Pest Exclusion Materials Estimator

Walk the structure, count the defects, and this turns the tally into a four-line shopping list. Each line rounds up to a whole purchasable unit and a waste buffer is added before rounding.

caulk:
  ft/tube = tube volume (in³) ÷ (bead width × bead depth, in)
          = 27 ÷ (0.25 × 0.25) = 432 ft/tube
  feet    = gap feet × (1 + waste %)
  tubes   = ceil(feet ÷ ft/tube)

copper mesh:
  feet  = penetrations × feet-per-penetration   (≈ 1 ft, an estimate)
  feet  = feet × (1 + waste %)
  rolls = ceil(feet ÷ roll length)              (6" wide; 20 / 100 / 400 ft)

hardware cloth:
  sq ft = openings × avg opening area           (or width × height)
  sq ft = sq ft × (1 + overlap %)
  mesh  = mice → 1/4"   ·   rats → 1/2"          (a hard rule, not a choice)

door sweeps:
  sweeps = exterior door count                  (1 per door)
  line   = gap ≤ 1.0" Low-Profile · ≤ 1.25" Standard · ≤ 1.75" Versa-Line

Mice fit through any gap as small as a pencil-width (1/4"), so 1/4" hardware cloth is the minimum that excludes them; 1/2" is the rat minimum and will not stop mice — the tool will not recommend it for mice. Openings under about 2" pack with copper mesh; anything larger should be rebuilt with hard material rather than packed.

The mouse/rat mesh rule follows the Building America Solution Center (BASC/PNNL). The caulk coverage formula and the 432 ft/tube anchor follow a2zcalculators. Copper-mesh roll geometry (6" wide, 20/100/400 ft) and the under-2" rule follow Stuf-Fit; door-sweep gap bands follow Xcluder.

Two jobs downstream of the same walk have takeoffs of their own. Where the exclusion runs into a crawl space that needs lining rather than screening, the crawl space vapor barrier material calculator turns the same measurements into liner square footage, whole rolls, seam tape, fasteners and pier wraps. What that work is worth is a separate question, built from your own rates by the crawl space encapsulation pricing calculator. For the rodent job the exclusion belongs to, the rodent control and exclusion pricing calculator prices the initial service, the exclusion labor and the follow-ups together. Bird work is exclusion too, but it runs on netting, spikes and ledge geometry rather than mesh and sweeps, and the bird control pricing and materials calculator handles that takeoff and its price together.