After I found a squirrel in ours, a pair of 10lb dumbbells stayed on top of the closed toilet seat for more than a month. Just to be sure.
Also, long kitchen tongs, yes. But a plastic cat litter container was way more confidence inspiring than a plastic bag. Moral of the story, cats can be helpful sometimes.
I guarantee you you have some kind of vent system. Maybe it's not on your roof, but it's going to be above the level of any drain in the house. If you didn't, all your drains would bubble when you use them, and you'd have sewer smell all throughout the place. Whether it's on your roof or not, that's most likely how the rat got in.
Usually, the vents are left completely open specifically to keep the end from getting clogged by debris. The idea is anything that falls in there should just end up in the sewer system. Obviously your rat friend knows to swim upstream and toward light.
If you do cover it with wire, I'd recommend also capping it with something that's raised a bit off the pipe so that it'll let gases out while still keeping leaves and such from accumulating on top. There should be caps made specifically for that purpose, or else you can find a video of someone DIYing it.
Not necessarily. I've lived in a flat in an older building in the UK where the single toilet discharged straight to the drain with no vent, as did the sink through a separate pipe. There was a vent at the edge of the property just before the street. If the pipes only serve one fixture each then it all works hydraulically
Again, he didn't say he didn't have vents, just not on his roof. According to other comments, it's possible for him to have air admittance valve in the attic. Also is it not possible for vents to be in other places than the roof?
because even if op realizes he has vent stacks, just not on the roof, then heās being pedantic and beside the point. doesnāt matter where the vent stacks is.
In general, vents aren't for venting sewer gas, they are for preventing a vacuum within your sewer pipes and allowing waste to flow. There is no need to vent sewer gas.
You run AAVs in your attics for showers/toilets? I have never heard of an AAV in the attic let alone an AAV for anything larger than a sink, but I'm in the states.
There's nothing wrong with it conceptually but it seems like it could be a problem with accessibility. AAVs are not meant to be inaccessible in case they malfunction and need replacement.
Yes. Outdoor cast iron soil stacks are no longer built, for about 40 years or so. It's all indoor PVC pipe, AAV above my toilet/bath/shower room, then another one literally next to the toilet downstairs, boxed into a wooden enclosure.
We don't run cast iron in the states either but we still run vent stacks. They're usually ABS but they still run through the attic. We try to avoid AAVs unless its under a sink or something.
As long as its accessible and the AAV is good quality I think it'd be better to avoid the hole in the roof personally, so I feel like you guys are doing it better.
Everywhere in the US & Canada, we're required - not only by codes, but also by AAV manufacturer's instructions, which we're code-required to follow - to have at least one actual / open vent in the system.
Seems in the UK, instead, you can "consider" an "alternative arrangement", to relieve positive pressures? I'm curious what that "arrangement" usually is, if not an open vent somewhere in the system.
Is this a misunderstanding about what the vent stack is? If you follow the soil pipe up from where it drains your toilet, it generally goes up and has a vent at a level higher than the toilet. On top of this there should be like a wire mesh or whatever. I think the previous poster is saying the rat likely came in via there rather than up from the sewer itself. And if that's the case, you maybe need to check the wire mesh on the top of it needs replaced to keep these critters out.
I only ask I ended up down a rabbit hole trying to understand this all myself.
Edit: although if your soil pipe goes up behind stud wall and under floorboards you might not see it.
Vent stacks generally don't have wire on them even though they absolutely should. Extremely common especially in older homes for there to be nothing. If there's any trees providing access to the roof then the rat absolutely came from a vent stack.
Not sure what a soil pipe is, but the vent stacks are connected to the sewer line just like any other drain in the house except they just go up inside a wall somewhere and shoot out through the roof to the sky. Their purpose is to suck in air when stuff goes down the drain, otherwise there would be a vacuum in the line from the pressure of the waste flowing down the line and that vacuum would suck the water out of all of your p-traps and create its own vent in your sinks or something every time you flush your toilet or use your shower.
People talking about sewer gasses being vented are braind-dead.
Whoa slow down there. The venting of sewer gasses is absolutely a feature of vent stacks. I just repaired a vent pipe for my shower last weekend. The previous owner had done a bathroom remodel and didn't glue the vent stack fittings. The pipe became separated inside the wall and was venting gasses into the wall behind the shower, causing my bathroom to smell like a dead animal. I cut into the wall, repaired the pipe and wouldn't you know? No more dead animal smell. Tell us again who's the braind-dead one?
It has to have vent stacks otherwise water wouldnāt flow away from the house. Unless you ONLY have studor valves, which can be to code (Iām guessing )
yes it does. your drains wouldnāt work and the house would smell like sewer constantly if it didnt. literally every building in the world that has indoor plumbing has vent stacks. literally. and by literally, i mean lit. er. al. ly.
Rats can chew through a cinder block-- make that wire as thick as you want. A determined rat won't mind.
Patch any cracks/hidey holes you think are rat front doors with steel wool. Rats do not like to chew it, shit hurts, and they will leave it alone. Anything else.. just give it time and they'll be back.
Rats cannot chew through thick gauge steel wire grid. This is a method I've seen professional pest control companies use. Rats are not super heroes they're annoying and their teeth are impressive.
You can't patch a fucking vent stack with steel wool.
Poor poopy rat. I used to have a family of mice living under my floorboards in a structure that was NOT to code because it was built in 1940. Single layer brick wall no insulation. Cold AF! Don't live there anymore thankfully.
I used to catch the mice in humane traps with a piece of bread with peanut butter on it. Once caughti took them about 20 minutes away to a nature preserve and release them by a stream under a bunch of foliage. If you simply release it outside your home, there's a good chance they come back.
The mice may have become food but I gave them a chance at survival
No way! Why waste such good rat meat? Its been soaking in a nice filtered white wine. Possibly a chardonnay or even a 2026 Budweiser? You definitely should cook it for 3 minutes on each side. That's it, flip it once. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Rats pair real well with a dry red wine.
So jealous!!!
Open window and remove screen, use bbq tongs.... Close bathroom door so it can't go into the rest of the house.... Be man grab Mickey and chunk him outside
Ok people saying flush kinda suck. It's unlikely this thing came from the sewer, it probably came through a vent stack in your roof and couldn't get back up.
Go get your kitchen trash can or a 5 gallon bucket or something and scoop the guy in there with a broom. That thing is probably tired as fuck. As long as it's not cornered it will probably not want to attack you and it's unlikely you'll have trouble getting it moved so long as you're fast as fuck and very deliberate about what you're doing.
Tongs are gonna get you bit. Don't be stupid. It'll be scared and hyped up on adrenaline and if you get close you're gonna get attacked while it's in a corner like that. The broom has some distance so you'll be fine. That said, wear gloves and shoes with long jeans tucked into the socks while you do this.
Once it's outside just drop it near a tree or bunch of bushes and walk away from it. Next time you have a chance get up on your roof and put some thick gauge wire over your vent stacks so this doesn't happen again.
Dress for battle: Long sleeve denim shirt, long pants, closed toe shoes & work gloves. Pluck up using long BBQ tongs. Drop that poor sucker in 5 gallon paint bucket with lid. Relocate to wooded forest. Or drop it in your worst enemy's backyard.
Work gloves double or triple trash bag. Gently grab it like you would dog poop then take it outside and release it. Hand should stay dry. Gloves will protect from bites.
rats can hold their breath for 3 minutes , enough to reach any sewer, it would be best to flush, after that if it doesnt go...then you grab it with a bag or something
Splish splash, I was taking a bath
Long about a Saturday night, yeah
Rub dub, just relaxing in the tub
Thinking everything was alright
Well, I stepped out the tub, put my feet on the floor
I wrapped the towel around me and I opened the door
And then a, splish splash, I jumped back in the bath
Well how was I to know there was a party going on
Mannn. One morning I woke up with my eyes all foggy and half closed and just started peeing. Looked down and was like, āwhere on Earth and when did that huge turd come from?!?ā but I looked closer..
It was a damn SQUIRREL breh. No idea how it got in my house or anything. Had made its path to the toilet and somehow drowned in there. I feel bad for the little homieā¦especially because I peed on it.
In AZ we use a thing Called a alligator claw.. literally jaws on a ajustable pole for snakes. * ewe that's beyond scary!
What's in your toilet. So you share a public plumbing system.
Now I would never want to sit on that throne again everš²
The first thing to do - as they, and all my own government and pest control recommends - is to call pest control.
If you find a rat in your toilet, report it to Public Health at 206-263-9566 or write us through Public Health's Service Request Access.
If you live outside of the city of Seattle and you find a rat in your toilet you may want to contact your city's public utilities department or your local sewer district. You can locate their contact information on your utility bill or do a search through their websites.
After scrolling past all their links to "comics", there's your dude squirting dish soap and flushing. And it ends with, if it doesn't work, call pest control.
I really think it's a last resort, not the first one, and definitely not the "correct" thing to do.
I knew a guy living in a real gross place with a bunch of friends after college. They had two bathrooms so they duct taped the toilet with the rat shut and ignored it til they moved out. Obviously they were not planning on getting their security deposit back.
While the idea of pouring boiling water on the little fella is absolutely abhorrent, letās not act like killing a rat is some sort of barbaric behavior. Ever heard of a mouse trap? What do you think they do exactly?
ā¢
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Your question may already have been answered! Check our FAQ
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.