Mouse Home on the Range
We've had a stench coming from our range and it has not been my cooking!
Unfortunately, anytime we turned out the stovetop or the oven, we would get a strong smell of rodent and urine. Something needed to be done!
I pulled out the range when this odor first presented itself a few weeks ago figuring that maybe some mice had taken up residence behind the range or under the range since it is a warm place... I found some mouse poop and urine stains but I didn't think this was the source of our problem. I was hoping, but I wasn't sure.
While I had the range pulled out away from the cabinets, I vacuumed and then cleaned and then painted... I wanted to seal up any of the urine smell. Our problem was mostly minimized now but there were still some really stinky times especially when we used the broiler.
Then we attended a dinner party at the house of some close friends. They have the same model range as we do... a Frigidaire Gallery line... with a full commercial quality cooktop, five burner range... and, unfortunately for them, they had an even worse problem than we did! At this point I realized that perhaps the mice may have built a home inside our range since that is what our friends found in their range.
My friends informed me that they isolated the problem area to the area just under the stovetop. When they disassembled their stovetop, they found a mouse-haven in there... eaten away insulation... poop... urine... and the burnt ashes of a family of mice. I knew I needed to check my range now too.
This morning, I tackled this relatively small project. I removed the first few screws and then realized that I needed to dismantle all the burners... that involved about a dozen more screws... I popped off the entire top... low and behold... there was indeed a mouse home on our range!
I dug out our shop-vac and went to town vacuuming up poop. Then I pulled out all this dirty, clawed, frayed insulation. Some of that was wet with urine.
The range is now clean and it should be odor-free for the most part. The tenants have been forcibly evicted and the home on the range has been demolished.
Once I assemble everything again, I need to get started on lunch!
Unfortunately, anytime we turned out the stovetop or the oven, we would get a strong smell of rodent and urine. Something needed to be done!
I pulled out the range when this odor first presented itself a few weeks ago figuring that maybe some mice had taken up residence behind the range or under the range since it is a warm place... I found some mouse poop and urine stains but I didn't think this was the source of our problem. I was hoping, but I wasn't sure.
While I had the range pulled out away from the cabinets, I vacuumed and then cleaned and then painted... I wanted to seal up any of the urine smell. Our problem was mostly minimized now but there were still some really stinky times especially when we used the broiler.
Then we attended a dinner party at the house of some close friends. They have the same model range as we do... a Frigidaire Gallery line... with a full commercial quality cooktop, five burner range... and, unfortunately for them, they had an even worse problem than we did! At this point I realized that perhaps the mice may have built a home inside our range since that is what our friends found in their range.
My friends informed me that they isolated the problem area to the area just under the stovetop. When they disassembled their stovetop, they found a mouse-haven in there... eaten away insulation... poop... urine... and the burnt ashes of a family of mice. I knew I needed to check my range now too.
This morning, I tackled this relatively small project. I removed the first few screws and then realized that I needed to dismantle all the burners... that involved about a dozen more screws... I popped off the entire top... low and behold... there was indeed a mouse home on our range!
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| The loose insulation on the left side... partially filthy... is from a mouse making a nest. |
I dug out our shop-vac and went to town vacuuming up poop. Then I pulled out all this dirty, clawed, frayed insulation. Some of that was wet with urine.
The range is now clean and it should be odor-free for the most part. The tenants have been forcibly evicted and the home on the range has been demolished.
Once I assemble everything again, I need to get started on lunch!
Gross!!!
ReplyDeleteUGH
ReplyDeleteIt is fixed now. The big question is... How do we avoid this in the future? A mouse could not only cause a lot of expensive damage there but it could be dangerous damage too.
ReplyDelete