (inside a party wall) is open and there\\\'s just the earth. We\\\'ve had rats coming into the cavity wall after having burrowed up through the earth. I have had a builder pour concrete round the soil pipe to block the earth off. Could this result in the (plastic) soil pipe cracking? Was there a better way to deal with the problem? The house was built in 1995 but the property developers deny responsibility.

breezer · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 11:28 am Post Subject:

blocking a rats path only makes it go elsewhere / another way round

there is how ever a cure, a rat trap (similar to mouse trap only bigger,available from diy superstore)

you decide which is which

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AdamW · Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2004 1:34 pm Post Subject:

A desperate solution: just as some people get cats to get rid of mice problems, a small dog is a great way to get rid of rats. I believe terriers are great ratting dogs. The rats may be afraid of the dog smell as well, they learn soon enough!

Mind, it does mean you have a dog for the next 15 years. Perhaps you should call that "Plan B"

keyplayer · Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2004 6:07 pm Post Subject:

Control as such is fine, but you should NOT have sewer rats invading your space! I had a similar problem recently, due to a tree growing near my sewer inspection cover, the roots found a way into the sewer making a tunnel through which rats emerged. There should always be more than an earth barrier between your space and the sewage route. As far as I'm aware there is no problem with burying plastic waste pipes in concrete, that is what my system is like but you need to be confident that the pipe is intact and discharging in the right place. If you've got rats coming up from the sewer then there is a way in and out of it which needs rectifying IMMEDIATELY. For such a new house this doesnt sound right - might be worth involving Building Control (incidentally, by law I think you should report sewer rat sightings to your council but dont quote me)