Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

Recently, I was sent to a home in Jackson, NJ that had a troublesome mouse infestation. Mice will commonly enter homes through gaps, cracks, or openings around the foundation to gain access to the crawl space or basement, and from there, travel through wall voids throughout the home searching for food and water. More often than not, they wind up foraging for roof debris in the kitchen and find hidden harborage areas, often where there is heat like around ovens and under refrigerators around the motor housing. 

Here, after discussing with the homeowner, where mice were spotted, I moved out the oven from the wall. There were extensive droppings and an opening around the gas pipe providing the mice with easy access into the kitchen. I sealed the opening around the pipe with hardware cloth and also placed mouse bait stations behind there. Mice will travel in the same pathways alongside walls. Inevitably, they will enter the stations enticed by the tempting bait. Soon thereafter, any mice that visited the station and consumed the bait die. 

After finishing up with the kitchen, I entered the crawl space to determine how the mice were first gaining entry into the home. While down below, I placed more bait boxes right below the kitchen to catch more mice before they even had a chance to venture into the living spaces above. While inspecting the interior perimeter of the basement, I found openings around the crawl space vents that were more than enough for mice to enter. I sealed these openings to prevent new mice entry into the home. With the perimeter entry points sealed and bait stations to deal with any mice already inside, I’m confident that it will not take long for this rodent infestation to be completely resolved. With rodent activity, we schedule a two-week follow-up to reinspect, replenish bait as needed, and determine additional treatments, if necessary.

A homeowner in Jackson, NJ had an unsuspecting visitor take up residency in her home — a raccoon! She called our office for help and we were sent out to find out how the raccoon got into the attic and safely remove it.

Moments into our inspection, we noticed that a portion of the soffit was ripped open and there was raccoon hair stuck in the opening. This was the main access point. We temporarily enclosed the area with hardware cloth and installed a one-way device over the access point. The one-way device allows the raccoon to safely leave the attic but prevents it from getting back in. We also placed several baited devices nearby.

A short while later, we safely retrieved the raccoon, relocated it to a new, humane environment, and disinfected the attic area. Lastly, we sealed up the access point with sturdy metal flashing to prevent reinfestation. 

For the Cowleys installation crew, this particular insulation job for a homeowner in Tennent, NJ was one of our more was interesting and challenging assignments. This homeowner wanted to improve the level of his home’s insulation in order to make his home more energy-efficient and reduce his heating and cooling bills. He contacted Cowleys in order to install a layer of our blown-in environmentally friendly TruSoft cellulose insulation on top of his existing insulation. Our insulation not only has excellent thermal and acoustical properties but also has pest control properties because its fibers are treated with borates. Borates, while no more toxic than ordinary table salt, are deadly to insects. 

What made this job so particularly challenging? This attic was not your everyday attic. First, as far as its dimensions, this attic resembled a crawl space. You could not stand in it, and even hunching over was a challenge. The only way to maneuver your way, once inside, was crawling on your hands and knees, and even that was a challenge. Second, we were faced with a logistics issue: how could we even reach the attic. There was no attic access whatsoever from inside the home — no pull-down attic ladder, absolutely nothing. 

At Cowleys, we sometimes come across jobs that require out-of-the-box thinking, and our philosophy is that where there’s a will, there’s a way. We initially thought about making our own access by cutting out our pieces of the ceiling, and then patch up the holes afterwards. However, we were concerned about the collateral repair work and the added cost to the homeowner.

For this, we added about 10 inches of TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation. Why blown-in cellulose insulation? With a higher R-value than standard fiberglass batts, cellulose insulation instantly improves home energy performance, provides more durability so it won't compress, become damaged by pests, and creates an incredible resistance to mold and pests. 

Not to mention cellulose insulation is treated with non-toxic borate, giving it the highest Class-1 fire safety rating, and is made primarily from recycled newspaper, making it the perfect choice for environmentally conscious property owners. By increasing the efficiency of the home’s HVAC system, the homeowners will see noticeable reductions in their heating and cooling bills. 

The homeowner was pleased that he could have the installation installed without causing any damage to the interior to his home. This was a satisfying job for the Cowleys installation crew, and is definitely one that we’ll remember!

I arrived at a home in Fords, NJ to inspect for possible rodent activity in the attic. The homeowner, who was hearing light “pitter-patter” noises in the wall voids and attic at night, suspected a mouse infestation. 

I’m often asked why attics such a popular location for mice to live and breed. Well, from their perspective, this “penthouse” location offers everything that a mouse could ask for in a home — it’s warm, dry, small, dark, safe, and out-of-the-way. Also, there is little human traffic up there. Other than using the attic to store clothing and other household items, a home’s occupants rarely venture up there, so mice have the place all too themselves. Attics also offer mice a ready supply of comfy insulation that they use for nests, and there are a virtually infinite number of nooks and crannies to explore and hide in. 

Once mice infest the attic, they not only destroy expensive insulation with their droppings and urine, but they can also chew on electrical wires, creating a potential fire hazard. Mice in the attic are a health hazard for the entire home. While mice may live in the attic, they are scavengers that venture throughout the entire home in search for food. And they inevitably find their way into the kitchen where they bore through cereal boxes and other cardboard containers, contaminating food and spreading disease. Mice are especially attracted to homes where pet food is left out all day. For a mouse, there is nothing better than a continuous supply of food left out in the open for the taking. 

While in the attic, I observed several areas with the most obvious sign of a mouse infestation: distinctive pellet-shaped mouse droppings. A single house mouse can deposit up to seventy-five pellets daily. Multiply that by a dozen or more mice and it doesn’t take long for these filthy droppings to accumulate. I also observed rodent burrows, those little tunnels and runways, in the insulation. Finally, during my inspection, I look for potential access points. In this attic, there were gaps and open voids around electrical lines and pipelines, giving them easy potential entry points.

I started my treatment by setting a tracking powder inside all rodent burrows, pathways and entry points. Mice may hide in the attic, but they have to leave in order to feed. Mice come into contact with the tracking powder because these creatures of habit use the same runways and entry points over and over. This potent powder, which adheres to a rodent’s fur and paws, is ingested when the rodent grooms, killing them soon thereafter. I also sealed and patched the rodent entry points with copper mesh. Finally, I set up rodent bait and snap traps in the attic. After finishing my interior service, I moved to the outside of the home, inspecting for possible entry points. I found a large potential rodent access point around the A/C unit lines going into the home. I sealed that opening and treated around the area. Finally, as an extra precaution, I set up some exterior rodent bait stations.

I explained my findings and treatment to the homeowner. He was pleased that he was well on his way toward having this troublesome mouse infestation permanently resolved. 

This customer in Fords, NJ was getting ready to head to the grocery store when she spotted a few yellow jackets building a nest right by her front door! She quickly ran back inside, canceled her plans to go out, and called Cowleys for help and we were sent out. Yellow jackets are aggressive, territorial wasps, with distinctive yellow-and-black coloration, that are known for their propensity to sting anyone and anything that they perceive as a threat, such as those who venture too close to their nests or their food.

When we arrived, we equipped our protective bee suit and treated the yellow jackets & their nest with a knockdown aerosol product. This treatment rapidly exterminates them quickly. After some time had passed, we removed the nest, disposed of it, and then applied a liquid non-repellent residual application. This will eliminate any and all yellow jackets that return to the area as well as prevent them, and all other stinging insects, from creating a new nest.