Rodent Control in Millvale

Millvale sits on the north bank of the Allegheny, right across from Lawrenceville, where Girty's Run comes down into the river. Grant Avenue and North Avenue carry most of the business district. Older brick and frame houses climb the hills on both sides of the creek. Small borough, tight streets, a lot of old stone foundations and not much flat ground.

Girty's Run has flooded Millvale more than once. Water in the basement wrecks more than the furnace. It soaks foundations, loosens mortar and pushes rats out of creek banks and sewers looking for high ground.

Rats after Girty's Run comes up

After high water, rats flushed out of the creek and the storm drains move into yards and basements nearby. Flood-damaged walls, warped door frames and open basement windows make it easy for them. As things dry out, check the basement walls, door frames and window wells, and keep food in sealed bins. If your basement took on water, say so on the call. New gaps after a flood are the main thing basement work looks for here. Mortar that sat underwater for a day can wash out in spots you won't notice until the mice find it.

Sealing is worth doing even if the creek floods again. It keeps rodents out in between, and the house can get rechecked after the next high water. That's proofing work, usually paired with rat control and a drain check.

• Homes near Girty's Run and the river
• Basement walls and doors damaged by water
• Storm drains and creek banks near yards

Route 28, the rail line and the hillside streets

Homes near the river sit close to the rail lines and Route 28, where brush and embankments give rats long stretches of cover. They travel from those edges toward yards with gardens, trash and bird feeders. Up the hills off Evergreen Avenue, the houses back onto wooded slopes and the problem is mice coming in out of the trees each fall, which calls for mouse trapping and sealing.

Gardens and chicken coops up the hill draw rats too. Keep feed in metal cans and pick up fallen produce so the yard isn't feeding them all summer. Burrows near the coop call for yard rat work. A coop on a raised platform with hardware cloth around the base keeps them from digging under it.

Millvale is its own borough, so outdoor rat complaints, including rats on the creek bank or public land, go to the Allegheny County Health Department, not 311. Over the 40th Street Bridge, Lawrenceville deals with the same riverbank rats.

Around Millvale: Grant Avenue · North Avenue · Girty's Run · Millvale Riverfront Park · St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church · Evergreen Avenue (ZIP 15209)

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