Rodent Control in Brookline

Brookline is one of the bigger neighborhoods in the South Hills. Brookline Boulevard is the main drag, and the side streets go up and down the hills lined with brick single homes, most from the 1920s through the 1940s.

Solid houses, but they're getting up there. Most of them have the same layout: steps up to the front door, garage underneath, yard stepping down out back. Mortar wears, the garage under the house loses its door seal, and every sloped yard needs a retaining wall. Each one of those is a way in.

Mice in the garage under the house

Lots of Brookline homes have the garage built into the basement level, facing the street. Worn bottom seals and gaps at the frame corners let mice straight into the basement. Bird seed, grass seed and dog food stored in the garage keep them there. A new seal, sealing around the frame and moving the seed into metal cans often makes a real difference. That's the kind of door and sill sealing the tech handles.

Mice in the garage and basement are the most common call here, mostly fall and winter. Those jobs pair basement trapping with sealing the door and sill. Basements here are often block, with joints that wear out over time.

Front steps and porches built on fill dirt can hide burrows too. A hole beside the front steps or under the porch slab is worth mentioning, so the front of the house gets checked and not just the yard.

Rats behind the block wall

Back yards step down the hill in terraces held up by block or stone walls. Rats dig behind and under them, especially near the compost and bird feeder. In warmer months, that's what people call about. The tech checks the walls, sets locked bait stations and treats the burrows, plus trapping if they've made it inside.

Pittsburgh freeze and thaw is rough on block retaining walls. Blocks shift, soil washes out, gaps open, and rats move in. If a wall is bulging or leaning, say so on the call. The burrows can be handled. The wall is a mason's job.

Nearby, Mt. Lebanon has a lot of the same garages and yards, and Mount Washington has the same steep lots. For a sense of what changes the price, see the cost guide.

• Block and stone retaining walls on terraced yards
• Compost bins and bird feeders near the walls
• Gaps where the wall blocks have shifted

Around Brookline: Brookline Boulevard · Brookline Memorial Park · Pioneer Avenue · Edgebrook Avenue · West Liberty Avenue edge · Moore Park (ZIP 15226)

Also serving Lawrenceville, South Side Flats and Slopes, Bloomfield, Squirrel Hill, Shadyside, Mount Washington, Polish Hill, Mt. Lebanon, Millvale.