Vinyl is harder for them than brick or stucco, but they still get up. Smooth vinyl panels give poor grip on their own, so mice use what is attached to the house instead: corner posts, J-channel, downspouts, utility lines, trellises, and shrubs touching the wall. From there they reach the roofline.
Mice are shockingly good climbers. They can scale rough brick and stone easily. Stucco is no obstacle. But vinyl siding is tougher because the face of each panel is slick. That doesn’t mean they can’t get into your home, though. Just because vinyl isn’t climbable doesn’t mean that everything else around it isn’t.
Mice can easily climb corner posts and J-channels. The same is true for downspouts and cable or utility lines that run to the roofline. If you have trellises or lattice, or even certain kinds of climbing vines, then you may as well have a rodent staircase. Shrubs and tree branches work just as well.
Once at the top, rodents are able to access the home through a variety of gaps that people don’t think too much about. Among them are gaps where siding meets soffit, roofline and gutter seams, torn screens on gable and roof vents, chimney flues, and openings where pipes and cables pass through the wall.
There is also the possibility that mice don’t even have to climb. Vinyl sometimes peels at the bottom and leaves a hollow space behind siding. Mice can slip in there and then travel up inside the wall cavity, out of sight.
To reduce the odds of mice climbing your vinyl siding, you can trim branches back at least a few feet from the roof. It also helps to seal the tops and bottoms of corner posts and any open J-channel ends. Screen vents with hardware cloth. Then seal utility penetrations with chew-resistant material. Foam alone won’t do the trick.
If mice are getting into your walls or attic, Mosquito Squad of Long Island can help. Mosquito Squad finds how mice are getting in, clears them with traps and bait stations, and seals the entry points with chew-resistant materials. Annual inspections will help you protect your home over time.
