A Tall Of Rats And Mold

I received a frantic call from a homeowner that had a rat running around her condo on Siesta Key. The rat had been:

• eating her fruit on the counter,
• getting into her trash,
• chewing on the couch &
• leaving droppings and urine everywhere.

We responded and did a complete inspection of the condo.  It appeared as though the rat was coming and going thru a hole under the dishwasher in the slab. We tried to take the dishwasher out so we could seal the entry point but the tile had been installed after the dishwasher, so it was basically built-in.  We finally got the dishwasher’s feet turned down enough to clear the counter and tile, allowing it to clear enough to be slid out.  Or so we thought as the copper water line had no slack for us to pull the dishwasher out. So, again we are at a stand still.  A plumber was called to remove the dishwasher so we could seal the entry points.

Since we could not seal the entry point right away we set numerous rat traps throughout the condo to capture and remove the unwanted pest.  Continuing the inspection of the condo, we went into the guest bedroom where the home owner was concerned that there might be something in the water turn off area since we found an opening under the dishwasher already .  She opened the closet and went to move a few items that were stored in the closet and wow, were we surprised.

It appeared as though there was a leak of some sort coming from the water turn off area.  The wall was covered in black mold. We removed the panel to the water turn off area and there was definitely a leak, and it was still leaking. Water was just running out of the cast iron pipe.  I advised the homeowner that she needed to call the management company and also a plumber again.

Everyone Working On A Solution To Be Rat And Mold Free

At this point the rodent was the least of their concern.  This leak had been going on for sometime because unfortunately it was in a closet in an unoccupied room, used only as storage and rarely looked at.  The management company sent out a mold specialist and a plumber and everyone is working together to get this homeowner “back-to-normal!”