Snap Pest Control

Thanks for your review. I remember the job well and will recount my experience here as a general response so that anyone out there who may be experiencing this issue will have a little more grasp of this problem and how it can seriously affect a homeowner. I remember driving along on Bloor when I got the call. In my mind I was just driving and thinking about various jobs and I felt I needed to go East for some reason. When I got the call I'd been on a streak with rat jobs going into last year and have I've been many jobs in with no issues. There is a certain deal of anxiety that I get from a rat job which is hard to explain. Will it be complex or strait forward ( I've had to gut whole basements ) I never really know until I arrive on the scene. Is this the job that takes me off my streak for once? The challenge was on and so I went, headed right to the house in question like it was meant to be. Arriving at the home I noticed exterior rat bait stations were placed all over the backyard by the previous pest control companies. To me that was the first indication that there was a problem. Having exterior bait stations makes no difference in a rat incursion into a home. The Rats outside and rats inside are two distinct populations which typically never meet, so how is this effective. For 18 months those stations were outside and yet the population on the inside continued unchecked. If anybody comes to your home and recommends exterior stations they are just grasping at straws on your dime. My intention here is to assist the homeowner that is reading this, and save them stress of having to endure what my client went through for the past 18 months. Back to the rat job. On the inside of the home I believe there were 2 or 3 large wooden snap traps and nothing else. The idea that two separate companies would simply install exterior stations and leave behind a few wooden snap traps was to me the epitome of both a lack of caring and or sheer inexperience. This job takes a keen sense as well a general knowledge as to the the potential structure of a home in tandem with opening walls. The main issue was the rats were entering via the kitchen in the basement. They were chewing away at the kickplates which I found unusual with respect to my previous jobs. Having experience in rats over the course of 18 years means I can go back in time to find similarities or discrepancies which could help in solving a stubborn problem. On the other side of the kitchen was a storage room with a washer and dryer which I found interesting. The kick plate was accessible to rats via this one wall. Though there were plenty of other access sources that could lead one to the location but for some unknown reason my instinct told me to look there first. The wall was filled with storage and as I mentioned before a washer and dryer which was all placed upon a platform raised off the concrete floor by 4 inches. I sat on a chair and looked at it for a long time and kept asking myself why, why would somebody need to elevate their appliances off the ground in a basement. The possibility of my searching for an access point and finding it here seemed plausible but remember I was headed East on Bloor when I received the call and the prospect now of having to take on the scope of this job at 4 00 pm just didn't seem right because I wasn't prepared mentally or physically. What I did do however was bait the location under the kickplate heavily with a product that I know rats love to eat. The decision was made that we would schedule the job for the next couple of days just so they could eat the bait and die outside. On the way home I wondered if this was the job that was going to break my streak and I Tossed and turned all night thinking of that washer and dryer and that platform. Upon returning to the home a few days later I went right to it. All the bait was gone from my previous visit and so I knew they were all dead by now. The platform was almost the entire length of the wall with a divider partition separating the storage from the appliances. The client insisted upon having her storage in the upper right unscathed which meant I would have to keep the partition wall as it was the only thing holding the upper storage unit together. This small storage spot meant that I couldn't remove the platform which made this job more difficult because I would now have to work around it somehow which I will get to later. The storage items were removed with not to much effort which enabled me to finally see that portion of the wall on the right side. I drilled 3 or 4 small tiny holes at one foot intervals until I reached the far right corner. Once completed I inserted my snake scope to have a better look into the wall. Knowing that this was an interior wall was beneficial since I knew that I would not be dealing with insulation which could hinder my view. The second hole looked interesting to me and right away I had my hopes up thinking, this must be it !!!!. I see an old rusty cast Iron plumbing stack just loaded with rat droppings. I tried to get the camera to reach the back part of the stack with no luck. The prospect that I found this as a source was very real to me because I had encountered these rusty stacks so many times before. In order to make sure I simply had to open the wall there and see for myself so I went back to my truck pulled out an extension cord and a Dremel along with some eye wear, overalls, a mask, and a large flashlight ( torch for you British out there ). This section of the wall ( 2' x 2' ) showed the stack and so I'm feeling around it and I touch it only to see it fall right outta the open wall. I was startled to say the least when it dropped out and had a laugh once I realized that it wasn't connected to anything at all. Just a stack that some plumber left in that wall who knows how long ago. There was one benefit though, I was able to inspect the exterior wall a little better and saw that there were no droppings at all which meant I was still dealing with the area. After vacuuming up around a hundred dropping I decided I wanted to look under the platform with my camera. This is what I call the second phase of my adventure. I figured I could use my cordless drill and since it was already with me felt confident it would suffice without any issues. My cordless drill was having a hard time with this plywood and so I go back to my truck for the corded drill and some new bits. This platform had to be 4 inches thick in layers of dried out nasty looking plywood from hell. Eventually I was able to get make a few holes which showed me even more rat droppings were underneath it. The camera could only go vertical and I needed to see the whole section so I had to cut open the location. This seems easy enough so I first tried to cut from one drilled hole with my jigsaw to the other. After the first blade went I decided I needed my skilsaw. The skilsaw proved better and within a shorter period of time I was able to cut out another section which was also vacuumed up and proved to not be the source. Now at this point I was thinking my streak of rat jobs was coming to an end. Having looked at the area I was left with a washer and dryer which I knew was going to require some detailed work to remove simply because of the water sources etc...and besides the place was a mess, with dust and droppings and material everywhere. The location was cleaned up and my client called up a handy man to unhook the machines for the next day. Next day rolls around and I attempt to cut open the area on the left of the platform where the washer and drier were only to find negative results. Now at this stage there was a cut up platform with a partition wall holding up this small precious storage shelf. I pleaded with my client ( third stage )that we had to fully remove the platform entirely in order to rule it out. My client was heart broken the partition plywood support came down along with the tiny storage. I grab my crowbar and with one thrust the platform slides right off the floor. To my amazement there was a small section about the size of a tennis ball glaring straight up and me which had all the hallmarks of rat entry. Had I not insisted upon the removal of that wall which was supporting the storage location this problem would still be going on to this day. Hard work and cement is what it took to get this job done and not some exterior bait stations and a handful of snap traps. Just letting you guys out there know. OH by the way my client has even better storage now with way more space. Streak is still on. Joe