Looking up at a large tree with thick, twisting branches and green leaves hanging over the dark shingled roof and trim of a brick home.
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Looking up at a large tree with thick, twisting branches and green leaves hanging over the dark shingled roof and trim of a brick home.

This photo from a home in Allen shows mature tree branches reaching over the shingled roofline, creating a bridge rats and squirrels can use to get onto the roof and up to the eaves. That matters because a mouse needs a gap no wider than a pencil and a rat one about the size of a quarter to get inside. Rodent proofing addresses it by recommending the limbs be trimmed back from the roof and sealing any openings along the roofline with metal mesh and flashing.