Thursday, November 23, 2023

The Hole

 A discovered hole needs to be closed
 

 Years back, I saw signs of mice inside a small closet when I first moved in hereNever gave it a thought. When you have a cat that a good mouser you tend not to think about such matters.  I never gave it a thought again until recently.  I had some unrelated work done inside that closet.  After the work was completed, I happened to notice an electrical wire passing through a hole in the floor.  The electrical wire looked like an older style of wire with a width one way of about 3/8 of an inch and a width the other way of about 1/4 of an inch. The hole that the wire passes through has a diameter of one inch.  I can imagine this excess of space could be an open invitation for mice traffic, although I see no indication of it I think it's best to block this possible entry way.

My first thought was to cut a round cylinder from a dowel, cut a thinner disk from a wider dowel and fasten it onto the cylinder as a cap to keep the work from falling into the hole.  A groove would also need to be cut along one side to allow the wire to pass.

The second idea was to design the above shape as a 3D computer image and create a plastic model with a 3D printer

I went with a lazy man plan #3.  I got a small jar filled with sand for extra weight and placed it over the hole.

The open gaps are likely two small for mice to pass without moving the jar.  If I see any moving of the jar, I will likely implement plan 1 or 2. I might not have any mice there anyway.  It is of course possible that there could be sometime in the future so I don't want to leave the ho;e total uncovered as it has been.

I had also rejected the easiest (of course) idea of placing steel wool as I feared long term, it could short the wires. Or this expanding foam stuff due to issues I've heard about it.

If anyone has suggestions on this, I would love to hear them.

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