Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

While treating this homeowners' property in Tinton Falls, NJ I discovered a large number of spider webs along with the columns on the front porch. Spiders are hunters, so if you see any in your home or their webbing around your property that means that they have a food source. By eliminating those pests, you’re eliminating the spider's food source and they’ll go elsewhere to find food.

With the homeowner's permission, I inspected the entire interior of the home to find any signs of spiders or any pests, to which I found none. I grabbed my broom and then dusted and vacuumed the spider webs. By removing the spider webbing, the spiders will get frustrated and leave that area. I also treated the columns, the front porch, and the exterior of the building with a non-repellant residual and sealed any gaps or opening around the property with a waterproof adhesive. 

A homeowner in Eatontown, NJ decided it was time to upgrade his attic space and add some new insulation to it, so he called our Attic Systems department and we were sent out.

We inspected the attic and determined that the area was severely under-insulated. Under-insulated attics will cause problems such as uncomfortable rooms, uneven temperatures, and high heating and cooling bills. We removed all the fiberglass insulation, disinfected the entire attic area, and then added approximately 10-12 inches of TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation.

TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation has a higher R-value than standard fiberglass batts, is made primarily from recycled newspaper (perfect for environmentally conscious property owners), has the highest Class-1 fire safety rating, and is treated with non-toxic borate giving it an incredible resistance to mold and pests. Not to mention, because it fills the attic to the proper insulation levels, it will prevent heat transfer between the attic and the rooms below, allowing the homeowners heating and cooling systems to run less frequently and save him considerable amounts of money on his energy cost!

I was sent out by Cowleys to an apartment complex in Barnegat Light to remove an active hornets nest. The insects built their nest in a tree that was close to one of the buildings in the complex. Normally, a hornets nest does not pose a threat to people as long as the nest is not disturbed or approached. Unfortunately, every so often, these pests decide to build their nest in locations where people may inadvertently come too close to the nest. If they feel that their nest and territory is being threatened, a multiple stinging insect attack can easily result. This particular nest was built in a sensitive location. It was about five feet from the sidewalk entering the building and about seven feet off the ground. It was clearly a threat to any of the tenants forced to walk by the nest in order to enter and exit the building. It was an unacceptable situation, and I arrived to correct it.

To deal with this hornet problem, I first incapacitated the hornets that were inside the nest by treating it with a quick knock-down product. Once most of the hornets inside the nest were either dead or dying, I carefully cut the branch holding the nest out of the tree. Whenever you are doing a nest extraction, it is important to be mindful of any foraging hornets returning to the nest. They don’t take too kindly to seeing their nest being removed!

Once the nest and the supporting branch were separated from the tree, I
cut off excessive foliage to remove the treated nest, which I then bagged so that I could remove it from the property. The returning foraging hornets will swarm around the nest site for awhile, but they’ll soon move on when they realize that their nest is no more and there is not even any residue of the old nest to build on. 

Territorial stinging insects like wasps and hornets mean trouble when they decide to build a nest too close to a home or commercial structure. In these cases, the nest needs to be removed by a pest control professional, preferably before there is a serious wasp attack on an innocent person who happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

This Seaside Heights homeowner wanted to cover his submersible sump pump, and contacted Cowleys. Cowleys offers more than just pest control. We also have a specialized division devoted to keeping crawl spaces and basements clean and dry. Sump pumps, a critical part of any crawl space system, pump out damaging groundwater that has found its way inside your home. While Cowleys sells and installs the sturdiest, most trouble-free sump pumps available, we also will take on specialized projects for homeowners like this one. 

What’s a submersible sump pump? These pumps are located inside the sump basin, and its motor is designed to work when completely submerged in water. The alternative is a pedestal pump. With pedestals, the entire pump is located above the sump pit, and its motor is not designed to be submerged. You’ll usually only see pedestal-type pumps where the sump pit is too narrow or shallow for a submersible. Submersibles are today’s residential standard because they are far more efficient and quieter than pedestal pumps. 

This homeowner understood the importance of covering his submersible sump pump, and contacted Cowleys to do the job. There are a number of important reasons to cover your sump. Covered sump pumps help reduce moisture, and keeping moisture levels down is essential for preventing mold growth. (The primary way to keep down moisture levels in your crawl space or basement is through dehumidification.) Also, covered sump pumps are especially important for homes with a radon gas problem because of the surrounding soil. While a sump pump cover will help to reduce the amount of radon, it won’t completely resolve the problem. Unfortunately, soil gases can seep in from many places, including floor cracks and floor drains. A sump pump lid reduces pump noise, stops debris from falling into the pit, and keeps out insects and rodents. If your sump pump is in the basement, a cover will keep out curious kids who may want to use the sump pit as a fun play site. 

We recommend solid covers if there’s a pipe beneath that drains water into the sump well, and a perforated one if water drains into the well after flowing across the basement floor. Because of two plumbing pipes that funneled into the sump pit, we needed to build a custom cover for this homeowner. While this cover may not qualify as an exhibit at some fancy art museum, the Cowleys crawl space technicians who worked on this job are especially proud of it! As you can see, the cover does exactly what it’s supposed to do, and it made an unattractive area of the home look a whole lot better.

We recently replaced five foundation vents with Smart Vents for a homeowner in Manasquan, NJ. The old vents would not adequately protect the home from damage in the event of floodwaters from a severe weather events such as a hurricane, tropical storm, or nor’easter, which unfortunately seem to be occurring more frequently and with greater severity. Often, we can simply remove the existing vents and replace them with Smart Vents. However, sometimes, as we did here, we must cut into the foundation to properly fit the improved vents. Either way, the transition from traditional vents to Smart Vents is easy and seamless, and at the end of the day, the homeowner is left with considerable protection of their home foundation against damaging floodwaters. 

Smart Vents prevent severe foundation damage by equalizing hydrostatic pressure. Hydrostatic water pressure can reach tens of thousands of pounds. It’s enough pressure to collapse large dams and retaining walls let alone home foundations. They work by allowing floodwaters to freely enter and exit the basement or crawl space. And how they so it is deceptively easy. Unlike traditional air vents, these vents open automatically and passively on their own once floodwaters reach a certain level. They do not require human intervention and no electricity is needed. The vents provide a 3-inch clearance for small debris and trash to easily pass when the vent door is opened by patented internal activation floats. For vented crawl spaces, there are Smart Vent models with a metal coil sensitive to temperature changes that opens and closes the vent louvers, and, just like the Smart Vent models that respond to water levels, these vents open and close automatically and do not require manual intervention.

Perhaps most important, these vents are FEMA and NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program) compliant. They are deemed so effective by these agencies that the installation of these foundation flood vents can save homeowners, on average, 80% of their NFIP premiums. Any Jersey Shore homeowner with a crawl space or basement in a flood hazard area, especially NFIP-designated V Zones and A Zones, should strongly consider installation of Smart Vents. Smart Vent has its own Flood Risk Evaluator division to ensure that Smart Vent purchasers receive the proper flood insurance rating. They can provide homeowners with an estimate of their new lower flood insurance premium at www.yourfloodrisk.com.