Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

Cowleys was contacted by a homeowner in Ocean that had a groundhog problem. At least one pesky, destructive groundhog was burrowing under his backyard shed causing damage to the wood. Groundhogs (woodchucks) are one of the most damaging pests that can invade your yard. Besides wrecking havoc on your lawn from digging their burrows and leaving unsightly holes and mounds of dirt all over, they have voracious appetites. Groundhogs will feed on just about any flower, fruit, vegetable, or plant that you’ve been growing on your property. With a groundhog infestation, all that time and money your spent on improving your lawn can be gone in an instant. Also, groundhogs can also cause damage to your home’s foundation if their burrowing activity is right around your home. To make matters worse, once these large rodents have settled on your home as their new residence, they are amazingly persistent about staying there. 

I was dispatched to this Ocean residence to inspect the area around the shed and determine the best strategy to capture the animals. Upon arrival, I went to the homeowner’s backyard to inspect around the shed and observe the aftermath of their destructive behavior in the yard. The groundhogs were free to come and go from multiple areas around the shed. There was no clear pathway that they were taking to gain access under the deck. Rather than setting up traps in arbitrary locations and hoping for the best, I dramatically improved the odds of a successful capture by installing one of my favorite products in our wildlife control arsenal to trap burrowing invasive animals, “Dig DeFence” underground fencing. “Dig DeFence” is a trenchless underground permanent barrier made of heavy galvanized steel. It’s a much better alternative than burying hardware cloth or repeatedly setting up traps. It can be installed around foundations, decks, sheds, yards, and any other location where groundhogs and other burrowing animals are a nuisance.

For pet owners, this product is of great help as well. It can be used to keep your pets from trying to dig out of the yard underneath your above-ground fencing, and it works will all fence types — wood, wrought iron, or chain link. Especially for homeowners with next-door neighbor dogs that want nothing more than to sniff each other face-to-face, this below-ground fencing will keep them apart, hold your fence down, fill any gaps. Besides keeping your pets out, it will prevent a variety of unwanted “ground level” wildlife from entering your property and causing damage. It’s particularly effective for keeping out skunks, opossums, raccoons, porcupines, and, of course, groundhogs.

With this Ocean home, I used the “Dig DeFence” to aid in trapping the animals. I blocked about 90% of the perimeter around the shed so the animals would automatically be funneled towards my traps. I installed one-way traps by the remaining openings. I’m confident that that, within a day or so, the groundhogs will be trapped. Once they are caught, I’ll relocate them away from the home. After the groundhogs are trapped and there are no more underneath the shed, I’ll seal off the remaining areas. 

Living in a wooded area of Ocean, this homeowner will always be dealing with nuisance wildlife in his yard. It’s one of the tradeoffs of living with nature. However, this underground fencing will go a long way to prevent future problems. The homeowner was quite pleased that the groundhog problem around his shed would be permanently resolved and that he would not have to worry about repairing ongoing damage caused by these animals. 

I was recently sent to a residence in Ocean Township, NJ to deal with a mouse infestation. This particular homeowner was getting frustrated because of a continuing, on-going mouse problem. As temperatures drop, mice will start overwintering in our homes to escape the harsh weather conditions, and here, it seemed that more and more mice would find their way inside the home. 

Upon arrival, I performed a full inspection of the home’s interior and exterior perimeter to find any actual or potential entry points. Mice don’t need much of an opening to find their way inside — any gap about the width of a dime is enough for them to gain entry. It is critically important that these entry points are located and sealed. Otherwise, you can set up all the bait stations you want in the home and you’ll never get rid of the infestation. I sealed all of the possible entry points and installed rodent control stations in strategic areas where there were signs of mouse activity — under the stove, behind the fridge, and plumbing areas under the sink and laundry room. Gaps around piping coming into the home are a common trouble spot for rodent entry. Finally, I explained to the homeowner that as part of my treatment plan, I’d be returning in two weeks for a follow-up visit to make sure there were no more issues. The homeowner was relieved that the mouse problem was finally under control.

Recently, a Cowleys home improvement crew was sent to a home in Asbury Park, NJ to perform rodent exclusion work around the home’s exterior foundation. We were asked to perform a weep hole exclusion by installing metal screening over the home’s weep holes (often called just “weeps”) to prevent mice and other rodents from gaining entry. 

Homes with exterior brick veneer (thin stone over wood framing) have small openings periodically spaced in the brickwork. This isn’t because the brick mason was sloppy! These holes were left there on purpose. Why? Brick (and stone for the matter) is not waterproof. It’s a highly porous material that acts almost like a sponge and when it rains, the masonry wall absorbs a tremendous amount of water. In order to prevent rainwater from entering the building, masonry construction requires a drainage cavity that allows water to drain down the back face of the brick. The potentially damaging water is collected at the base of the wall by flashing, which is then channeled out to the exterior through these little holes, which are typically about a half-inch wide. Weep holes not only provide an opening allowing water to drain out through the wall’s bottom, but also allow ventilating air to enter behind the wall that helps to dry the structure. Moisture buildup in the cavity can cause mold, mildew, wood rot. If you look carefully, you’ll find these weep holes, a building code requirement, spaced about two feet apart along of the length of the wall. With this Fair Haven home, the entire home exterior was brick, so these gaps surrounded all sides of the house. 

Although weep holes are essential for water drainage and ventilation, they have a downside for homeowners. These holes are enticing entry points for mice, other rodents, and even on occasion, snakes, to enter the home. However, for this homeowner with the screening we installed, the wall will still be able to drain and breathe, but now rodents and other pests will no longer be able to use these openings to gain entry. 

A homeowner in Ocean Township, NJ, was having a problem with rodents gaining entry into the crawl space through their existing crawl space entry. Rodents commonly gain access into homes through gaps, cracks, and openings around the foundation. After entering a home through the crawl space or basement, these sneaky pests will often make their way to the kitchen and other parts of the home by traveling through wall voids.  

Cowleys has a specialized home improvements division staffed by an experienced crew that perform a variety of services including various crawl space improvements, up to and including complete encapsulation. Because of our crawl space expertise, the homeowner thought that we may be able to deal with his rodent entry problem. And we had the perfect solution: replacing the crawl space entry with an air-tight Everlast door.

We usually install these covers to help block outdoor air and moisture from entering the crawl space. High crawl space humidity and moisture can trigger mold formation, cause wood rot and structural damage, and attract insects and rodents. However, these covers also happen to be an effective barrier to stopping unwanted pests from gaining entry.

These Everlast covers are made with a hard durable plastic that is impervious to water. They stand up to the harsh outdoor elements and will rot, warp, or crack. Unlike wood, homeowners don’t have to worry about painting them. We are able to install these crawl space doors against either wood framing or masonry. From our experience and homeowner feedback, these doors have proven to be virtually indestructible. Although though they create are a solid barrier to the crawl space, if you do need crawl space access, they can be easily opened in a few seconds. Just twist a few easy-to-grip knobs to remove the door, and you’re in!  

The homeowners were pleased with our solution to stop further rodent entry, and they appreciated our quick installation. As you can see from the before and after photos, this Everlast crawl space door was a big improvement over the original cover.

Recently, I was called to a home in Asbury Park, NJ to handle a mouse infestation. As often happens this time of year when temperatures drop, mice seek refuge inside homes. Here, the homeowner found two common signs of mice — droppings and noises in the wall voids. Mice are nocturnal and do their foraging in the quiet of night. Often, the mice stay hidden but leave a trail of droppings behind. Here, the homeowner told me that he found droppings in their bedroom closet.

During me inspection, I found a trail of droppings along the bedroom baseboard heaters (mice are attracted to anything generating heat) leading to the bathroom. I also found mice were chewing up pieces of toilet tissue paper and the cardboard rolls and using it as nesting material. Whenever dealing with a rodent infestation, it is important to determine their entry points into the home and how they are able to move about once inside so that their access points can be sealed. Here, I found that there were gaps around the water pipelines into the bathroom, which explains why the homeowners had heard noises inside the wall voids. I sealed the gaps around the pipes using expanded foam resin and installed interior rodent bait stations in the bathroom. With the bait stations and access points sealed, these homeowners will not have to worry about mice scurrying about their bedroom and bathroom.