Cowleys Pest Services Before & After Photos

This Bradley Beach homeowner had damage to his facia board that was caused by squirrels. The fascia board on a house is the vertical finishing edge that caps the end of the rafters, and is often where the home’s gutters are attached. Squirrels had chewed and clawed their way right through fascia. 

Another common trouble spot around the roof often damaged by wildlife is the soffit. The soffit is the finished wood or vinyl horizontal underside (water-resistant vinyl is preferable) beneath the overhanging section of the roof eave. Soffits, which have small holes to help ventilate the attic, are often a magnet for attracting small animals and insects.

A Cowleys wildlife technician had already resolved the squirrel issue, and I was called in to do the repair and exclusion work. Cowleys has a crew of technicians with extensive experience in home construction. Our projects include installing TAP insulation, waterproofing crawl spaces, treating mold, and repairing damage caused by wildlife.

The homeowner was insistent that he did not want the expense of removing his gutters, replacing the damaged fascia board, and re-installing the gutters. So, I took a more expedient approach that would leave the fascia in place. First, I needed brown aluminum to match the brown fascia board. This was easier said than done. It was a challenging job. In order to do this, I had to remove the supports for the gutter, and I had to do this a section at a time so the gutter would not fall. While the supports were off, I slid the the brown aluminum between the gutter and the fascia board to cover the damaged areas.

The next step to this process was to install a white sheet-metal drip edge. The drip edge is flashing installed along the edge of eaves. To install it, I slid the edging up under the shingles and carefully bent it so that it would wrap down on top of the brown aluminum layer. To fit the drip edge to size, I used tin snips, and allowed an overlap where the two pieces of drip edge meet so there would be no gap where water could potentially seep through. 

A drip edge is an important part of roofing that is often overlooked or not understood by homeowners. This drip edge is what gives a finished look to the roof and it also goes long way preventing rainwater from causing damage to the wood building materials near the roof. The drip edge helps keep out rainwater by preventing blow-under leaks caused by wind-driven rains and by directing rainwater into the gutter instead of running down the fascia where water, over time, can wreck havoc. 

A drip edge also helps prevent wildlife infestations. Moisture and water intrusions easily ruin wooden facia boards, and as this homeowner found out, fascia that weakened and softened by rain is also an open invitation for many types of wildlife like squirrels and raccoons to gain access inside the attic. These animals can rip and claw their way through weakened fascia like it was butter.Finally, a drip edge acts as a support for the shingles so they are not just hanging off the edge of the roof.

After the Little Rascals Nuisance Wildlife team had safely removed all the bats from this residence in Allenhurst, NJ, attic we were sent out to remove the contaminated insulation and replace it.

We removed all the contaminated insulation, disinfected the entire attic, and added about 12" of TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation. TruSoft is blown-in cellulose insulation that, unlike fiberglass batts and blankets, effectively covers every attic corner, nook, and cranny, providing complete insulation coverage. This insulation offers top-notch thermal and acoustical (sound-deadening) properties.  

TruSoft blown-in cellulose insulation also has a higher R-value than standard fiberglass insulation, has the highest Class-1 fire safety rating, is resistant to mold and pests, is eco-friendly, maximizes home comfort, and optimizes energy usage for year-round peace and savings.

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. 

This homeowner in Highlands had wildlife gaining entry into his attic through a gable vent. The wire mesh screen covering the gable vents was damaged, most likely from the animals themselves. With the screen breached, they were able to gain access into the attic.

Homes are equipped with attic vents to provide efficient ventilation. They allow heat and humidity to escape from the attic in the summer and moist air in the winter. You’ll find vents on the underside of your soffits and on the home’s gables, which are the triangular portion of the outside wall of a house that comes to a peak between the edges of the intersecting roof pitches. Homes with a simple gable roof (two roof sections sloping in opposite directions that meet at the roof ridge), typically have gable vents at the two ends of the house, and sometimes over the garage. Homes with more ornate roof structures with multiple gables usually have multiple gable vents. While these vents are necessary for efficient attic ventilation, they often wind up being the “weakest link” in the roof structure for wildlife to gain access. Time and time again, our wildlife technicians have had to deal with infestations with wildlife that used a gable vent as their personal welcome mat to enter the attic. Once inside, wildlife can cause significant property damage. They can ruin expensive insulation and chew through wires, creating a fire hazard, and their droppings are a serious health hazard.

Two members of Cowleys home construction crew were sent in to do the exclusion work and make sure that, going forward, wildlife would be blocked from trying to re-enter the attic through this vent. We carefully removed the damaged screen and installed a new one.

This customer in Ocean Grove, NJ had a rather unique situation - pigeons were nesting inside his chimney and making a huge mess! So we were sent out to safely remove them. In fact, a short while after setting up our retrieval devices, we were able to safely remove them from the home! We then carefully disinfected the chimney.

Although the pigeons were safely removed from the home, the chimney is still vulnerable to infestations from other nuisance birds and raccoons too. To solve this, we installed a chimney cap! This heavy-duty material is constructed out of 24 Gauge Top and Flange, and 18 Gauge Galvanized Mesh! It is designed to prevent access to the chimney from all nuisance birds and wildlife!