Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

A Cowleys wildlife control team was dispatched to a home in New Egypt. This homeowner had a family of raccoons that had nested in his attic, apparently for quite a long time. 

Fortunately, there was no longer an active infestation — the raccoons were long gone. However, the attic was a toxic mess from all their urine and droppings. While the pungent odor of animal waste wafting through your house is a problem, the real concern is the health hazard.

Cowleys wildlife control technicians are trained not only in trapping and excluding wildlife from homes and commercial buildings, but also in safely sanitizing and deodorizing those areas that have been infested.

This homeowner in Milltown, NJ had suffered through both a bat and raccoon infestation in his attic. Fortunately, our Little Rascals Nuisance Wildlife team were able to safely and successfully remove all the bats and raccoon from the attic and properly exclude them from the home. All that's left is to clean up and reinsulate the attic!

First, we carefully removed all of the contaminated insulation and then disinfected the entire attic. Next, we added TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation, which will fill the attic to its recommended insulation levels. TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation has a higher R-value than standard fiberglass insulation, has the highest Class-1 fire safety rating, is resistant to mold and pests, and is eco-friendly!

Recently, we were contacted by homeowners in Millstone Township, NJ who decided to have a dehumidifier installed in their basement as a permanent long-term solution to their chronic humidity problem. High moisture environments in crawl spaces and basements invites mold, insects, and even structural damage to the home. 

The readings on our hygrometer, which measures the humidity (amount of water vapor) in the air, confirmed that this basement had an unacceptably high level of humidity. Homes require an acceptable range of humidity for our comfort and health, and air that is too dry or too wet can be the source of problems for a home’s occupants. Our homes are most comfortable at humidity levels between 30 - 50%. Almost always, the problem with basements and crawl spaces Is too much humidity. High humidity levels can cause condensation on windows, wet stains on walls and ceilings, musty odors, and over extended periods of time, wood rot and structural damage. humidity levels rise above 55%,  a home is ripe for mold growth. Mold spores attach to wet or damp surfaces,  consuming whatever organic material that it grows upon. 

Based on the size (cubic volume) of the basement and its humidity level, we recommended a SaniDry XP commercial dehumidifier. We only install SaniDry commercial-grade dehumidifiers. These machines are specifically designed and manufactured for the challenging environments of basements and crawl spaces. Generic residential dehumidifiers simply aren’t up to the job. For example, the SaniDry XP is a powerful energy-efficient dehumidifier that outperforms standard household dehumidifiers by as much as 10 times while using the same amount of energy to run. The SaniDry XP can effectively cover indoor living spaces over 3000 square feet, making it well-suited for basements and crawl spaces over 40” high. 

The most important difference between a residential dehumidifier and a SaniDry commercial dehumidifier is its ease of use and automatic operation. A residential dehumidifier requires human intervention to empty the pan of collected dehumidified water. If not timely emptied the pan will overflow and the machine usually huts off once the flow bucket is full. Our commercial dehumidifiers direct the extracted water pulled out of the air into either a sump pump or, if a sump pump isn’t present, a small condensation pump that pumps the water through a 1/2” condensate hose that runs to the outside of the basement. For this installation, we needed to drill a 1/2” hole through the foundation wall to run the hose outside. The installation went off without a hitch.  Now, this basement will no longer have chronic humidity issues. The home will be more comfortable and the risk of dangerous mold growth has been removed.

A commercial facility in Piscataway used extensively by the public was having issues with pigeons nesting on a ledge above its elevators. The pigeons were causing problems because of their prodigious droppings in an enclosed area. Pigeons are one of the most common nuisance birds that we deal with regularly. Unfortunately, pigeons have no fear of being in close proximity to people, and their populations have exploded  in cities and other high density areas where they enjoy  a virtually unlimited food supply. Unfortunately, nuisance birds are like bad evicted tenants. They shuffle from building to building, and when they are “evicted” from one location with deterrent devices, they become someone else’s problem.  

The situation here was unacceptable. Having pigeons circulating around in such an enclosed area was visually unappealing, noisy, bad smelling, as well as a potential health hazard from their toxic droppings. Something needed to be done, and done fast! A crew from Bird Solutions By Cowleys was called out to keep these nuisance birds from perching in the elevator area. 

BirdSlide completely protects ledges against pigeons, swallows, and all other nuisance birds. It’s called BirdSlide for good reason. These angled barriers completely block ledges. Birds can’t grip them, and they slide right off. Birds, unlike kids, don’t find slides much fun. After trying to land a few times unsuccessfully, they get frustrated and look for another less hostile location. 

BirdSlide works on any overhang-type structure where pigeons and other birds tend to congregate including ledges, eaves, angle irons, I-Beams, and most L-shaped ledges. Made from UV-stabilized polycarbonate, this deterrent is long-lasting and, best of all, it’s  unobtrusive. After it is installed, it look like it’s part of the building. BirdSlide can even be color-matched to the building, if necessary for aesthetic reasons, in areas of high visibility. The product comes in grey or beige, but can be painted to match any color. 

The owner of this commercial building in Piscataway, NJ received several complains from his workers about pigeons roosting in the Rooftop HVAC systems and defecating all over the place. Frustrated, he called Bird Solutions by Cowleys and we were sent out. When we inspected the HVAC systems, we found large amounts of bird droppings, nesting debris, and feathers throughout the areas. This isn’t only a health hazard to everyone inside the building, but this also presents a slip, trip, fall hazard to the workers.

In order to exclude the pigeons from these areas, we installed bird netting over the top and underneath the HVAC systems. In order make sure the bird netting is secured, we used a stainless steel cable with net spikes and anchored it into the walls. We then locked the cables in place using copper ferrules and then installed turnbuckles which tighten the cable. 

Bird Netting is a 3/4 inch, heavy duty polyethylene net that is used to humanely block the pigeons as well as all nuisance birds from entering the HVAC systems. It creates an impenetrable barrier that denies all nuisance birds the access to this area and removes their landing areas.

They’ll fly around, realize they can't enter, and move on. The bottom portion of the bird netting is weighted, so that the maintenance team an have easy access to the roof. Another bonus is that the bird netting is almost invisible, unless you take a real close look. Now the rooftop HVAC systems are properly excluded from all nuisance birds.