Open Forum

Sarah,
OK, there is a lot to unpack here.
1st I wouldn't be too concerned about off gassing from the the sealant around the pipes. You should have enough airflow in the building to fairly quickly disperse off gassing from that small amount of sealant.
2nd Your inclination that blocking entry as your first step is spot on. Here Autumn is resulting in mice coming in to find shelter for the Winter so one additional thing to check is blocking holes near the ground line both above and below.
3rd Would not recommend steel wool in the heating venting system. If mice are getting in that system your facilities team has a bigger problem, potentially a compromised system that is losing efficiency. Better to find where they are getting in to the system and block entry. If you suspect they are coming through the heating system trap around the vents to confirm it. Rather than putting steel wool in the system which will affect efficiency try putting steel window screen on the inside of the vent covers.
4th It is interesting that you are seeing an increase of a long standing issue. Curious what the cause might be. If this is a building you share with others and therefore do not have control over policy in other parts of the building, that may be a factor. Again trapping will help determine where they are and possibly where they are coming from and you may be able to help facilities develop a plan to find out more information.
Good Luck!

------------------------------
Bradford Bredehoft
CEO
Museum Study, LLC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-30-2022 02:26 PM
From: Sarah Carlson
Subject: Mouse Problems vs Pollutant Concerns

Hello,

I work at a small anthropology museum housed in an academic building on a university campus. Our building has been experiencing a mouse problem for some time (probably since it was built, but they've been getting very bold lately). I've connected with our facilities team about attempting some exclusion methods to try and at least keep them out of the collections storage space. Their suggestions were to reseal our windows, and use a fire seal around the pipes (and hopefully some steel wool) in the heating vent running at the base of the wall (these run throughout the building, basically creating a Mouse Superhighway, but can't be totally blocked without cutting of heat to the room and creating system wide problems), and add some door sweeps to the doors. 

They shared the material safety data sheets with me for the two sealants, and I have some off-gassing concerns. We don't have access to a temporary storage space where the objects could wait out the off-gassing time. We do have an air purifier, but I don't imagine it is powerful enough to absorb everything. Does anyone happen to know of a safer material for collections sealing, or have any suggestions for how we could mitigate the risk?  I do think the mouse risk is quite high, perhaps high enough to offset the pollutant risk, but I also don't know how effective these measures will be at stopping the mouse problem, as the envelope of the building is wildly insecure. 

Also open to any other suggestions out there that I could suggest to the facilities team for exclusion methods in a collections storage space in a mouse infested building. 

Thanks to all,

Sarah

Original Message:
Sent: 10/3/2022 10:34:00 AM
From: Bradford Bredehoft
Subject: RE: Mouse Problems vs Pollutant Concerns

Sarah,
OK, there is a lot to unpack here.
1st I wouldn't be too concerned about off gassing from the the sealant around the pipes. You should have enough airflow in the building to fairly quickly disperse off gassing from that small amount of sealant.
2nd Your inclination that blocking entry as your first step is spot on. Here Autumn is resulting in mice coming in to find shelter for the Winter so one additional thing to check is blocking holes near the ground line both above and below.
3rd Would not recommend steel wool in the heating venting system. If mice are getting in that system your facilities team has a bigger problem, potentially a compromised system that is losing efficiency. Better to find where they are getting in to the system and block entry. If you suspect they are coming through the heating system trap around the vents to confirm it. Rather than putting steel wool in the system which will affect efficiency try putting steel window screen on the inside of the vent covers.
4th It is interesting that you are seeing an increase of a long standing issue. Curious what the cause might be. If this is a building you share with others and therefore do not have control over policy in other parts of the building, that may be a factor. Again trapping will help determine where they are and possibly where they are coming from and you may be able to help facilities develop a plan to find out more information.
Good Luck!

------------------------------
Bradford Bredehoft
CEO
Museum Study, LLC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-30-2022 02:26 PM
From: Sarah Carlson
Subject: Mouse Problems vs Pollutant Concerns

Hello,

I work at a small anthropology museum housed in an academic building on a university campus. Our building has been experiencing a mouse problem for some time (probably since it was built, but they've been getting very bold lately). I've connected with our facilities team about attempting some exclusion methods to try and at least keep them out of the collections storage space. Their suggestions were to reseal our windows, and use a fire seal around the pipes (and hopefully some steel wool) in the heating vent running at the base of the wall (these run throughout the building, basically creating a Mouse Superhighway, but can't be totally blocked without cutting of heat to the room and creating system wide problems), and add some door sweeps to the doors. 

They shared the material safety data sheets with me for the two sealants, and I have some off-gassing concerns. We don't have access to a temporary storage space where the objects could wait out the off-gassing time. We do have an air purifier, but I don't imagine it is powerful enough to absorb everything. Does anyone happen to know of a safer material for collections sealing, or have any suggestions for how we could mitigate the risk?  I do think the mouse risk is quite high, perhaps high enough to offset the pollutant risk, but I also don't know how effective these measures will be at stopping the mouse problem, as the envelope of the building is wildly insecure. 

Also open to any other suggestions out there that I could suggest to the facilities team for exclusion methods in a collections storage space in a mouse infested building. 

Thanks to all,

Sarah

Original Message:
Sent: 10/3/2022 10:34:00 AM
From: Bradford Bredehoft
Subject: RE: Mouse Problems vs Pollutant Concerns

Sarah,
OK, there is a lot to unpack here.
1st I wouldn't be too concerned about off gassing from the the sealant around the pipes. You should have enough airflow in the building to fairly quickly disperse off gassing from that small amount of sealant.
2nd Your inclination that blocking entry as your first step is spot on. Here Autumn is resulting in mice coming in to find shelter for the Winter so one additional thing to check is blocking holes near the ground line both above and below.
3rd Would not recommend steel wool in the heating venting system. If mice are getting in that system your facilities team has a bigger problem, potentially a compromised system that is losing efficiency. Better to find where they are getting in to the system and block entry. If you suspect they are coming through the heating system trap around the vents to confirm it. Rather than putting steel wool in the system which will affect efficiency try putting steel window screen on the inside of the vent covers.
4th It is interesting that you are seeing an increase of a long standing issue. Curious what the cause might be. If this is a building you share with others and therefore do not have control over policy in other parts of the building, that may be a factor. Again trapping will help determine where they are and possibly where they are coming from and you may be able to help facilities develop a plan to find out more information.
Good Luck!

------------------------------
Bradford Bredehoft
CEO
Museum Study, LLC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-30-2022 02:26 PM
From: Sarah Carlson
Subject: Mouse Problems vs Pollutant Concerns

Hello,

I work at a small anthropology museum housed in an academic building on a university campus. Our building has been experiencing a mouse problem for some time (probably since it was built, but they've been getting very bold lately). I've connected with our facilities team about attempting some exclusion methods to try and at least keep them out of the collections storage space. Their suggestions were to reseal our windows, and use a fire seal around the pipes (and hopefully some steel wool) in the heating vent running at the base of the wall (these run throughout the building, basically creating a Mouse Superhighway, but can't be totally blocked without cutting of heat to the room and creating system wide problems), and add some door sweeps to the doors. 

They shared the material safety data sheets with me for the two sealants, and I have some off-gassing concerns. We don't have access to a temporary storage space where the objects could wait out the off-gassing time. We do have an air purifier, but I don't imagine it is powerful enough to absorb everything. Does anyone happen to know of a safer material for collections sealing, or have any suggestions for how we could mitigate the risk?  I do think the mouse risk is quite high, perhaps high enough to offset the pollutant risk, but I also don't know how effective these measures will be at stopping the mouse problem, as the envelope of the building is wildly insecure. 

Also open to any other suggestions out there that I could suggest to the facilities team for exclusion methods in a collections storage space in a mouse infested building. 

Thanks to all,

Sarah

Original Message:
Sent: 9/30/2022 2:26:00 PM
From: Sarah Carlson
Subject: Mouse Problems vs Pollutant Concerns

Hello,

I work at a small anthropology museum housed in an academic building on a university campus. Our building has been experiencing a mouse problem for some time (probably since it was built, but they've been getting very bold lately). I've connected with our facilities team about attempting some exclusion methods to try and at least keep them out of the collections storage space. Their suggestions were to reseal our windows, and use a fire seal around the pipes (and hopefully some steel wool) in the heating vent running at the base of the wall (these run throughout the building, basically creating a Mouse Superhighway, but can't be totally blocked without cutting of heat to the room and creating system wide problems), and add some door sweeps to the doors. 

They shared the material safety data sheets with me for the two sealants, and I have some off-gassing concerns. We don't have access to a temporary storage space where the objects could wait out the off-gassing time. We do have an air purifier, but I don't imagine it is powerful enough to absorb everything. Does anyone happen to know of a safer material for collections sealing, or have any suggestions for how we could mitigate the risk?  I do think the mouse risk is quite high, perhaps high enough to offset the pollutant risk, but I also don't know how effective these measures will be at stopping the mouse problem, as the envelope of the building is wildly insecure. 

Also open to any other suggestions out there that I could suggest to the facilities team for exclusion methods in a collections storage space in a mouse infested building. 

Thanks to all,

Sarah