Before & After Photos

Recently, homeowners in Manasquan, NJ had contacted Cowleys after observing mouse droppings in their home. They were especially concerned with contamination issues because they had three young children. Mice can contaminate food, countertops, and flooring with their droppings and pose a serious health hazard. Their droppings can contain many dangerous pathogens, including hantavirus. 

For any mouse infestation, it is critical to determine their entry points into the home and how they are moving about once inside. Invariably, mice will wind their way to the kitchen when they are foraging for food and water. Here, I pulled the dishwasher and refrigerator away from the wall to look for entry points. Sure enough, there were large holes int he walls that went straight down into the crawl space. Mice are attracted to the warmth of motors in appliances and it is common to find them nesting underneath refrigerators and large kitchen appliances. I sealed the holes with chew-proof wire mesh to block direct kitchen access from the crawl space and keep the mice and the droppings away from the family.  

With the infestation contained in the crawl space, I set up RTU bait stations in the crawl space. These stations contain single-feeding bait that are magnets for mice. The mouse population should be drop quickly and with the kitchen entry points sealed, the mice will not be restricted from the living areas of the home.

We were sent out to a home in Manasquan, NJ to deter nuisance birds from the property. The nuisance birds were roosting and nesting above the girder on the rear porch and defecating all over the area. This presents a dangerous situation to the owner and his family as the bird droppings are a health hazard and the nesting debris could contain bird mites. Bird mites are tiny, semitransparent parasites that feed off the blood of birds. When birds leave their nest, the mites are left without a suitable host and will infest the home to feed on the blood of humans.

First, we carefully removed the birds' nesting materials and applied a product that specifically targets bird mites. Next, we installed optical gel along the beams throughout the porch to prevent the birds from roosting. The optical gel is a multi-sensory bird repellant that deters birds using sight, smell, and touch. As a visual deterrent, the birds see a UV spectrum that, to them, looks like fire or smoke (although there isn't any). As a smell deterrent, the optical gel gives off a cayenne pepper or peppermint odor that the birds hate; and as a touch deterrent, the optical gel has a tacky feel to it that the birds dislike. Now nuisance birds are properly deterred from the area. 

A new homeowner in Brielle, NJ, was having an issue with birds roosting in her home. She had another company come out and try to exclude the birds, but it didn't work, so he called Little Rascals for help. 

During our inspection, we discovered that the birds were actually roosting in a small gap behind the shutters. The previous company installed chicken wiring, but it was extremely loose and not secure. We removed the company's exclusion bird, disposed of it, and then carefully removed all the nesting debris.

In order to properly exclude the birds, we took a piece of metal flashing and scribe shaped it to the shutters. This contours the metal flashing to the shutters almost perfect and will not only exclude birds from the home, but bats, wasps, bees, and hornets as well!

A homeowner in Ocean Township, NJ, was having a problem with rodents gaining entry into the crawl space through their existing crawl space entry. Rodents commonly gain access into homes through gaps, cracks, and openings around the foundation. After entering a home through the crawl space or basement, these sneaky pests will often make their way to the kitchen and other parts of the home by traveling through wall voids.  

Cowleys has a specialized home improvements division staffed by an experienced crew that perform a variety of services including various crawl space improvements, up to and including complete encapsulation. Because of our crawl space expertise, the homeowner thought that we may be able to deal with his rodent entry problem. And we had the perfect solution: replacing the crawl space entry with an air-tight Everlast door.

We usually install these covers to help block outdoor air and moisture from entering the crawl space. High crawl space humidity and moisture can trigger mold formation, cause wood rot and structural damage, and attract insects and rodents. However, these covers also happen to be an effective barrier to stopping unwanted pests from gaining entry.

These Everlast covers are made with a hard durable plastic that is impervious to water. They stand up to the harsh outdoor elements and will rot, warp, or crack. Unlike wood, homeowners don’t have to worry about painting them. We are able to install these crawl space doors against either wood framing or masonry. From our experience and homeowner feedback, these doors have proven to be virtually indestructible. Although though they create are a solid barrier to the crawl space, if you do need crawl space access, they can be easily opened in a few seconds. Just twist a few easy-to-grip knobs to remove the door, and you’re in!  

The homeowners were pleased with our solution to stop further rodent entry, and they appreciated our quick installation. As you can see from the before and after photos, this Everlast crawl space door was a big improvement over the original cover.

Recently, I was called to a home in Asbury Park, NJ to handle a mouse infestation. As often happens this time of year when temperatures drop, mice seek refuge inside homes. Here, the homeowner found two common signs of mice — droppings and noises in the wall voids. Mice are nocturnal and do their foraging in the quiet of night. Often, the mice stay hidden but leave a trail of droppings behind. Here, the homeowner told me that he found droppings in their bedroom closet.

During me inspection, I found a trail of droppings along the bedroom baseboard heaters (mice are attracted to anything generating heat) leading to the bathroom. I also found mice were chewing up pieces of toilet tissue paper and the cardboard rolls and using it as nesting material. Whenever dealing with a rodent infestation, it is important to determine their entry points into the home and how they are able to move about once inside so that their access points can be sealed. Here, I found that there were gaps around the water pipelines into the bathroom, which explains why the homeowners had heard noises inside the wall voids. I sealed the gaps around the pipes using expanded foam resin and installed interior rodent bait stations in the bathroom. With the bait stations and access points sealed, these homeowners will not have to worry about mice scurrying about their bedroom and bathroom.