LESLIE: Linda in Ohio, you’ve got The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
LINDA: Well, I had an old garage torn down, so I had a prior cement pad. And I had a steel building put up. I have gaps now from – the steel building is not – the metal is more like a corrugated – it’s got a little ripple in it? And where it meets the floor and they put a 2×4 base around the inside to screw the metal to it, well, I’m getting chipmunks in there and everything like that in between. What can I use to seal it but still keep it so when the cold weather comes, it expands like it needs to.
TOM: You must be having some pretty big gaps there if the chipmunks are getting into that.
LINDA: Yeah.
TOM: How much space are we talking about?
LINDA: Some spots it’s not very big at all. But some it’s like maybe 2 or 3 inches high.
TOM: Oh, wow.
LINDA: Because the cement pad was not really leveled or throughout the years, too, it could have sunk down in certain areas. I don’t know whether to put another board …
TOM: Yeah. So listen, if you’ve got 2 or 3 inches of gaps, you’re going to have to add some additional sort of siding-type materials to cover that gap. You could actually use additional galvanized metal and form it to fit in that space.
If you have smaller gaps, those could be filled with, say, spray-foam insulation or you could use steel wool. Sometimes, when we’re trying to plug up little gaps, especially when it comes to rodent prevention, I’ll have folks put steel wool in there that they are not apt to chew through. But you can’t have a gap that big and not expect those types of animals to get by.
LINDA: Awesome. I’ll try that: the steel wool and the foam.
TOM: Good luck with that project, Linda. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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