Rat damage leaves Imatra home facing near-total renovation

A rat caused tens of thousands of euros in damage to Hanna-Kaisa Lähde’s home in Imatra, forcing her to leave for several months, Yle reports.

The rat got into the house’s structures last winter, chewed a large hole in a kitchen sewer pipe and damaged electrical wiring. Water seeped into the building, and an electrician said it was a wonder the house had not caught fire.

Repair work has cost tens of thousands of euros. Lähde says her insurer will cover the water damage but not the other destruction caused by the rat. She has used loans and savings of her own and relatives to pay for the work. The damage and renovation were also a heavy emotional strain, and she took four weeks of sick leave.

Lähde suspects excavation work nearby may have driven the rat to seek shelter inside the house. Traps and poison bait failed to catch it, but a pest-control professional eventually placed poison foam along its route. A rat-detection dog found the dead animal 15 minutes later.

Despite keeping the grass short, covering ventilation openings and managing food waste carefully, Lähde says the rat entered through a part of the house that had not yet been renovated. She advises people to put traps outside when excavation work is taking place nearby and to keep compost, apples and other food out of rats’ reach. She hopes to return home before the New Year.