Re: your mice problem: I use and have used for many years successfully, electronic pest deterrent devices. I started using while living in an area in the mountains in California notorious for roof rats & they would eat through plastic bins in the garage to get to what was inside. I would watch climb the bird feeders out near the street in broad daylight. They ate through the gas line under our house causing all the LP gas to leak out (under the house, yet!)
Rat traps weren't cutting it. Professional rodent control service wasn't cutting it. So I bought several electronic pest deterrent devices & situated them according to specification throughout our living space, as well as in the garage. They stayed outside after that. Proboably visited our neighbors more often.
These devices work.
When we moved here, I wasn't so diligent at first until I saw a mouse run past us in the living room one day & discovered a hole eaten through the floor under our front entryway (stuffed that with steel wool.) Then my husband found that they were also coming in through the water drain lines out back. So I pulled out our old ones from a moving box & started setting them up around the basement and our living areas. No more mice.
These devices have lasted a long time, but eventually do need to be replaced. There are even better ones now, that also keep out spiders!
