Sewer and Yard Rat Control in Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh yards are hardly ever flat. There's a stone or block retaining wall, a terraced bed, a back stoop over open dirt, a shed jammed against the hillside. Norway rats like every bit of it. They dig into the soft soil behind walls and under slabs, and they use fence lines and alleys to get around.

They live in the sewers too. Much of the city runs on old combined sewer lines, and the private lateral from your house to the main can be cracked clay pipe. A broken lateral gives rats a path into the soil around your foundation, and sometimes into the basement.

Call and tell us where you're seeing holes. The tech maps the burrows, checks for signs of the sewer and lays out a plan.

Telling a rat hole from a chipmunk hole

Chipmunks and voles dig too. A rat burrow is usually round, 2 to 4 inches across, with smooth packed edges and fresh dirt fanned out in front. They show up close to walls and slabs, near food. Look for worn paths in the grass along the fence, chewed trash cans or compost bins, and soil that's sinking next to a retaining wall. A rat by the storm drain or the cleanout is a hint about the sewer. Most yard rats live within a short run of where they eat, so the hole is usually close to the food. Our signs guide has more.

• Behind and under stone or block retaining walls
• Under back porches, stoops and decks
• Beneath sheds and alley garages
• Along fence lines and garden beds
• Near compost, bird feeders and chicken coops

Block walls and terraced yards in the South Hills

Hillside neighborhoods get the most burrow calls. Brookline back yards step down with block walls, and rats dig in behind them near the compost and the bird feeder. Up on Mount Washington, decks hang out over open ground and the woods come right up to the yard.

Heavy digging loosens the soil behind a wall over time. If yours is bulging or leaning, the rats can be handled, but the wall is a job for a mason.

The tech walks the whole lot, alley side included, and marks every hole. Many tamp them shut and come back a day or two later to see which ones got reopened. Those are the live ones. Then come locked bait stations along the runways and treatment of the active burrows. Follow-ups check both. When the holes stay closed and the stations stop showing feeding, you're done. Burrows near the house mean a look at the foundation and sill too.

When the sewer lateral is the problem

Rats keep showing up near a drain, or there are burrows right where the sewer line leaves the house? The tech may tell you to get a plumber to run a camera down the lateral. Fixing the pipe is plumbing. But they can tell you when the signs point that way. Sewer rats that reach the basement turn a yard problem into a basement problem. Homes near creeks, like Millvale by Girty's Run, see more of it after high water.

Meanwhile: lidded cans, closed compost bin, bird feeder down, woodpile off the ground. Never put loose poison out in a yard. Dogs, cats, kids and birds get into it. If rats are already inside, pair the yard work with indoor rat trapping. City residents can report rats on public property to 311, and the alley guide covers that.

Related: Rat Control, Rodent Proofing, Commercial Rodent Control

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