Rodent Control in Cuyahoga Falls

Cuyahoga Falls sits just north of Akron on the river that gave it its name. Downtown is built around Front Street, close to the water, and Gorge Metro Park follows the river along the south end of town. The older streets near downtown have homes from the early twentieth century, while the neighborhoods further out are mostly postwar and newer, along with Blossom Music Center up near the national park.

Rodent calls come from both halves of the city, and they look a bit different. Older homes near the river share the foundation problems found across Akron. Newer ones tend to leak at the garage.

Old foundations near Front Street and the gorge

Homes near downtown and along the river have older stone and block foundations with plenty of gaps, and the river corridor keeps the ground damp. Mice come in each fall and settle in the basement. Mouse control and basement rodent work are the typical calls, with sealing at the sill line to finish it off.

On the sloped streets near the river, some houses have a basement wall that's partly above ground on the downhill side, and the gorge keeps everything damp. Damp stone or block walls make the lower level comfortable for mice, and near the water, for rats. A dehumidifier and sealing along that exposed wall go a long way.

Rats show up near the river and around businesses with dumpsters. Restaurants and shops near Front Street are a job for commercial rodent service with regular checks and outside stations.

Newer neighborhoods and the attached garage

In the newer parts of the Falls, mice almost always come through the garage. A worn door seal, gaps at the bottom corners, and the door from the garage into the house are the usual route. Once in the garage, they nest in stored boxes and climb into the walls. In newer houses the first droppings often turn up in the laundry room or the pantry closest to the garage, so that's a good place to check. The garage rodent page walks through how that gets fixed.

North Hill is just south across the line, and its doubles and backyard gardens bring a lot of rat calls in North Hill. Stow is east, with mostly postwar homes, and Stow's garage-mouse problem is close to what the newer Falls neighborhoods see. If you're not sure what you have, start with the rat-or-mouse checklist, then give us a call.

Cuyahoga Falls, from the busy Front Street blocks to the old Northampton side

Cars came back to Front Street in 2017 after more than 40 years as a pedestrian mall, and the blocks along it are busy again with restaurants and bars. That's good news for downtown. It also puts busy kitchens inside older commercial buildings, and that combination suits rats and mice. Shared walls, old basements under the storefronts and back doors propped open for deliveries let them move from one business to the next. If you run a place downtown, scheduled commercial rodent service with locked, tamper-resistant stations out back keeps them from settling in.

The far north end of the city is a different story. The Falls merged with Northampton Township in 1986, and a lot of newer homes have gone up out there since, some on wooded lots near the national park and Blossom. They're tighter than the houses by the river, but the woods are closer, and woods mice come straight out of the trees to the garage. Homes in the Merriman Valley across the river see the same thing every October.

Around Cuyahoga Falls: Front Street · Gorge Metro Park · Cuyahoga River · Blossom Music Center · State Road (ZIP 44221, 44223)

Also serving Highland Square and West Akron, Firestone Park, Goodyear Heights, Kenmore, North Hill, Ellet, Merriman Valley, Stow, Barberton.