Many members will have paid large amounts of money to purchase their holiday homes and quite rightly will not want uninvited visitors taking up residence. This is a cautionary tale particularly for those with vans on farm sites or in pleasant rural settings.
It starts every year around the time when many sites are closing for the winter months. Although classed as the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, it is also the time when small field animals are looking for new abodes to protect them from the onset of winter and you have it, the static caravan. It is the ideal nesting place for mice, stoats, weasels and any other field animal that can scurry into those well protected corners of heated bliss. Newer vans with all the mod cons of double glazing and central heating and those extras the dishwasher and washing machines all have added access holes through the floor which if not sealed properly they will allow vans to become sought after residences.
For me, the first sign was an odour from the shower. Like many I dismissed it as drain smells and took the necessary steps to clean the drains and blot out the smell. But it got worse. Removing an inspection panel the odour made me gag for air. I could see mouse droppings – or so I thought – on the shower water pipes and electric fittings. Mouse droppings under beds, near air holes around pipe ingress or egress are a sure sign of visitors. Gaps only have to be of finger thickness and mice etc., can get in.
Once in, they want nesting material and food so will chew anything and everything including bedding, pipes and electrics. Over this season we have had friends with water pipes chewed through, carpeting holed, curtains chewed. If water pipes are holed then water damage can be horrendous soaking up into floors, tables, carpets and other furniture especially if the mains are not turned off. There is also the added argument of how much loss of water a chewed pipe can discharge over the period left unattended and who foots the additional water bill in addition to any damage. Our site owners tried a £500 additional water charge for our neighbours’ van when mice chewed though the main water pipe. It is just like leaving a tap permanently open whilst you’re not there. Be mindful also any electric cables chewed can short circuit and start fires.
I needed to inspect under my shower, so my bedroom wall panels and ensuite wall panels had to come off. I turned to my caravan supplier to do the work and we found a circular nest under the shower. The detritus included mouse or other animal carcass and the culprit we think a larger animal being a stoat or weasel who liked takeaways, dead mice. The eviction and clean-up cost £1000 plus new wall panels. There was one add on to the costs in that interior wall panels had to be fitted twice to be colour matched taking two tries to get it right and in some cases my supplier informed me on older vans colour matching may not be possible at all. The disruption and having to live with panels off while assessment took place seems to last an eternity.
I was fortunate I had good insurance cover for vermin damage. Check your policy as many policies do not. The first question that will go through your mind is will the warranty cover it. My experience is generally no. Mice can get through a draught hole. Our loss adjusters accepted it as inevitable on farm sites. Although taking time it went through smoothly but like all policies, we had to pay an excess.
I would caution against trying to argue in what is a grey area where pipes should have been lagged or where holes are left after commissioning that arguably should have been filled. These types of holes may amount to negligent fitting and allow a claim against the person or company who commissioned the van. Trying to prove such a claim on the balance of probability in my experience is not straight forward requires evidence and can also be costly for specialists to prove what was done and what should have been done. I do not say don’t do it. If you have found vermin damage it is not unusual to want it repaired quickly. It is after all a holiday home. Legal remedies can be time consuming and very trying on the nerves. Inspections take time.
Be aware check your van regularly or vermin damage could be costly. This spring I heeded my own advice I took everything out from under bed storage checked the floor level for gaps or droppings and cleaned it. In the material folds of a sun canopy, stored under the bed for winter I found a spider’s nest with thousands of hatching spiders they were caught just in time. Another week or so and we would have had a spider epidemic.
Do you have any tips and tricks for stopping vermin? Any pointers? We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch today…
