Basement – What I do about mouse droppings in basement ceiling where I can’t reach

basementceilingcleaningpestpest-control

I had a mouse infestation a while ago – they were coming in from dryer and exhaust vents too close to the ground. I trapped the mice and fixed the vent/exhaust situation to prevent more from entering.

Fortunately, the infestation was in the basement and seemed to be almost entirely in the unfinished utility room.

While inspecting my HVAC ducts recently, I discovered a ton of mouse droppings on the top of the drywall ceiling in the finished basement.

I know that droppings should not be vacuumed and that a bleach solution should be used to wet them and gather them, but I barely have access to see above the ceiling drywall from the utility room, and certainly can't reach back there to wipe it all up.

How can I effectively clean up the droppings in these hard to reach places?

I was thinking about using a vacuum with extensions, but understand that you're not supposed to vacuum mice droppings.

Best Answer

According to http://www.cdc.gov/rodents/cleaning/ and http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/technical/hps/faq.html hantavirus stays infectious for only a few days.

Let the droppings sit for a while (and thoroughly dry out), then vacuum them.