Before & After Photos

Recently, I was called out to help homeowners in Toms River, NJ, who were having a troublesome mouse infestation problem. As temperatures drop, rodents will seek to overwinter inside our warm houses to escape the harsh outdoor elements. Their very survival depends on it. The objective for a homeowner is to eliminate potential entry points into your home so they go elsewhere. Mice will find the tiniest gaps, cracks, and opening around the foundation to enter the basement or crawl space and once inside, they have no problems traveling through wall voids throughout the home, usually winding up in the kitchen foraging for food debris.

Conducting a careful exterior perimeter inspection, I determined how the mice were getting in. Mice only need an opening around the diameter of a dime, so you have to be systematic and methodical, inspecting every inch of the perimeter. Here, I found holes in the crawl space vents and access door as well as spaces in the garage door jambs (the trim around the perimeter of the garage door that helps keep out insects and small critters. Because this trim is exposed to the elements, they are susceptible to splitting, rotting or warping, creating an opening for pest entry. I sealed the openings with an expandable foam, and also set up some rodent bait traps in strategic locations. I set up a two-week follow up to re-inspect and check the bait in the traps to determine the level of rodent activity. With the access points blocked and traps set, this mouse infestation should be quickly resolved.

As any roofer will tell you, terracotta clay-based ceramic roofing tiles can be challenging to work with. Although they are heavy and durable, if accidentally dropped or stepped on, these types of tiles can easily be broken. Terracotta tiles are installed by placing overlapping and interlocking rows of them on the roof. Although clay roofs are built to last and have been around long before asphalt shingles, repairing them can be a big hassle.

In order to access any tiles that are further up the roof from the eaves, you have to get to them without breaking any.  Because the weight of a person walking on the roof is more than enough to break these clay tiles, roofers often use boom trucks. When pieces have to be replaced, if the tiles are hooked over fasteners, you have to go under the piece and cut the fasteners since the overlapping tiles cover the fasteners. If the tiles are glued down, you may need a hammer and chisel. When I think of what roofers who work with terracotta tiles have to do, it makes me glad that I’m just a wildlife technician who only risks getting bitten or scratched by a nasty raccoon or sprayed by a skunk!

I was sent to a home in Belford, NJ to perform a wildlife exclusion along with one of our home improvement specialists. A wildlife exclusion is any project where we seal wildlife entry points (often on or around the roof) to prevent a re-infestation. With this home, raccoons were gaining access through a small area of a terracotta roof that had been damaged. According to the homeowner, this area had been previously patched, but the person doing the repairs failed to secure it properly leaving the gap vulnerable to wildlife.

We were asked by the homeowner to perform an exclusion to this area to ensure that any raccoons in the neighborhood stayed out. For this project, we measured and fit a piece of “trim cool,” aluminum fascia trim, in place that fit together like a puzzle piece. This trim blended into the roof, and just as important, was able to be secured correctly in order to prevent any wildlife access.

We often use trim cool to do repairs because of its flexibility. More and more, we are seeing fascia boards are covered with this product because of its resiliency to the outdoor elements. Homeowners don’t have to worry about peeling paint, wood rot, or wildlife gaining access to your attic by clawing their way through weakened wood.

Recently, a homeowner residing in the coastal community of Belford, NJ contacted Cowleys because of a suspected mouse infestation. Upon arrival, I inspected the areas where there were rodent droppings. The size and shape of droppings contain a wealth of information (in addition to a wealth of pathogens and parasites!). As you’d expect, the size of the droppings is related to the size of the animal. A house mouse, which weigh less than an ounce, produce very small droppings, about the size of a grain of rice, and their droppings often have pointed ends. Rat droppings. Rats weigh many multiples more than a mouse, averaging 8 ounces or so, and not surprisingly their droppings are much larger and often have blunted, rounded ends. The holes I found were big enough for a rat. Although rats need a larger entry hole, it’s not by much. A mouse can enter a hold about the diaper of a dime while rats need a space about the size of a quarter. I told the homeowner the bad news that this was a rat infestation, but the good news is that this infestation would be resolved, and resolved quickly.

I started by cleaning up all of the droppings, which pose a serious health risk. When rodent droppings dry out, particles can become airborne carrying aerosolized viruses including Hantavirus, a potentially fatal respiratory disease. We can’t stress enough the dangers of rodent droppings in an enclosed area. They are a serious biohazard. After finishing up with cleaning the rat mess, I sealed the two entryways being used to access the living areas of the home, one in the kitchen and one in the closet. Because these holes were so large, I used hardware cloth instead of plugging the holes with copper mesh. 

Mice and rats typically enter homes through openings around the foundation, first finding their way into the crawl space or basement. From there, thy travel through wall voids to forage for food and water throughout the home. I located potential access points in the crawl space and also baited the areas where there were indicators of rodent activity. I’m confident that this rat infestation will be resolved quickly with their entry points sealed and the bait stations set up. There should be no more rodent activity in the home’s living areas. I scheduled a two-week follow-up to re-inspect, replenish bait as needed, and apply additional treatments if necessary. Before leaving, I assured the homeowner that there should be an immediate reduction in the quantity of droppings, and if not, to contact us immediately. Although rodent treatments work quickly, they are not instantaneous. It takes some time for those rats inside the home to be eliminated.

While treating this homeowners' property in Tinton Falls, NJ I discovered a large number of spider webs along with the columns on the front porch. Spiders are hunters, so if you see any in your home or their webbing around your property that means that they have a food source. By eliminating those pests, you’re eliminating the spider's food source and they’ll go elsewhere to find food.

With the homeowner's permission, I inspected the entire interior of the home to find any signs of spiders or any pests, to which I found none. I grabbed my broom and then dusted and vacuumed the spider webs. By removing the spider webbing, the spiders will get frustrated and leave that area. I also treated the columns, the front porch, and the exterior of the building with a non-repellant residual and sealed any gaps or opening around the property with a waterproof adhesive. 

Homeowners in Oceanport, NJ, had an ongoing problem with rodents gaining entry into their crawl space. Usually, rodents will first gain entry inside a home by locating openings around the foundation. And, for mice, it doesn’t take much. These tiny animals that weigh less than an ounce can easily squeeze through gaps as small as a dime. Common rodent entry points are gaps around pipes and wires, garage doors that don’t fully close or are missing weatherstripping, and, the entry point with this home — an access door to the crawl space that no longer did its job. As you can see in the photo, this metal access door had seen better days. It was warped, rusted and had an opening that was an open invitation for rodents. Mice have a distinct knack for finding weaknesses around the foundation, and it was not surprising that they exploited this one. 

Cowleys has a contractor division that is staffed by an experienced, professional home repair and renovation crew that handles a variety of crawl space improvements, up to and including complete crawl space encapsulation for homeowners with chronic water, moisture, and humidity issues. We also happily handle smaller projects such as this one. Here, we removed the damaged crawl space door and replaced it with an air-tight Everlast door. 

Everlast covers help block outdoor air and moisture from entering the crawl space, which can trigger mold formation and cause wood rot and structural damage. However, these doors are also an effective barrier against rodents and other pests. They are made with a hard durable plastic that stands up to the harshest outdoor elements that we face in New Jersey. 

Everlast vent covers are a major improvement over wood or metal doors. These maintenance-free doors will not rot, warp, crack, or rust, and they never need to be painted. Also, they can be installed against either wood framing or masonry. Although these doors create a solid barrier preventing mice and any other pests using this common access point, for humans, they allow for easy crawl space access. These doors have four large easy-to-grip knobs that you or a repair person can twist off in seconds. Homeowners have commented that they wished opening up pickle jars were this easy! As you can see from the before and after photos, this Everlast crawl space door was far more than just a rodent barrier. It was a major aesthetic improvement for the home’s exterior perimeter.