The parents kitchen, not mine. This has been ongoing for a couple of weeks. They first found something had gotten into a kitchen unit & had a good nibble. Then something chewed through an air brick & got into the built in cupboard. Yesterday I went around the kitchen looking for possible entry points. The waste pipe for the washing machine goes through an external wall & the pipe had a good gap around it. I stuffed it up with wire wool as a temporary patch. This morning they've found the wool chewed / pushed out of the way, masonry rubble on the floor .
There are lots of droppings & a definite smell in the loft, so I think they are getting in via the roof & then going down though the cavity walls. The loft is a nightmare. 2 layers of insulation, with sheets of chipboard (old wardrobe panels) across the joists & carpet on top of that. Parents report skittering noises above their bedroom at night, so suspect they are under the floor panels. It's full of 50 years worth of crap, which I'm slowly trying to sort out & junk for them.
The traps we've put down (baited with peanut butter & other stuff) have been untouched.
I'll be getting some stuff to seal the gap later today
https://www.homebase.co.uk/rentokil-mouse-rat-gap-sealant_p352964 and the air bricks are going to be replaced / reinforced with steel grills. They are going to ask a neighbour who's a roofer the check the roof where the pitched tiles meet a flat extension & see if there are any gaps there.
They are paranoid about having strangers in the house, so persuading them to get professional help is difficult, they are reluctant to put poison down in case the damn things eat it & then die in the walls
What else can I do ? Other people on the estate have also reported problems.