Before & After Photos

Homeowners in Rumson, NJ, had a bat infestation in their attic. Bats are often attracted to homes for maternity and nesting roosts. The species of bats found in New Jersey have adapted well to using the walls and attic spaces of homes. They make great places to hibernate or raise their young. A wildlife technician had already completed the bat exclusion and sealed their access points into the attic. But more work needed to be done. As often happens, whenever wildlife, especially bats, raccoons, or squirrels, take up residence in attics, they are rude houseguests, and that’s putting it mildly.   

Wildlife can cause a significant amount of damage in a short period of time from their activities. They can cause all sorts of problems such as chewing through wiring, which is a serious fire hazard. A major problem of any wildlife infestation is their urine and often prodigious quantities of droppings. A colony of bats can produce a significant amount of dripping, smelly guano (poop). One of the most common casualties of a wildlife infestation is ruined contaminated attic insulation. Also, from a health standpoint, bat droppings can contain the histoplasmosis fungus and other pathogens. Bat guano, like all wildlife droppings, should be treated as a toxic health hazard. Never enter an enclosed area with wildlife droppings without proper protective equipment. 

A Cowleys home improvement crew was brought in to handle this clean-up. We removed the soiled insulation, sanitized and deodorized the space, and installed 10” of our blown-in cellulose insulation. After it is installed and settles, this dense fire-retardant thermal blanket does an amazing job holding in heat in the winter and conditioned air in the summer. It is an energy-efficient money-saver for homeowners. Also, unlike fiberglass rolls, the coverage of blown insulation is complete and comprehensive. We can fill in all of those hard-to-fit spaces that roll often miss. This insulation also helps with sound and noise dampening. Finally, it even has an effective pest control component. A specialized form of borate is added to the paper fibers. If an insect comes into contact with borate particles will ingest it as part of its grooming, and soon thereafter it’s “game over.”  It’s important to mention that borates are only lethal to insects. It’s completely safe and non-toxic for humans and, for that matter, any other mammal. 

After we were done with our cleanup, you would have never guessed that this attic was once used as a dirty bat cave. Now, this sanitized and deodorized guano-free attic, with its fresh insulation, looked great, smelled great, and was safe, clean, and sanitary.

Recently, I was sent to a home in Rumson, NJ to resolve a troublesome mouse infestation. The homeowner had observed mouse activity in the garage and utility room, and contacted Cowleys before they found their way inside the living areas of the home. Here, the back wall of the utility room directly abutted the garage. Garages are common entry points for mice and I inspected the area to determine how they could be gaining access inside. There was no shortage of entry points. The mice had numerous ways to get inside the garage. I showed the homeowner what needed to be done to stop the mice from gaining access. Both the garage door and side door had openings that needed to be fixed. Often, weather stripping can deteriorate leaving openings and garage doors do not close all the way down. If you can see daylight coming in, assume a mouse can as well. 

I went to work plugging the the hole in the wall into the utility room from the garage with a chew-proof copper mesh. I also installed three RTU (Ready-to-Use) bait stations. These stations have a special key needed to open up the boxes to apply the bait cannot be accessed by non-target animals. These stations also allow me to monitor the level of rodent activity when replenishing the bait. After finishing up with the garage, I plugged up the holes in the utility room and installed two more RTU bait stations there. The homeowner did the right thing by contacting Cowleys at the first sign of rodent trouble. It is far easier to deal with an infestation before they gain access in the kitchen and other living areas of the home.

We were sent out on a service call to a home in Rumson, NJ to treat for hornets. When we arrived, the homeowner mentioned that the nest was right above her backdoor. Sure enough, when we checked, we found an active bald-faced hornets! 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. One very important fact that you must know about bald-faced hornets is that they are EXTREMELY aggressive and will not hesitate to sting anything that invades their space. Their stings carry venom that makes the stings hurt, itch, and swell for about 24 hours!

First, we equipped our personal protective bee suit and treated the nest with a knockdown dusting application and then a knockdown liquid product. Both of these treatments will exterminate the bald-faced hornets almost immediately. Once a majority of the hornets were eliminated, we removed the nest, properly disposed of it, and then treated the area with a residual product to eliminate any returning bald-faced hornets & prevent them from building another nest. 

The property manager of a professional services building in Ocean Township, NJ, observed turkey vultures landing on the peak of the roof. The primary nuisance birds in New Jersey are pigeons, house sparrows, starlings, and seagulls. However, every so often, residences and commercial buildings are used as nesting and roosting spots by other bird species, including vultures!

Many are surprised to learn that there are vultures in New Jersey. We are home to two vultures species, turkey vultures and black vultures. Turkey vultures, whose bald red head and dark plumage resembles wild turkeys, are historic residents of the state. Black vultures are a more recent arrival. Vultures are nature’s clean-up crew that help our ecosystem by feeding on dead, decomposing animal carcasses (carrion). The reduce the risk of disease and contamination from rotting animals. If our road maintenance crews don’t quickly remove roadkill left behind on our busy New Jersey roadways, these birds are happy to take over.  How can vultures eat decomposing, even diseased, flesh and organs without getting sick? They have highly acidic stomach acids that kills any pathogens. These acids are also their primary defense mechanism. If threatened, vultures will regurgitate its rancid stomach acids, not to mention its stomach contents, onto an intruder. Most intruders, once covered with vulture vomit, tend to rethink their plans.  

Vultures are a protected migratory bird species, as are most birds. The objective with bird control is to make your property inhospitable to birds using deterrents, so they change their behavior and move elsewhere. They types of deterrents depend on the type of bird infestation and the specifics of the property. There is no one-size-fits-all single bird solution.  

For this particular bird job, we installed 80 feet of shock track along the entire peak of the roof. These tracks gives off a low-volt shock should a bird attempt to land. It does not harm them in any way, but it does send a clear message to seek another area to rest. Even for birds, that aren’t the brightest, it does not take too many negative reinforcements for them to realize that they are no longer welcomed here.  

Needless to say, the property manager was quite pleased for these birds to be gone. Most of the businesses operating here are for professional medical services. The last thing anyone wants to see when visiting their doctor or dentist is seeing large birds hovering overhead that are, literally, waiting for death. With the shock tracks in place, these unattractive birds will no longer be taking up residence on the roof, making a mess from their droppings and making visitors uncomfortable. 

A homeowner in Long Branch, NJ, recently purchased a home and while walking around the exterior perimeter, found something missing that was quite important — a cover over the crawl space entry. He knew that it would only be a matter of time for mice and other pests to access the crawl space and the opening was a major problem for letting in hot humid air. He knew that Cowleys did a wide variety of crawl space repair and improvement work and contacted us to see if there was anything that we could do. 

Cowleys had the perfect product: An Everlast cover that our contractor crew could easily custom fit to completely seal his crawl space access. 

These covers are custom provide a perfect seal for most any crawl space opening. 

They can be installed against wood framing or masonry, work exceptionally well, and look great. These doors,  made of a hard durable plastic, stand up to New Jersey’s worst weather and keep out mice and other pests. These crawl space covers are far superior in performance to wooden or metal doors since they can’t rot, warp, crack, or rust. As a bonus, they never need to be painted. Also, even though these covers form a tight seal over the crawl space access, they are easy to open with four easy-to-grip knobs. Just twist them off, and you’re in!  

This Long Branch homeowner could not have been more pleased.