Author - Andrew H

spot pests in your house or business

Detecting the Presence of Pests in Homes and Commercial Premises

You have a feeling that there are pests present in your home or commercial premises. Good news; there are a number of signs to look out for that will give you a clear answer.
To detect pests you must use all of your senses; you need to be aware of smells, sounds, and visual clues.
On top of this, there are both interior and exterior areas you need to survey and inspect.
The signs listed below are the same for homes and commercial premises because they have the same appeal to pests. They are both insulated places that create waste and have many hiding spaces.

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Exterminator person in commercial property

Top Pests in Commercial Businesses & Premises

What pests are you likely to have to defend your business from?

It is useful to know what you need to defend your business from and how to do so. Without proper pest control in commercial businesses and premises, pests can cause lots of costly damage. 

Keep reading to get a definitive list of the top pests that cause damage to commercial businesses, especially in the North East of England. 

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pest control is the food industry

Why is Pest Control Important to a Food Business?

The food industry is one of the most important industries for utilising pest control. While pests can negatively affect most businesses, food businesses are at the highest risk. Pests are attracted to food sources, so a food business would be the perfect place for them to set up shop!

In this guide, we have compiled a list of different ways in which pest control is important to a food business:

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how to choose a pest control company

How to Choose a Pest Control Company

When it comes to Pest Control, quality is always the best option. After all, pest problems usually affect your house or business and can potentially impact both people’s health and companies’ reputation. Therefore, it is crucial to make sure the services you hire will provide a long-term solution that is guaranteed and delivered by certified professionals.

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Why is Pest Control Important?

Pests like rodents, insects and birds are very common in modern society, no matter how small or big practically every city and town in the UK suffer from problems with these pesky visitors. Activities from our daily lives and from economic activity produce the perfect situation for different pests to reproduce, such as the existence of free food in the form of scraps and a safe and warm environment where they can survive and multiply. Homes and commercial properties owners and users need to be aware of the consequences poor pest control can bring to families and businesses. (more…)

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Building for the future

What a busy start to 2019! The rats certainly made their presence felt, especially off the back of a great summer last year. We’ve really got our teeth stuck into giving customers long lasting solutions for their repeat rat problems. It’s great to know you can leave a job knowing the customer won’t have to share their house with rats again! It’s great job satisfaction!

What are we looking forward to in 2019? Our custom design job and customer management system is currently under construction, with launch earmarked for May-June. It will be easier than ever before for you to receive your treatment reports from us and, of course, it will all be paperless. If you continue to need paper reports we can provide these, but you know how we love to reduce our environmental impact!

We will of course continue to look for other ways to reduce our environmental impact, although an electric van probably isn’t feasible yet. I do, however, aim to be able to offer heat treatments for bedbugs this year which will be a great way of further reducing our use of insecticides.

Finally, I’m doing my Level 3 in Pest Management with Graham Limer at Pest Solution in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Not many pest control technicians have this qualification and it will be great to be ahead of the curve, ensuring Greenway can continue to deliver a pest control service that is second to none.

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You don’t have to share your home with rats

A very successful day the other day. I had two customers with long term recurring rat problems and I left both customers with a long term fix to their long term problem.

‘We’ve always had rats’, is something I have heard so many times and it still amazes me every time I hear it. How come this problem has never been fixed? How come my customer has given up and accepted dealing with rats as an inevitability? So many times, pest controllers seem to come, place poison or traps (mostly poison) and run the job until there is no more activity.

But what happens once the job is closed? Unless the rat has got in through an open door, the problem will, WILL, reoccur. Think of repeated problems with rats in the home as a symptom of a larger issue. The larger issue is a problem with the building and I would strongly bet that a recurrent rat issue is linked to a problem with the drains (there are some other zingers but I wouldn’t want to give away too many trade secrets in one post).

Beware of building extensions that run over pre-existing drains!

The above picture is from my second long term rat problem of the day. The house had an extension built over the original drain (built before the current owners bought the property) and the current owner, my customer, had a rat problem since buying the property. I carried out a drain camera inspection from the driveway inspection chamber but couldn’t see any breaks or problems with the barrels, benching or channels.

There was luckily an inspection chamber in the extension floor. I say luckily, as I have seen many properties where work has been done that has covered the original inspection chambers; leading to huge problems with access. I lifted the cover and found what I had been looking for…

Rats are leaving the drains through the hole highlighted in the red circle.

Having found the issue the fix was simple. A stainless steel non-return ‘flap’ was installed to the main barrel below the chamber that had the proofing issue. I could have repointed the gap if I was sure that rats were not active in the property; but since it was a new job it was safer to install the flap. Be aware that not all non-return flaps are created equal; and in a damp environment such as a sewer a good quality steel is required to last the course. Cheap steel will foul up and not give you a long term fix, or you’ll have to buy twice or even three times. You get what you pay for after all.

I love giving customers long term fixes to long term problems! It gives customers value for money and it allows Greenway to fix problems with less chemicals!

If you have a long term rat issue, give Greenway a call!

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