removing rat poop

[chris142]

I inherated my father's garage. The garage was packed full with trash and a car. The rats must have lived in there for 40 yrs. The poop was 2ft thick and now the floor is stained and has places where a shovel wont scrape it up. Its like cement.

What will remove it?

 

[Ben7203]

Are you sure it is poop? Hammer drill and chisel? Make sure you get a good breathing mask! For the stains, bleach and a pressure washer

 

[chris142]

Ya its poop.we shoveled 3 dumpsters worth out of the garage

 

[nyy845]

Are you sure it is poop? Hammer drill and chisel? Make sure you get a good breathing mask! For the stains, bleach and a pressure washer

This.

Additionally:Use a respirator (not just a dust mask); lots of nasty stuff that will make you sick.

Once you get the bulk stuff out, bleach the **** out of the floors. Not just for stains but to sanitize.

 

[SteveCh]

Yeah, rat droppings have viruses and bacteria in them, like any other.

You do not want to breathe in dust particles, as microorganisms will be present and get into your lungs. If I were doing this, I would even shave off my beard for the duration of the task to give a better seal with the dust mask.

Hanta virus has killed some people in my area of the midwest. This virus is present in the feces of a certain mouse population and people have become infected by cleaning out sheds, garages, basements, etc., sweeping up dirt that includes some mouse droppings. These are not rats, but you get the idea.

I wouldn't have any children or pets around while I was doing the job, either.

 

[chris142]

The poop was so deep that It prevented the car doors from opening! That part is gone. Now I'm just dealing with the aftermath. Thinking of wetting the floor to soften the poop and a hot pressure washer will keep the dust down.

 

[SteveCh]

Sounds like a plan.

I have a brother-in-law who is a hoarder-type and whose house and basement are jammed to the gills and pretty dirty to boot. However, your story beats his all to heck. Couldn't open the car doors! Man, that is bad.

 

[nehog]

(Sorry, I just had to say it...)

I'd probably want a full hazmat suit before going in there myself!

 

[SMKS]

Just for anyone a similar situation,

The CDC has a pretty good site about how to safely clean up rodent droppings. As you know, rodent poo can harbor some pretty nasty diseases.

BTW - one of the main points to this is that it appears many of the diseases only last 5 days in the poo. I'm no expert, that's just what I gather from the article. You still need to take precautions when cleaning up poo that's more than 5 days old.

http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/cleaning/

 

[chris142]

Sorry no pics. I could not dig under the car to get it off the blocks so I chained it to my jeep and pulled the whole mess out in one piece! Looked like an earthquake as the whole area around the car was moving.

I'm still cleaning out shelves and such when that's done ill buy gallons of bleach!

 

[chris142]

Not having much luck with a pressure washer. Tried bleach,simple green,dish detergent smeared with a broom etc. Its not having any effect on the poop and piss

 

[jhelrey]

Burn it down!

Jack hammer out the floor and pour new?!?!

 

[nehog]

Here in NH (and in most of New England) we have what is called an 'Ice Chipper' and I know there is a similar tool used in barns to scrape up--

dried animal poop!

HD and TSC carry floor scrapers, get one as narrow as you can. If you can find an ice chipper (they are usually only about 4" wide) that will be better. What ever you get, make sure it is sharp.

 

[chris142]

I got most of it off. I tried several products and ended up using gasoline and a stiff broom. There's still some stains but no more 1 inch mountains of poop. A shovel just bounced off them.

 

[Junkman]

Save your money on the bleach, and buy swimming pool chlorine. Mix it with water, and make your own bleach, at whatever strength you want.

 

[jhelrey]

Save your money on the bleach, and buy swimming pool chlorine. Mix it with water, and make your own bleach, at whatever strength you want.

Just don't stand in the enclosed garage.

 

[RStewart]

What kind of car? and good luck with the remainder of clean up.

 

[chris142]

It was a 70 bug

 

[slickgt1]

Why are there no pictures. I can't picture 2' of rat poop at all. WTF, how does this happen.

 

[4xdog]

...The poop was 2ft thick...

...no more 1 inch mountains of poop...

Two feet or one inch?

This makes no sense. BATS, I could believe. RATS, almost impossible. Gasoline? That makes no sense either. There are very few -- maybe no -- biological products, including poop, that are soluble in nonpolar organic solvents.

Pictures or it didn't happen.

 

[vtec?lol]

^ I'm with him
If gas dissolved it, it was something oil based that spilled.
Old leaded paint, sludge, etc

 

[SteveCh]

Hard to imagine regular, run-of-the-mill rats [such as the common Norway rat we've all seen] doing it. But, maybe,

If packrats live in the area, they sure can do it. Paleobiologists have actually studied these huge packrat "deposits" meters high. Those took a long time to accumulate, but I can see a couple feet in a garage over a 4-decade spell.

The article I read about this said the deposits were quite hard, like amber [fossilized tree sap]. They were having to go to great lengths to bust off chunks.

So, could be. I had a packrat in a toolshed and didn't know it until a few months' of his damage were evident to me. Ruined a toolbelt by filling a pouch on one side with his "stuff." Also discovered another deposit area at one back corner of my bench, behind some junk. Had to toss several things and never did get all the hardened stuff off the bench. Got most of it, but you can still see where it was.

 

[Iron Cat]

I'm having a hard time seeing that much rat **** but Muriatic acid would probably make short work of it.

 

[rsieracki]

the poop was so deep that it prevented the car doors from opening! .

holy ****!!!!!!!!

 

[chris142]

We are in the desert and the desert is alive with all kinds of critters at night. The little bastards even ate through the garage door to get in. After shoveling the two feet of poop and sticks out to the dumpster I was left with a 1 inch tall mountains of poop that we're stuck to the concrete floor. leaving your car un moved for a week and they will build a nest in it that quick and have the wiring completely eaten

 

[4xdog]

Hard to imagine regular, run-of-the-mill rats [such as the common Norway rat we've all seen] doing it. But, maybe,

If packrats live in the area, they sure can do it. Paleobiologists have actually studied these huge packrat "deposits" meters high. Those took a long time to accumulate, but I can see a couple feet in a garage over a 4-decade spell.

The article I read about this said the deposits were quite hard, like amber [fossilized tree sap]. They were having to go to great lengths to bust off chunks.

So, could be. I had a packrat in a toolshed and didn't know it until a few months' of his damage were evident to me. Ruined a toolbelt by filling a pouch on one side with his "stuff." Also discovered another deposit area at one back corner of my bench, behind some junk. Had to toss several things and never did get all the hardened stuff off the bench. Got most of it, but you can still see where it was.

Good point! I take back part of my comment -- we have Norway rats here in the "East", but the Sierras probably DO have wood rats. Possible for sure with that variety of rat and many, many years.

I have this alternative vision of Woody Allen in Sleeper, trying to get the vee dub out of a monster sized pile of poop.

 

[skyking]

You need a good respirator and a couple of black snakes ( rattlers would do but............)