Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

A new customer in Freehold, NJ found some mice droppings in her basement. Nervous that she might have a rodent infestation, she called our office and we were sent out to inspect and treat. When we began our inspection, we noticed that the basement was getting renovated and their were portions of the walls that were missing. We inspected one area and found a large buildup of mice droppings and an old hole that was previously used for electrical wiring. We took a closer look and found mice hair stuck in it. 

For treatment, we carefully cleaned up all the droppings and installed several rodent bait stations throughout the basement and along the exterior of the home. Afterward, we stuffed the one hole, as well as several potential openings around the home, with chew-proof stainless steel mesh and then sealed them with a waterproof adhesive. Lastly, we scheduled several follow up visits to monitor the infestation and replenish the bait stations as needed. 

This homeowner in South Amboy, NJ noticed mice droppings in her basement. Upon inspection throughout the basement I discovered a small shimmer of daylight coming from above the foundation sill plate. I inspected the area further to find more droppings and a significant crevice where a drain pipe exited to the exterior. The entry point was confirmed when inspecting the exterior area. I placed small Rodent bait stations with rodenticide bait in the interior area where mice activity was observed to eliminate any mice that may be residing within. I then installed an exterior Rodent bait station with rodenticide and sealed the entry point with copper mesh to eliminate any more mice attempting to gain entry into the home.

This homeowner in Point Pleasant Beach had one of the more unique crawl spaces that our home improvement crew has come across, and not in a good way. Without being too disparaging, this crawl space was little more than a glorified dirt pit. It was such a dusty dirty mess that it was a completely unusable space in the home. You could not even venture down there without returning to ground level looking as though you just emerged from the depths of a Kentucky coal mine. 

Fortunately, this homeowner decided that enough was enough! It was time to give his crawl space a complete makeover. Cowleys is a certified Basement Systems dealer. Basement Systems pioneered the field of crawl space repair and encapsulation for moisture control and waterproofing. With their system, a chronically damp wet crawl space can be transformed into a clean, dry foundation. Unlike traditionally vented crawl spaces, encapsulation prevents water seepage and hot, humid air from entering the crawl space, as well as acting as a barrier for insects and nuisance wildlife. When supplemented by dehumidification, encapsulation inhibits dangerous mold growth and other allergens, providing clean, healthy air for the occupants residing in the home. 

The Cowleys crew arrived. We first installed CleanSpace liners. Never before has the term “clean space” been more true. Before we got there you could not go down into this basement without getting filthy dirty. We installed both a 4 ft. high wall liner, and a floor liner to finish off the job. These liners are thick, tear-resistant vapor barriers that prevent moisture from passing through the floors and concrete walls. 

The last step of this project was installing a maintenance-free commercial-grade SaniDry XP model dehumidifier to keep the basement free of excess humidity that can trigger dangerous mold (There is also a CX model for smaller areas). These compact dehumidifiers are specifically designed for crawl spaces and mid-sized basements. They can operate in temperatures as low as 40 degrees F. and are much more powerful than traditional dehumidifiers. Once they are set up, there’s nothing to do. They operate automatically, turning on and off according to a built-in hygrometer. Also, these machines don’t have a water tray that needs to be emptied. They connect directly into the home’s drainage system. 

The homeowner was extremely happy with his new crawl space, knowing that he could now go down there or send a repair person there without returning covered in dust. Now, he could even use the space for storage. Also, with these liners secure and in place along with the dehumidifier, the crawl space will be kept dry. Without excess moisture and humidity build-up, he won’t need to worry about mold, insects, and other issues down below.

An Avanel, NJ homeowner contacted Cowleys for a nuisance wildlife technician to take care of a wildlife problem, and I was dispatched to his home. He told me that animals, possibly opossums, were gaining access under his cantilevered flooring. I have an interest in building construction and, to me, cantilevers are a great example of smart home building. With standard framing construction, joists are extended to a girder at the front end, and the framing looks like a bed frame. However, with cantilevered flooring, instead of a girder at the end of the joists, a beam is placed under the joists, so they can extend past that support.

That overhang that is past the beam is what’s called the cantilever. Using this construction, you can extend a home’s footprint and save on material costs— as long as it’s done right. For a safe cantilever overhang, you have to consider the strength of the particular wood and the spacing of the joists. Also, since the beam acts as a fulcrum, you have to make sure that the flooring can handle the weight put on the cantilever by taking into account the backspan of the joists (the distance of the joist up to the beam). Cantilevered engineering is like building a playground teeter-totter that you don’t want to budge an inch when weight is placed on the unsupported side. Unfortunately, some wildlife was as impressed with this cantilevered flooring as I was — and they wanted an up-close view by getting into the spacing under the flooring extending over the foundation!

For this particular job, the animals had made of mess of things with their clawing and droppings, and I needed to remove all of the debris and contaminated insulation underneath. I was able to access the area through the ceiling of the basement. After removing the debris, I sanitized and deodorized the entire area so that no other wildlife would be attracted to the same area by the left-over scent. For added measure, I blocked off every bay in the framing with Silver-Glo insulation and spray foam. Finally, I installed a Dig Defense® on the exterior portion of the cantilever and the rear deck to keep wildlife from being able to gain access. With a dig defense, the area invaded by wildlife is blocked by underground fencing to prevent them from re-entering. 

This homeowner in Avenel, NJ contacted Cowleys for a crawl space improvement. Cowleys has an experienced crew that handles various crawl space improvements, up to and including full encapsulation and whole-house dehumidification for homeowners with water and moisture issues. These issues often result in mold growth that then affects the indoor air quality of the home.  

This particular installation job was more limited, and we are more than happy to adjust the scope of our work to meet the particular needs of the homeowner. The homeowner did not require full encapsulation (Cleanspacing”) because the crawl space was dry and did not have humidity levels that would be conducive to mold growth. However, the customer decided that it was time to replace his flimsy 6-mil “contractor bag” vapor barrier with something more durable and substantial in order to deal off the dirt and prevent dust and odors that periodically permeated the living areas above. 

To meet the needs of this homeowner we removed the old barrier and replaced it with our tear-resistant heavy-duty 20-mil CleanSpace vinyl vapor barrier. This vapor barrier is only available to licensed Basement Systems dealers. Our barrier is a specially engineered film made of layers of high density and low density polyethylene, and you  can walk on it without worrying about rips and tears. With its mil thickness, this barrier has the durability of a plastic tarp. 

The homeowner was quite pleased with our installation work and informed us that if he ever needed additional crawl space renovations, he’d have us back in an instant.