Will Insurance Cover Raccoon Damage To My Crawl Space?

Maybe you have seen the Allstate commercial where "Mayhem" is a raccoon living in an attic.  Like any good raccoon, he is having the time of his life playing in insulation, chewing on wires and having babies.  Although many people found this commercial humorous, if you have recently had a raccoon in your attic or crawlspace, you are not laughing.

A raccoon can do an enormous amount of damage in very little time.  They generally will start to pull subfloor insulation down to nest in, detach air ducts and possibly chew on wires.  On top of all the damage that they can cause, they leave behind an extremely contaminated space in their wake, so if you think you might have a raccoon (or any other wildlife for that matter) living under your home, it is time to do something about it.

Luckily, many of you have this on your insurance policy right now.  A typical crawl space restoration bid can be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars depending on the extent of the damage.  There have been many times that we have come to a customers home and found damage and suggested that the customer call their insurance agent before we start the work.  Many times we have found that the restoration was completely covered and the customer did not even realize it!

Steps to take if you have wildlife living under your home:

1) Call a Pest Control Company:  You need to first get rid of the wildlife in a safe manner.  This can be especially challenging if it is a mother with babies.  A pest control company can professionally trap and remove the animal/s and help you seal entry points (typically they get in from open vent screens in the foundation).  If there is damage in the crawl space, most pest control companies do this kind of work and will give you a bid.

2) Call your insurance agent:  Do not let the pest control company start until you have discussed the matter with your insurance agent.  They may need you to take pictures and allow an insurance adjustor to make sure that the price quoted by the pest control company is within their guidelines.  Unfortunately, there are companies out there that will bid crawl space restorations at outrageous prices, but your insurance company will alert you if this is the case.

3) Get the work done:  Make sure that the pest control company both cleans and disinfects the area.  There can be a lot of contamination left behind when dealing with wildlife.  Also, ask them if a flea treatment is necessary.  Raccoons and other wildlife are loaded with fleas and if they have been living under your home, you might have a problem with them as well.

If you are unsure if you have a wildlife problem and just have a few questions, please give us a call.  If you live in the area and need a Portland Metro Pest Control Company, we would love to hear from you!

Photo credit: Tambako the Jaguar / Foter / CC BY-ND

Do Bug Bombs Really Work?

I am sure that you have done this before.  You made everyone clear out of the house and you set up a couple bug bombs around the house, set each of them off and then booked it out of the house.  Listen, I get it.  It seems like the perfect solution for your pest problem.  You nuke them with an aerosol that is supposed to get every nook and crevice.  Unfortunately, all it really accomplishes is coating your home in an oily chemical residue that is basically just a pesticide cocktail.

I remember when I was a kid my parents used these all the time to get rid of fleas.  We would have to leave the house for several hours and after we returned, the place stunk and it just felt gross.  That stuff had to be incredibly bad for us and pretty toxic.  Again, the logic seemed perfect, the fogger would get everything.  However, the only thing that really happens is that the pesticide pushes the insects even farther into walls, cracks, crevices, etc.  If you have had some success with foggers, it probably didn't last, right?  What happened was that the pests retreated and then came back with a week or so.

A recent study from Ohio State University concluded that bug bombs are entirely ineffective on crawling or biting insects.  They did so by placing bed bugs in plates around a room.  They placed various foggers around them and set them off.  The results?  Not much, only a few of them died while the rest seemed completely unharmed.  They did a second test with a tiny bit of paper placed over the dishes for shelter.  In this case, none of them were harmed.  The conclusion is that bed bugs are nearly immune to the effects of bug bombs and the same can be concluded for other types of crawling insects.

In addition to the limited effectiveness, there have been illnesses reported from inhaling the insecticide.  A study that included 8 states in 2008 reported that there were at least 466 injuries from the use of bug bombs and 21 of those had to be hospitalized.

So what are they good for?  Well, they actually work pretty well on flying insects.  If you are going to use them, this is your best bet because it should take care of flies, gnats, etc.  Other than that, they are kind of a waste of money that puts your family at risk.

If you have questions about foggers or any other pest questions, please do not hesitate to call or email.

If you would like assistance with Vancouver Washington pest control, please give us a call.

Will Rodent Bait Hurt My Dog?

One of the first questions that I am always asked when providing a pest control treatment is "is this safe?"  It is a viable question to ask since what I am providing is designed to kill something, right?  If you are reading this article, I would assume two things.  First, you need a pest control treatment and second, that you have a dog or a pet and want to make sure that it is safe.  So, let's see if we can answer that question for you

Why rodent bait is not safe for rodents
Rodents are built a lot different than your dog is.  I am sure that you have seen your dog eat something that it shouldn't have, get sick and throw up all over your carpet.  A rodent, on the other hand, does not have the ability to vomit.  If a rodent eats something that disagrees with it, it has no way to get it out of its system.  This is important because if your dog eats rodent bait, it will get sick and probably throw up, but if a rodent eats that same bait, it cannot do anything about it.  Taking into consideration the differences in body weight, you can see how a little bit of rodent bait is drastically more toxic to rats or mice than it is to dogs.

What will happen if my dog eats the bait?
It would be foolish for anyone to tell you that there is no way that your dog would be harmed if it ate rodent bait.  However, it may not be as harmful as you may think.  For example, a quick look at a common rodenticide product label (Contrac Blox), shows that a possible lethal dose of a 20 pound dog would be approximately 20 blocks.  A standard rodent control treatment generally uses less than this amount, so that would mean the dog would have to eat all of the bait that a pest control company put out, which is not easy to do considering it is required to be placed in a locking tamper-proof box.  (Although they are "tamper-proof", I have a friend who works for a Portland pest control company who said that a Labrador Retriever chewed through two of his rodent bait stations, eating all of the bait inside.  Luckily, it showed no signs of poisoning, but the dog was taken to vet clinic to get treatment just in case.)

What are the signs of rodenticide poisoning?
So, what would happen if it ate just a little bit of bait?  It would probably get sick and despite everything I just said, it should be taken seriously because every dog (or person for that matter) reacts differently when you introduce something new to their digestive system.  A sign that something is wrong is when the dog starts vomiting and has diarrhea.  Sometimes you can see a discoloration in the vomit or diarrhea that is the color of the rodent bait (usually a bright color blue, green or red).  The dog may also start to pant, slobber and seem disoriented.  For any of these signs, we recommend that you take the dog immediately to veterinarian.

The verdict
So, is it safe to bait for rodents when you have a dog?  Well, it is probably safer than most people think, but you still have some risk.  In all my years of pest control, I have never had a dog die, but I have seen a few get sick.  If you do choose to have a pest control company treat for rodents, you should take some extra precautions in keeping your dog away from the baited area.  If you take some simple steps, I think that you can safely and effectively get rid of rodents.

What Is A Crawl Space Restoration And Do I Really Need One?

A crawl space is a place of the home that most home owners have no interest in visiting.  It is dark, musty and just a little bit creepy.  It may not seem like the most inviting place to you, but to rodents, raccoon's and other wildlife, it is just perfect.  It provides these animals with warmth, shelter and safety.  You'd think that they would at least keep their new home tidy, but they totally trash the place!  In times like these, many pest control companies are going to recommend getting a crawl space restoration.

A crawl space restoration is just what it sounds like.  A contractor is going to have a crew pull everything out (insulation, vapor barrier, all the debris, etc).  Once all the contaminated parts have been removed, they will start the process of decontamination and then put fresh materials in to replace everything.  This maybe sounds simple because I summarized the whole process in just a couple sentences, but it is a grueling job that is extremely labor intensive, dirty and just plain gross!  A job like this can cost anywhere from several hundred dollars to a couple thousands of dollars.

Since it is so expensive, it is amazing to me that many home owners do not get multiple bids.  Usually the need for a crawl space restoration arises when a pest control company comes out and does an inspection of the crawl space for rodents or any other pests.  They find the problem, give a quote and over half of those customers that go with the work never even get a second opinion!

Is it needed?
That is the problem.  There are some companies that say that EVERY home that has any trace of rodents or any other animal, needs a crawl space restoration.  Although this is very convenient for their business model, I do not agree that it is necessary and I think that deep down, they don't actually believe that either.  My opinion is that a crawl space needs to have prolonged contamination covering at least 25% of the area before considering doing a restoration.

Are there any alternatives?
If your crawl space has only partial contamination, only a partial restoration is needed.  This is where you can save big money from getting a second opinion.  If you call a reputable company, they may say that you don't even need a restoration at all or you may only need a few areas cleaned up.  For example, maybe you only have contamination on the vapor barrier or in some of the insulation.  Don't let companies swing for the fences and replace everything just to get more money out of you.

Who do I recommend?
In my bias opinion, I recommend calling New Leaf Pest Control in Portland, Oregon.  Now, full disclosure, I work for this company, but I also believe they are the best in the area by far.  I also recommend Healthy Homes Pest Control in Seattle, Washington.  If you have had a bid and need to get a second opinion, I would recommend calling either of these companies because they are straight shooters and will give you a fair, honest assessment.  If you have any questions or if you have been recently swindled by a company bidding a restoration, I would love to hear from you.  Please email me or comment below.

Are Carpenter Ants Damaging My Home?

If you were to step back from your computer right now, go outside and walk around your block, the chances are that you would see a carpenter ant along the way.  The truth is that they are pretty much everywhere and most people don't realize that all these ants that they are seeing can potentially do some harm to their home.

Most people would probably think that termites are the most destructive pest in the Pacific Northwest, but in reality, carpenter ants are far more damaging in the Portland Metro area.  They are so common that you can probably find them in just about every neighborhood, so your home is at risk whether you realize it or not.

Carpenter ants are "polymorphic" which means that they can come in a lot of different sizes.  They do not "eat" your wood, but they do chew through it to hollow out nests for themselves.  You will often see their debris from the wood shavings that they excavate out of their nesting site.  This just looks like very fine sawdust.  The ants that you will actually see are called "worker" ants and they can travel up to 1000 feet from the nest to find food.  They will find parts of plants, nectar and other bugs to bring back to the colony to eat. What you don't see is the queen ant that is pumping out more and more babies.  The queen can live up to 25 years and produce multiple satellite colonies that can infest a whole neighborhood!  Once a nest is fully developed and infesting your home, I have heard estimates as high as $17 worth of damage a day that can be done.

Okay, so now what?
Don't make the mistake that the ants that you see around your home are not carpenter ants.  If they are bigger than a sugar ant, they are probably a carpenter ant and should probably be addressed.  If you have wood piles, shrubs touching your home or any other conducive condition, you should probably remove them right away.

The good news
Fortunately, as far as pest control goes, carpenter ants are not that difficult to get rid of.  They have patterns of movement that allow pest control companies to target specific areas to apply product where the worker ants will cross and bring back to the nest.  At New Leaf Pest Control in Portland and Vancouver, we charge an average between $100-$200 for the cost of a standard carpenter ant treatment.  This investment now can save a lot of money later on.  Also, if you just are looking for a preventative treatment because you have seen them around your neighborhood, you can do that for $88.00 with this coupon.

If you need any help with carpenter ants or if you just have a few questions, please do not hesitate to email me or call me.

Photo credit: Thomas Shahan / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND