PUR Black Gun Foam and copper mesh for keeping out rats

[Pallet Fancier]

Hi folks. I read an American website that recommended PUR Black Gun Foam because apparently, rats won't eat through it. It seems to be a mostly American product, however. Can anyone recommend an equivalent available in the UK, or speak from experience as to whether using solidifying foam actually works?

I've also got a few rolls of copper mesh which I'm going to wrap around the base of a new shed I'll be putting up, soon. I'll be using lambs wool in plastic bags to insulate it (I've been collecting them out of insulated packaging for frozen food) and am worried the scent of the wool might attract the rats, hence the copper mesh barrier.

 

[Sideways]

Mice at my dad's used to eat newspaper freshly soaked in domestos. I don't trust anything except metal to be really rodent proof !

 

[Old.bodger]

Normal spray building foam impregnated with stainless steel wire wool works well.

 

[mikej460]

I lined the base of our veg compost bin with quite solid small square mesh and the rats chewed through it so I hope your copper mesh is thick enough. You really need ventilation under a shed unless you build it using a similar to MikeG's thread Build a shed Mike's way | UKworkshop.co.uk

Or you could make sure the shed floor is thick tanalised wood and sits on a concrete or paved slab or at least a compacted bed of MOT with 100mm tanalised beams supporting the shed. If it goes on bare earth the little beggars will burrow.

 

[Pallet Fancier]

Hi Mike,

I'm using probase plastic grids filled with small diameter gravel. Then a frame of seasoned timber bearers (joists out of a Victorian town building that got demolished), then the shed sits on top of that. There should be room for some PIR insulation under the floor thanks to the joists raising everything. I had intended the PIR to sit on the probase with no gap.

Copper mesh will be stapled around the bottom of the walls at ground level.

 

[mikej460]

Hi Mike,

I'm using probase plastic grids filled with small diameter gravel. Then a frame of seasoned timber bearers (joists out of a Victorian town building that got demolished), then the shed sits on top of that. There should be room for some PIR insulation under the floor thanks to the joists raising everything. I had intended the PIR to sit on the probase with no gap.

Copper mesh will be stapled around the bottom of the walls at ground level.

Whereabouts in Cheshire are you? I'm originally from Middlewich, which is where my family still live.

 

[Alasdair]

I used corugated iron sheet cut in half lengthways and then buried it 12"" down to stop them digging under it. Also laid slates around the shed as well. Works very well. You can see them attempting it but they never bother going deep enough to get under. There are very few things they wont chew through. There a nightmare. I don't use poison but have had success contolling them with bicarbonate soda and flour or palster of paris. Google it for the recipe.