Rat Proofing Buildings and Premises

by James Silver; M. C. Betts; W. E. Crouch

[3] U. S. Pub. Health Serv. Bul. 121, Preliminary Report on Proposed Antiplague Measures in Massachusetts.

Section 1. Be it ordained, etc., That it shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation hereafter to construct any building, outhouse, or other superstructure, stable, lot, open area, or other premise, sidewalk, street, or alley, or to repair or remodel the same to an extent of ———— per cent of cost of construction within the city of ————, unless the same shall be rat proofed in the manner hereinafter provided for.

Sec. 2. Be it further ordained, etc., That for the purpose of rat proofing all buildings, outhouses, and other superstructures in the city of ————, except stables, shall be divided into two classes, to wit, class A and class B, and the same shall be rat proofed in the manner following, to wit:

Class A.—All buildings, outhouses, and other superstructures of class A shall have floors made of rat-proof material or of concrete, which concrete shall be not less than 3 inches thick, and overlaid with a top dressing of cement, mosaic, tiling, or other impermeable material laid in cement mortar, and such floor shall rest without any intervening space between upon the ground or upon filling of clean earth, sand, cinders, broken stone or brick, gravel, or similar material, which filling shall be free from animal or vegetable substances; said floor shall extend and be hermetically sealed to walls surrounding said floor, which walls shall be made of rat-proof material or of concrete, stone, or brick laid in cement or mortar, and each wall shall be not less than 6 inches thick and shall extend into and below the surface of the surrounding ground at least 2 feet and shall extend not less than 1 foot above the surface of said floor; provided that wooden removable gratings may be laid on such concrete floors in such parts of such buildings, superstructures, and outhouses as are used exclusively as sales departments, provided that wooden flooring may be laid over the concrete wherever the intervening space between such flooring and the concrete shall not exceed one-half inch; provided further that any sleepers that are sunk into the concrete shall be creosoted.

Class B.—All accidental and unnecessary spaces and holes, ventilators, and other openings other than doors and windows in every building, outhouse or other superstructure in the city of ————, shall be closed with cement, mortar, or other material impervious to rats or screened with wire having not more than one-half inch mesh, as the case may require, and all wall spaces shall be closed with cement, mortar, or other material impervious to rats, which closure shall extend the full thickness of the wall and shall extend upward at least twelve inches above the floor level, and the whole in such manner as to prevent the ingress or egress of rats; or the ingress or egress of rats from such double wall or space may be prevented by protecting the junction of said wall with the floor or other wall with metal flashing of galvanized iron of 28 or 30 gauge, provided that where such double wall is open beneath or is in communication with foundations of the house that said opening shall be effectively closed or said junction with foundations flashed with metal as provided above: Provided, That in all buildings, outhouses, and other superstructures of class A and in all stables where there are any spaces in walls between the wall proper and the covering on same, or in ceilings between the ceiling and floor, or other ceiling covering above, said spaces shall be eliminated by the removal of said covering, or so closed with cement, mortar or other material impervious to rats as to prevent the ingress or egress of rats: Provided, That all such wall spaces shall be closed with cement, mortar, or other material impervious to rats, which closure shall extend the full thickness of the wall and shall extend upward at least twelve inches above the floor level.

The cellar of every building hereafter erected within the building limits shall be made rat proof by the use of masonry or metal. All openings in foundations, cellars and basements In such buildings, except for doors and hatchways, and except also for such windows wholly above ground as may be exempted by the ———— in his discretion, shall be completely covered with screens of metal having meshes of not more than one-half of an inch in least dimension and constructed of rods or wire of not less than twelve gauge.

All buildings, outhouses, and other superstructures of class B separated from any other building on three sides by at least ten feet and lacking any basement or cellar may be rat proofed in the following manner, to wit: Said building, outhouse, or other superstructure shall be set upon pillars or underpinning of concrete, stone, or brick laid in cement mortar, or may be set upon underpinning of substantial timber, such pillars or underpinning to be not less than eighteen inches high, the height to be measured from the ground level to the top of said pillars or underpinning; and the intervening space between said building and the ground level to be open on three sides and to be free from all rubbish and other rat harboring material, or may be made rat proof by constructing at the margin of the ground area of said building a wall of concrete or brick or stone laid in cement; such wall to extend into and below the surface of the ground at least two feet and to meet the floor of the building above closely and without any intervening space, to be at least four inches thick and extend entirely around said building Provided, That said walls may be built with openings therein for ventilation only: And provided further, That such openings for ventilation may be all of such size as the owner may elect and shall be securely screened with metallic gratings having openings between the bars of said gratings of not more than one-half inch or with wire mesh of not less than twelve gauge, having openings between the wires of said mesh of not more than one-half inch and the whole so constructed and closed as to prevent the entrance of rats beneath such building.

Sec. 3. Be it further ordained, etc., That every restaurant kitchen, hotel kitchen, cabaret kitchen, dairy, dairy depot, dock, wharf, pier, elevator, store, manufactory, and every other building, outhouse, or superstructure wherein or whereon foodstuffs are stored, kept, handled, sold, held, or offered for sale, manufactured, prepared for market or for sale, except stables, shall be rat proofed in the manner provided for hereinabove as class A: Provided, That such part of any structure hereinabove defined as of class A that shall be entirely over a body of water may be rat proofed as of class B, as hereinafter provided for.

"Foodstuffs," as used in this ordinance, is hereby defined to be flour and flour products, animals and animal products, produce, groceries, cereals, grain, and the products of cereals and grain, poultry and its products, game, birds, fish, vegetables, fruit, milk, cream, and products from milk or cream, ice cream, hides, and tallow, or any combination of any one or more of the foregoing.

All other buildings, outhouses, and superstructures, except stables, not hereinbefore specified as class A, and all buildings used exclusively for residential purposes, shall be rat proofed in the manner provided for hereinabove as class B: Provided, That the owner of any building, residence, outhouse, or other superstructure in class B may, if he so elects, rat proof same in the manner provided for in class A.