Rodent Control in Ellet, Akron

Ellet is Akron's largest neighborhood, about seven square miles in the southeast corner of the city. It was settled back in the early 1800s and didn't join Akron until 1929. Interstate 76, the Little Cuyahoga River and Akron Fulton airport set it apart from the rest of town. Derby Downs, home of the Soap Box Derby, is here, and so is the enormous Goodyear Airdock.

People call Ellet a suburb inside the city, and it fits. It's mostly single-family homes on decent-sized lots, with a lot of them from the postwar decades. Rodent problems here look more like Stow or Tallmadge than like Kenmore.

Ranches, split-levels and the garage door gap

Postwar homes with poured or block foundations don't leak the way old stone basements do. They have different soft spots. The attached garage is the big one, with a worn bottom seal and bent corners that leave a gap a mouse slides right under. After that come dryer vents, AC lines, the hose bib and the joint where a later family room or sunroom meets the original house. In a split-level, the lower level sits close to grade and mice find it fast. Mouse removal and sealing those gaps are the usual Ellet calls.

Ellet also has older houses mixed in from before the postwar building boom, some on block or stone basements, and those get the same sill-line trouble as homes across the rest of the city. If yours is one of them, the old basement sealing guide is worth a read.

Bigger yards near open land give mice more cover through the summer. Pull brush and woodpiles away from the house, and keep grass seed and dog food in metal bins.

Sheds, open fields and the odd rat

Many Ellet homes have an attached garage and a backyard shed, and both can harbor rodents. Rats dig under sheds that sit on the ground. Mice nest in the lawn mower bag, the patio furniture cushions and the camper. The garage and shed page covers how outbuildings get handled, and if rats are part of it the tech will work burrows and stations along with the sealing.

North across the highway, Goodyear Heights near the Metro Park has its own mix of old and postwar homes. Our September mouse checklist works for split-levels and ranches as well as older houses. When you're ready, call and tell us what you've been finding.

Sheds, gardens and shopping strips on Ellet's east side

Ellet runs east until it meets Mogadore, with Springfield Township along its southern edge. The streets off Triplett Boulevard, East Market and Canton Road are mostly single-family homes with real backyards. Think vegetable beds, a swing set and a shed that's been there longer than the current owners. That shed matters. One sitting on blocks or bare dirt gives rats a dry roof, and a garden or compost bin a few steps away gives them dinner. The open ground around the airport and the Airdock gives field mice plenty of room all summer, and they start looking for walls once the nights turn cold.

Eastgate Plaza and the shops along Canton Road have dumpsters and loading doors out back, and rats around commercial lots don't stay put. If your yard backs up to a row of stores, keep an eye on the fence line and the base of the garage. A hole a few inches across with packed dirt at the opening usually means rats. That's a rat control job, and it starts in the yard with locked, tamper-resistant stations. Homes near Hyre Park and the skate park pick up mice from the park edge too, so check the garage door seal before Halloween.

Around Ellet: Derby Downs · Goodyear Airdock · Akron Fulton airport · Canton Road · Little Cuyahoga River (ZIP 44312)

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