Looking For A Good Pest Control Company In Portland?

Here in Portland, Oregon we have a lot to choose from when it comes to picking an exterminator.  Most of the time, people will just do a quick Google search and just pick the first company that pops.  Unfortunately, that does not always mean that you found a good, reputable company.  Here are some tips when choosing a pest control company and a few suggestions for you:

1)  Does the company require a contract?
If you are not already, you should be leery about signing contracts with companies you do not know.  I already regret my cell phone and cable contracts that I signed up for when I moved in August.  Many companies ONLY do contracts and will not perform a one time treatment.  What this means is that you get stuck with a service you need now, but may not need later.  This should be the first question that you ask when looking for a pest control company.

2)  Are they Green and Eco-Friendly
Most companies will fall under this category.  You want to find a company that is going to be safe for your family.  Gone are the day when your exterminator rolls up with a huge dead cockroach on top of his truck.  You want someone that is clean, professional and discreet and will use products that are safe and effective.

3)  Are they local?
Why invest money into a company that is not local when you can spend the same (or less) for a company based right here in Portland, Oregon?  I try and spend my money with local companies every chance that I get because I believe they care more for the community that they are based in and the money that I spend goes right back into the local economy.

4)  Are they licensed?
This probably should go without saying, but I happen to know for a fact that there is a rather large pest control company that does not even have an Oregon business license, yet does a lot of revenue in the state.  Why is that important?  Well, for all the money coming in from Oregon residents, no Oregon taxes are being paid.  Again, do you want to support your local economy or not?

5)  Two companies that we recommend
This is of course a fairly biased suggestion, but we have a few companies that we will recommend to you.  The first is New Leaf Pest Control located in Vancouver, Washington that serves all of the Portland Metro area.  The second is Wildwoods Pest Control located in Sandy, Oregon.

Portland, Oregon Pest Control Coupons

It can be hard to find a good deal on pest control services in the Portland Metro area.  Most companies will offer a "free inspection", but then gouge you on price when they give you a bid to take care of the problem.  It is difficult to know who you can trust before you pick up the phone and call someone. 

Full disclosure, I am in the area and own a pest control company in Vancouver, Washington.  Before I started out, I had a few different people come to my house occasionally for pest control services.  One of the guys that came out really tried to hard sell me on services that I was not even sure that I needed.  I don't know about you, but I really, really hate pushy sales people.  It makes me feel really uncomfortable and what I have found is that most pest control companies fit this mold. 

When I started New Leaf Pest Control, I decided that I wanted to be different and set up a company that was never "pushy" and never made the customer feel uncomfortable.  So far, I think that we have accomplished that.

I got a call from a potential customer the other day that seemed pretty nervous about having a pest control company come to her house.  She asked me an interesting question, "if you needed to find a company to come out and treat for ants, would you pick your company?"  Well, I didn't really need to think about it too hard and I said, "of course".  But, later on, I did think about it.  If I was a customer, how would I rate my experience from the moment I picked up the phone to when the technician left my house.  Perhaps it is unfair to answer that because my opinion is obviously so biased.  But, regardless of that fact, I think it is important to think about these things, to make an effort to create a good experience for the customer.

Anyway, in this long winded, self serving rant, I wanted to offer you a coupon for reading it all the way to the end.  Please click here for some pest control coupons in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area.  Thanks for reading!

Is Your Crawl Space Healthy?

Did you know that the air that you breathe is directly linked to your crawl space?  In fact, about 40% of the air in your home rises from the crawl space.  With this fact alone, it is easy to see why a healthy crawl space is important.  Unfortunately, the crawl space is a pretty neglected place and most people have never even seen it or had it inspected.  This can mean that a lot of harmful activity can be going on without you even knowing it.

If you want to have someone check out your crawl space, be sure to check out our brand new website at:  http://www.newleafcrawlspace.com/.  We are offering free crawl space inspections with digital photo's.  If we do find something that is in need of attention, we have the expertise to fix it!  We specialize in complete crawl space restoration and custom drainage solutions.  Regardless of what issue you face, be sure to give us a call!  We can make your crawl space healthy again.

We are located in Vancouver, Washington and serve all of the SW Washington and Portland Metro area and offer same day or next day service.

Get Your Home Ready To Avoid Fall/Winter Pests!

Maybe your summer was like mine and went by way too quickly.  It is still warm out here in the Portland, Oregon area, but within about a week or so, things will start to cool.  As we all pack up our things and go inside to avoid the coming cold, some pests are looking to do the same thing and it is important that you prepare your home to keep them out.  Here are some common pests that you will see more of in the winter and ways to avoid them.

Spiders

I think that this might be the worse year for spiders that I can remember.  I have had more phone calls for spiders this month then I had all of last year!  Much of this has to do with the mild winter that we had last year.  The spider population managed to gut it out and survive far better then in past years and now we are feeling the effects of it.

There are a few things that you can do to keep spiders out of your home.  First, if you have shrubs close to your home that are touching the structure, you should trim them back.  First, this gives shelter to all kinds of insects and where insects are, spiders will follow to get a free meal.  Also, think about winterizing your home by installing weather stripping and door sweeps.  This will not only keep the cold out, but also the spiders.

Rodents

Rats and mice are by far the most troublesome winter pest.  They do a good job of getting access to your crawl space and nest in your nice, warm insulation without you even knowing about it.  The problem is that this can create a contaminated crawl space and may require you to consider doing a costly crawl space restoration if it gets out of hand.

There are some simple preventative measures that you can take that will go a really long way.  First, do a quick walk around your home and check the foundation vent screens.  Are they all intact?  Are there any gaps where rodents can get in?  I cannot tell you how much money you could save just by plugging up holes in your vent screens.  Many times, your cable guy will come in and punch out a screen to run a wire and just leave a gaping hole for rodents to enter.  You can repair these using screen mesh and some screws (this is better aesthetically if you do this from inside the crawl space, not outside).  But, if you want to go the easy route, you can just put one of those foam inserts that are designed to insulate your vent screens during the winter.

Lastly, you can look for burrowing holes.  As a rule of thumb, look for golf ball size holes (mice) and tennis ball size holes (rats).  If you do see burrow holes, I would caution you from covering them up.  This might cause the rodents to be trapped and die under your home.  My recommendation is going to be self serving, but I recommend you call New Leaf Pest Control to take care of the problem first and then cover the holes.

If you do these simple steps, you can go a long way in eliminating pest problems during the fall and winter.  If you need some help or just have a few questions, we would be pleased to take your call!

How To Prevent Rodents Getting In Your Home This Winter

Rodent Prevention Ideas

As the warm day begin to be fewer and fewer and our cold, wet winter months quickly approach, we start to see fewer bugs in our industry.  However, the rodents are just getting started and there are several things that you can do to avoid having to call us later on.  Here are some simple rodent prevention tips:

1- Eliminate food sources
Probably the best way to get your home overrun with rodents quickly is to give them easy access to a food source. Of course this is not intentional, but many people make this mistake.  For example, if you are feeding birds with a bird feeder or even a squirrel feeder, you are inviting mice to your home.  Rodents are drawn to these areas to pick up all the scraps that fall on the ground. Another less obvious food source is a composter.  Believe it or not, a rat eats pretty healthy food like fruits and vegetables and will often find these scraps here.  If you are willing to take your chances and continue to have these in your yard, at least be aware of it and clean up as much as you can.  You can even have bird feeders that have large plates underneath to stop scraps from falling.

2- Check for missing screens
Rodents love your crawl space and really want to get in.  It provides them with an ideal environment to be safe, create a nest and start a huge family.  Whenever I walk up to a house and see one of their foundation vent screens out, I can almost guarantee that the crawl space has rodents (or worse even worse, raccoons, cats, etc).  These vent screens can be a little tricky to repair correctly.  To make it look nice, you want to reattach the screen from inside the crawl space and nobody likes to go into their crawl space (especially when you know there are rodents down there).  A good temporary solution would be to insert a foam cover inside the broken screen.  You can purchase these at just about any large hardware store and they are pretty universal in size.

3- Look for digging around your foundation
Like I said, rodents really love your crawl space and badly want to get in.  By doing a quick walk around your perimeter you can see if they are trying to burrow their way in.  This of course would not be much of a preventative measure because if you are seeing burrowing, you probably already have rodents, but you can prevent it from getting worse.  What you are looking for are quarter sized holes for mice and larger holes for rats.  If you do see them, you might not want to just cover them up.  This can cause them to die under your home, so doing a rodent treatment might be necessary at this point.

If you are having rodent issues in your home currently, please feel free to call our pest control company.  If not, be sure to do your best to avoid it!

How To Install A Vapor Barrier In Your Crawl Space

Installing a vapor barrier in your crawl space can go a long way in protecting your home from moisture that can damage your subfloor.  Most homes have vapor barriers covering the soil under their houses, but surprisingly many do not.  If your home is one of them, pay attention and I will tell you step by step how it is done.  There is nothing scientific about laying down a vapor barrier.  It is really hard work and is not for the claustrophobic, but any motivated do-it-yourself person could get the job done.  Here is how...

What type of vapor barrier material is needed?

Many older homes have a vapor barrier in place, but are not up to code and may not be functioning the way they should.  The type of material that should be used is a 6 mil black plastic.  If your home is older, you might see a 4 mil plastic or plastic that is clear.  Both of these are not as effective and should be replaced.  Of course, going with a thicker mil is always going to be better, but the cost goes up substantially for anything over 6 mil.  There are many companies using a really high quality vapor barrier that is 20 mil, but this type of material costs thousands of dollars and I am not quite convinced it is worth the price.

Getting started

First, you need to clear the crawl space of debris and any remnants from older sections of vapor barrier.  It is not recommended to lay a new vapor barrier over an old one.  Vapor barrier is often called "Visqueen" which is just a brand name, but there are actually a few brands out there that you can use.  We generally use "Husky" brand which can be purchased from Home Depot.  They come in rolls of 1000 square feet or 2000 square feet, but you want to buy more than the actual square footage of your home because you will be overlapping a lot.  If your home is 1000 square feet, you are probably going to end up using about 1200 square feet of vapor barrier, so plan accordingly.

Installing the vapor barrier

Look for the path of least resistance to roll out the vapor barrier.  Find the longest, widest run between the posts under your home to unroll it.  It is easier to start from the back and work your way towards your crawl space entry.

Cutting the vapor barrier

Like I said earlier, you are going to want to overlap it.  You should have about one foot of plastic overlap the foundation wall and about one foot overlapping the seams of the plastic.  The trickiest part of installing the vapor barrier are all the posts in the way.  When you unfold the plastic, take a sharp box knife and cut flaps to lay on either side of the posts.  It is okay if there is little gaps around the posts. 

Smooth it all out

Once you have it laid out and the flaps between the posts cut, you need to start crawling around and smoothing things out a bit.  Remember to keep about a one foot overlap on the seams and the foundation and realize that some gaps are okay.  A rule of thumb is that at least 95% of the ground must be covered.  

A couple things not to do

Many people ask about taping all of the seams.  This is a lot of extra work and can be useful, but we do not recommend it.  We prefer a floating vapor barrier so that water can drain if a pipe ever bursts or if water gets on top of the vapor barrier.  Think about it, if water cannot drain off the top of the vapor barrier, it is counterproductive to even have one!  

If you think you want to try doing this on your own, you certainly could do it.  Just be prepared for some hard work.  If you are in the Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, Washington area and need some help with it, be sure to give us a call.  We can give you a free estimate or at the very least, we can give you some advice.

Why Am I Hearing Scratching In My Walls?

It is a creepy thing to wake up and hear noises you cannot explain.  I once moved into a house and was awakened by a strange scratching noise in the walls of my bedroom.  I was living in Vancouver Washington and wasn't sure if I should call a pest control company.  I let it go on several more nights and I would start hearing the scratching in the middle of the night and it would always keep me up.  I hated that noise, but I couldn't figure out what to do about it.  Should I smash a whole in the wall and find it?  And, what was it anyway?

Now that I am actually running a pest control company, I am a little more informed as to what that scratching noise and other noises really are.  When people “hear something” at night, I can usually help them determine what they are hearing by asking a few questions.  So, let’s go through it together.  I would assume that if you clicked on this blog, you probably have had this issue in the past or have it now.

What was in my walls?

After looking around, I found out that I had mice in my attic and they were pretty bad.  What I found is that the mouse had fallen down into a wall void in an interior wall in my bedroom and was trying to chew its way out.  I decided to let things run its course and did not open the wall up and the mouse actually ended up dying in my wall.  It stunk for about a week and a half, but it wasn't overpowering, so I think I would rather have it stink for a little while than have to repair a hole in the wall.

When the scratching noise is from a rodent

Usually if you are hearing a scratching, chewing or scurrying from a rodent, it is in an interior wall void (like what I had).  Most other animals are not going to fit in such a tiny place.  You will probably only hear it at night and the mouse will move around a little bit and not tend to focus on just one area.  It will also stop making noise if it hears you moving around.  However, if the noise is a constant scratching sound and it doesn't stop when you are making noises, it might be the sound of carpenter ants chewing through the wood.

When you hear noises in the attic?

Depending on how loud the noise is, this can be a few different things.  If it is a really loud banging around, it could be a raccoon or an opossum.  If it is a lighter scurrying, it could be a mouse, but they are so light that they are hard to hear in an attic.  Most likely it is a rat or squirrel.  Rats and squirrels make their way into the attic through openings in the eaves of your roof line.  One thing to keep in mind is that they might not be in your attic at all, but could be running along your roof.  A lot of pest control companies go out to customers home just to find that they don’t have a problem at all and nothing is invading their home.  Lastly, if you hear chirping in your attic, you probably have a birds nest, which are common in this space.

When you hear noises in the crawl space?

Most of the time, if you hear noises in your crawl space, you have something large down there.  Raccoons commonly find their way into your crawl space and can do a lot of damage.  Again, rodents can be down there as well, but they are just not usually very noisy.  In fact, you probably would not hear rats or mice, but if your dog is going crazy and barking at the vents, then he is probably hearing them.

If you are hearing any strange noises and aren't sure what to do about it, please call a Portland pest control company that you can trust.  We are available to answer any questions and help you get rid of that creepy noise so that you can get some sleep!