Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

A new homeowner in Brielle, NJ, was having an issue with birds roosting in her home. She had another company come out and try to exclude the birds, but it didn't work, so he called Little Rascals for help. 

During our inspection, we discovered that the birds were actually roosting in a small gap behind the shutters. The previous company installed chicken wiring, but it was extremely loose and not secure. We removed the company's exclusion bird, disposed of it, and then carefully removed all the nesting debris.

In order to properly exclude the birds, we took a piece of metal flashing and scribe shaped it to the shutters. This contours the metal flashing to the shutters almost perfect and will not only exclude birds from the home, but bats, wasps, bees, and hornets as well!

Homeowners in Oceanport, NJ, had an ongoing problem with rodents gaining entry into their crawl space. Usually, rodents will first gain entry inside a home by locating openings around the foundation. And, for mice, it doesn’t take much. These tiny animals that weigh less than an ounce can easily squeeze through gaps as small as a dime. Common rodent entry points are gaps around pipes and wires, garage doors that don’t fully close or are missing weatherstripping, and, the entry point with this home — an access door to the crawl space that no longer did its job. As you can see in the photo, this metal access door had seen better days. It was warped, rusted and had an opening that was an open invitation for rodents. Mice have a distinct knack for finding weaknesses around the foundation, and it was not surprising that they exploited this one. 

Cowleys has a contractor division that is staffed by an experienced, professional home repair and renovation crew that handles a variety of crawl space improvements, up to and including complete crawl space encapsulation for homeowners with chronic water, moisture, and humidity issues. We also happily handle smaller projects such as this one. Here, we removed the damaged crawl space door and replaced it with an air-tight Everlast door. 

Everlast covers help block outdoor air and moisture from entering the crawl space, which can trigger mold formation and cause wood rot and structural damage. However, these doors are also an effective barrier against rodents and other pests. They are made with a hard durable plastic that stands up to the harshest outdoor elements that we face in New Jersey. 

Everlast vent covers are a major improvement over wood or metal doors. These maintenance-free doors will not rot, warp, crack, or rust, and they never need to be painted. Also, they can be installed against either wood framing or masonry. Although these doors create a solid barrier preventing mice and any other pests using this common access point, for humans, they allow for easy crawl space access. These doors have four large easy-to-grip knobs that you or a repair person can twist off in seconds. Homeowners have commented that they wished opening up pickle jars were this easy! As you can see from the before and after photos, this Everlast crawl space door was far more than just a rodent barrier. It was a major aesthetic improvement for the home’s exterior perimeter.

Two members of Cowleys home improvement crew were dispatched to a home in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, to help a homeowner who had a few pieces of aluminum trim blow off during a recent storm. Your home’s siding and trim are an essential barrier to protect the underlying fascia from the harsh outdoor elements (wind, rain, and snow). If not repaired, fascia damage could lead to wood rot and a weakening of the underlying structures eventually causing the soffit to collapse. Exposing your home’s underlying building materials can also lead to other problems such as mold formation and wildlife entry. Wildlife like squirrels and raccoons often take advantage of structural weaknesses in a home to gain entry. Homes kept in good repair are less prone to wildlife infestations. 

We replaced the missing aluminum trim with new white high performance exterior cellular PVC trim that we custom bent to fit her home. This material is tough stuff! It won’t rot, cup, split, twist, or warp and pests like carpenter bees (not to mention woodpeckers that peck away looking for carpenter bee larvae) can’t bore holes into it.  As you can see by the photos, our installed trim blended in perfectly with the house. You could not even tell that any repairs had been made after we were done. The homeowner was relieved that the trim was replaced, it looked great, and most importantly, her home was protected from the outdoor elements as we head into the harsh days of winter.

A homeowner in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, had a few ridge cap shingles blow off in a storm. Virtually any steep-sloped roof has a ridge at the top of the roof where the different sides of the roof meet. Also. roof designs commonly have sloped ridges (hips) where roof planes meet at an angle. These ridges and hips the highest stress areas of your roof. We use ridge cap shingles to provide a complete watershedding system on your roof. These shingles are an extra strong barrier at this crucial juncture where rainfall first hits your shingles. Should these shingles go AWOL, it does not take long for rain or melting snow to start causing roof leaks and all sorts of property damage from water entry into your home. Also, these missing shingles are an “open house” sign for all sorts of critters that looking for a warm, protected place like your attic to escape the harsh outdoor elements.  

For this home improvement project, we replaced the missing shingles. We then installed Ridge-Guards over the ridge vents to give extra assurance to the homeowner that similar roof problems would not happen again. Just as ridge cap shingles are crucial to a home’s roofing system, so are ridge vents. These vents allow damp, warm air to escape from the attic. By doing so, they increase your homes energy efficiency and protect asphalt shingles from overheating and warping in the summer. Unfortunately, ridge vents can be a vulnerable “weak spot” in a roof. They are often exploited by wildlife, especially squirrels, raccoons, and bats, to gain entry into the attic, and they can be the source of roof leaks as well. With Ridge-Guards installed over the ridge vents, this homeowner now has an effective permanent solution to ward off these types of ridge vent problems.

Last week, I was called out to investigate a home in Point Pleasant, NJ. The homeowner contacted Cowleys because mice were getting into the kitchen. She told us that several mice were caught on glue traps that she had placed. In addition, rodent bait stations had already been set up from a previous service call. Mice infestations can be challenging for a variety of reasons. One is their size. Because mice are so small they are able to get through gaps and cracks that we barely notice. identifying and sealing all of them can sometimes take a few visits. 

On this visit, I noticed a door nest to the refrigerator that lead to the crawl space. The door was never used by these homeowners, and was leftover after the kitchen had been remodeled. I observed a large gap under the door. There was a high probability that this was the trouble spot for the mice entering the living areas of the home from the crawl space. 

I used a chew-proof copper mesh to fill the gaps where the mice were likely entering. The benefit of using copper is that it does not rust like steel wool. I also inspected and rebated the rodent bait stations that had previously been set up. Unfortunately, there was active rodent activity in the kitchen and crawl space area as well as the exterior behind the home. Clearly, this was one stubborn infestation. Cowleys, however will stay on the job until the infestation is completely resolved. One mouse inside a home is one mouse too many.  

I set up additional bait stations in the crawl space where the mice were initially gaining entry into the home. I also sealed the gap under the kitchen door as well as a hole by their A/C unit in the back of the home. I expect the indoor mouse population to drop quickly and dramatically. In the meantime, we will have follow-up visits until this infestation is completely resolved.