Before & After Photos

This homeowner in Shrewsbury, NJ had a raccoon rip apart his weathered gable vent and make a new home in his attic! Previously, we safely retrieved the raccoon and relocated it to a new, humane environment. Afterward, we disinfected the entire attic and removed all the contaminated insulation. In regards to replacing his insulation, the homeowner wanted our Contracting team to come out and reinsulate the attic with new blown-in cellulose insulation. 

In order to prevent any future raccoons from reinfesting the home, we removed the old, broken gable vent and replaced it with a louvered vent guard. This material is made of heavy-duty Galvannealed steel (which means it won't rust) and is customized to accommodate vents of all shapes and sizes. Now the home is properly protected from raccoons, as well as all nuisance wildlife!

During a scheduled summer service for a Home Protection Plan customer in Shrewsbury, NJ, we found a large bald-faced hornets nest next to the downspout. Bald-faced hornets are social stinging insects that are a close relative to yellow jackets. The surface of their upper midsection almost looks triangular from the side, and they have white markings on their face.

For treatment, we grabbed our extendable pole, attached a knockdown liquid product to it, and then treated the nest with it. This application exterminates the bald-faced hornets almost immediately. Once the hornets were eliminated, we attached a scraper to the pole and removed the nest. We then disposed of the nest properly and treated the area with a residual application to exterminate any returning hornets as well as prevent them from rebuilding a nest. 

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.

This homeowner in Wannamassa, NJ, was having an issue with wasps nesting in her gable vent. After our pest control team had safely and effectively exterminated all the stinging insects, I was sent out to exclude all the gable vents. The gable vents were weathered and wide open, which makes them vulnerable to a pest, nuisance wildlife (such as squirrels, raccoons, and bats), and bird infestation. 

In order to prevent this, I properly excluded all the gable vents around the home with some sturdy material. Now the gable vents are 100% excluded from pests, birds, and all nuisance wildlife.