So we have a mouse problem, and our landlords are pretty worthless when it comes to solving it. They're coming from underneath our kitchen units, which are all raised about six inches, with wooden skirting board in front of them. I've closed two small (2×2 inches, ish) gaps with thick cardboard and white threaded tape, but I'm unable to do the same with the dishwasher since the door needs to be able to open. Currently, we're shoving a towel in there whenever the dishwasher is closed, and removing it whenever we need to open it. It's inconvenient. Is there a better solution? Something that would fill the hole, but stretch, expand, or unfold when the dishwasher is opened?
How to plug the gap between a dishwasher and kitchen skirting board
dishwasher
Related Solutions
You have two options which are equally acceptable.
Option one is a dual inlet air gap. It provides two inlets - one for dishwasher, and another for a water purification system. Installation is straight forward - you remove the existing air gap and put the new one in its place. You can find such a device here.
Your other option is to purchase a faucet for your water filter that includes a built-in air gap, such as this. Note that if you go this route, you will have two drain lines that both need to connect to the garbage disposal. You can accomplish this by using a wye fitting to join the two drain lines into one line, which you would then connect to the disposal. A barbed wye fitting should be available at your local home improvement store for a minimal cost. Don't forget the hose clamps.
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The air gap in that faucet is specifically for a RO system and is not meant to replace an air gap for a dish washer. It does the same job, but it's for the drain on the RO system, and certainly would not be able to handle anything close to a dishwasher drain.
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Best Answer
It's not the interior holes you need to deal with...it's the external ones. They're getting in the house somewhere/somehow and that's what you need to block.
The simplest way to do that is find the holes, and stuff them with stainless steel wool. The rodents will not want to chew through that.
Plugging the interior holes/gaps won't do much. They'll just eventually chew a new hole elsewhere.