Rats find their ways into our homes and gardens when the environment seems ideal for them but they can cause huge problems for homeowners.

As the temperatures decrease in the colder months, rats will try to find somewhere warm and with shelter, including areas like garages.

To help you make sure your garage is secure and doesn’t become a home for rats, garage expert Richard Berry at Lidget Compton has shared some tips to keep rodents away from outbuildings.

Pests such as mice and rats will find their way into dry places looking for food and warmth and with garages and outhouses seeing less use throughout the winter months, outbuildings can make the perfect new home for unwanted visitors. 

The garage expert advises The garage expert advises homeowners to avoid storing anything edible in their garage or outbuilding (Image: Getty) Pests can cause damage to the contents of your garage or outhouse, including cars with rats, foxes and squirrels in the UK known to chew through expensive cabling. 

How to keep rats away from your garage

Keep food elsewhere

Lidget Compton’s Richard Berry says rats and mice will often come inside foraging for food so it’s important to make sure you don’t store anything edible in your garage or outbuilding.

This includes pet food, seeds for birds and grass seeds. Additionally, make sure you don’t have any food or food residue left in your car because rats have an excellent sense of smell and might make their way into the car to investigate and cause damage along the way.

Store firewood on shelving

Homeowners with log burners will often keep firewood in the garage on the floor but this isn’t wise if you want rodents to stay away.

A natural material, firewood is a good shelter for rodents and once within the garage, they may hide here before coming out at night to cause further damage.

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To deter them from doing this, keep firewood on shelves high up or alternatively look for somewhere away from the garage to store your firewood. 

Keep your garage tidy

Rodents and other pests love clutter. They will hide and scavenge in anything left on the floor of your garage or outhouse, chewing through things to both help them look for food and to keep their teeth filed down as they grow continuously.

To prevent attracting unwanted visitors, keep items in the garage as tidy as possible, investing in storage solutions such as shelving and boxes.

If you have to store things on the floor, ensure the items are as far away from your car as possible to avoid any crossover.

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In addition, rodents are also attracted to bins so keep your bins far away from your garage or garden room to prevent them easily moving from the bins to the garage.

Regularly check for entry points

Rats and mice can squeeze through very small gaps so any small gaps or spaces available could allow them to get in.

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This includes under doors so if your garage door has a rubber sealant it's important to check this regularly and if it has perished or shows signs of damage, you should get it replaced.

Fill any holes in brickwork or doors temporarily with copper mesh as rodents will struggle to chew through this.

However, they can still get through it so make sure you plan for a more permanent solution to keep your valuables inside the garage or garden room safe.