Pest Control in Mountain View, CA

How do the side passages get checked?

Narrow side passages between houses give rats a sheltered route along the wall. The walk follows each passage, looking for runs in the dirt, grease on the siding and a gap at the foundation.

Side gates and the fence that closes each passage are checked for gaps, and the report records the gate’s clearance from the ground.

What about the trees?

Mature trees give roof rats a route to the eaves, and a branch that touches the roof is a route the report flags. The technician records each contact and recommends the branch be cut back by a tree service.

A hollow tree near the house can house a nest, and the walk notes any cavity and any run from it.

How do the infill houses get handled?

Infill houses on small lots often share a wall with a neighbour, and the walk checks that shared wall for a gap at the top plate and the foundation. The report records any gap that connects two lots.

An infill house built close to the lot line may have its wood on the ground at the boundary, and those contacts are checked on the lot where they sit.

What should a Mountain View caller check?

Mountain View is in Santa Clara County, so the registration check is made for that county. Ask for the licence holder’s name and the business’s registration in Santa Clara County at booking, and tell the technician about the side passages and any shared fence.

Infill and the shared wall

An infill house built on a narrow lot shares a wall with its neighbour, and the wall cavity can carry a route from one house to the next. The walk checks the wall at the top plate and at the foundation.

The report records any gap that connects two lots, and it recommends the sealing on the homeowner’s side of the line.

A narrow infill lot can have a driveway, a side passage and a shared wall in very little space. The walk covers each in turn and notes which one a finding belongs to, which can be hard to tell from the house alone.

Mountain View’s older houses often have a porch and a garage that were added at different times, and each added part has its own joint with the house. The walk checks each joint from both sides where possible.

The report describes the infill houses’ shared walls in detail, because a shared wall is a route that the homeowner may not be able to close alone.

Infill houses and their neighbours

Infill houses in Mountain View often sit within a metre or two of the next house, and the space between them is a route that can carry a rat from one roof to the other. The walk checks the space at the eave, at the gutter line and at the ground, and it records any gap, branch or wire that bridges the two houses.

Where the space is too narrow for the technician to reach from one side, the report says so and recommends that the homeowner and the neighbour agree on the work. The record of the space is kept in the house file, so a later sale or repair has the facts to hand.