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For many Americans, apartment living is an attractive and convenient arrangement, but like all things under the sun, it has both its good and bad points.
The multi-family nature of apartment complexes make pest-control and pest-management issues difficult to address.
The closeness of units to one another and the fact that the source of an infestation can be difficult to isolate can amplify the infestation.
Most units in apartment buildings share walls, floors, and connected utilities, which serve as perfect travel routes for a variety of pests to travel within the building.
Apartment dwellers will find no comfort in knowing that it is even worse than that.
Open windows, sliding glass doors, ventilation slats for air conditioners and around windows without proper weather stripping and even potted plants are symbolic welcome mats to invading insects and other pests.
Unwanted visitors include: bed bugs; cockroaches, flies, silverfish, spiders and rodents among others can make living very unpleasant to apartment residents.
Each will be addressed individually below, and each will require professional help to eliminate.
Pittsburgh Apartment Complex Pests
Bedbugs
No matter how clean or moisture-free an apartment complex may be, as far as bed bugs are concerned, it just isn’t enough to keep them out once they make their way inside.
These pests thrive on sheets, mattresses and linens and do not require crumbs or food scraps to survive.
They are hitchhikers and easily move undetected from unit to unit on handbags, luggage and second hand items.
They move virtually undetected which means that vigilance is key to catching them before they can gain a foothold inside a unit.
Cockroaches
This hardy pest carries disease and toxins and has been annoying humans since the world was young.
At least 3,500 species of these unhygienic scavengers are known to exist worldwide, but only about 55 species exist within the United States.
They are nocturnal, and any Pittsburgh apartment complex owner or manager should know that if roaches are seen scattering about in daylight, they have either been disturbed or worse, the unit in question may have an infestation so serious that there are more bugs than there are spaces within which to hide.
If this is is the case, it’s beyond the time to call the pest-control and pest-maintenance experts at Pestco for immediate help.
Flies
Flies love to lay their eggs in moist, dark and disgusting places.
Our pest-control and pest-management specialists are often called upon to eradicate house flies and fruit flies from Pittsburgh homes.
Both species thrive in heavily populated metropolitan areas throughout the country.
If House flies are dangerous to human health, as studies indicate that they are vectors of more than 65 diseases, the pathogens of which they transmit via touch or from bodily fluids such as: saliva, feces, vomit, and urine.
This disgusting process take only a few seconds.
Contamination occurs as these insects move between clean and tainted food sources, transporting both the filth on their bodies and internal micro-organisms.
In a repugnant aside, houseflies are also known to regurgitate digestive juices and defecate while feeding.
Silverfish
These unpleasant insect pests, which are also known as: bristletails, firebrats, fish moths and urban silverfish, severely damage books and fabrics.
Other materials are also at risk, as they will eat anything that contains high percentages of cellulose, which is the starchy sugar found in: paste, newspapers, book bindings, wallpaper; fabric, adhesive, mold and even dead insects.
The average Pittsburgh home-owner will often find silverfish in moist, humid areas with little foot traffic and a plentiful food supply.
They need some water to survive, but cannot live without proteins, sugars and starches.
We recommend sealing dry goods such as: cereal, pasta; rice; quinoa; flour; sugar and pet food in sturdy, air-tight containers to prevent silverfish from reaching these tempting food sources.
Rats And Mice
The stuff of nightmares and horror movies, rodents are the most unhealthy, dangerous and damaging pests that can render an apartment unsuitable for habitation.
It is estimated that a single house mouse leaves behind 3,000 micro-droplets of urine per day.
To fully understand the implications of this, consider that this urine contains a myriad of bacteria and viruses that land wherever mice travel.
These include places like: kitchen counters, floors, silverware drawers and food cupboards.
Their cousins, Roof and Norway rats, also leave behind feces and urine with pathogens capable of spreading salmonella, murine typhus and other illnesses. Rats are also known to chew on attic wiring in Pittsburgh apartment complexes, which often causes fires and contaminates insulation.
Spiders
While many panic at the sight of spiders, some are more harmful than others.
The most commons species found in the Pittsburgh area are: the Cellar Spider (Daddy Longlegs) which while unpleasant to behold due to their unnatural proportions, are harmless to humans.
There are also House and Wolf Spiders, Orb Weavers, which are about an inch long and remain motionless in their webs until something flies or crawls nearby.
Grass or Funnel Spiders spin long webs that guide their food source into their nest and Jumping Spiders, which include: the zebra jumper; the long bodied cellar, bronze and emerald jumper. move very quickly and vary in size, but are not known to bite humans.
Then there are the Brown Recluse spiders, which are relatively small, ranging in size from a quarter of an inch to an inch in width.
They can be recognized most easily by their brown color and a violin-shaped pattern on their backs.
Despite their small size, their bite can make some people very sick and can even kill the tissue around the area of a bite.
These bites are very serious and often go overlooked at first because the bite itself is not painful.
A Few General Apartment Pest Proofing Tips
The following tips are meant for both Pittsburgh apartment complex managers and residents.
For Managers And Owners:
Keep Your Apartments Inviting and Pest-Free
It behooves apartment complex owners and managers to think ahead when it comes to pest-control and pest-maintenance.
Keep them out before they can even get a chance to gain a foothold by hiring professional pest control experts to improve and maintain your building’s defenses strong against unwanted invaders.
Prevent Standing Water
This is an extremely important measure because insect pests seek out water even before food and shelter as a necessity of life.
The spaces to watch most carefully for include: leaks or pools of water; bathrooms, utility rooms, kitchens, eating areas, cleaning areas, and laundry facilities.
Maintaining humidity and standing water levels to an absolute minimum level is critical to maintaining effective pest-control and pest-maintenance.
Keep Residents Informed And Ask For Cooperation
A pest infestation is a a plague in more ways than one for an apartment complex owner or manager.
Reputation is vital to continued business and word spreads quickly between apartments walls about creepy crawlers invading living spaces and making daily life very unpleasant.
Being honest and keeping residents well-informed about proper pest-prevention and pest-control methods can be in the form of communal learning sessions or instructions provided by a professional company.
These actions helps to build trust and reduce the likelihood of a pest invasion.
Prevent Cross-Contamination By Treating Adjacent Units
Pests unfortunately have a heyday and a great advantage when they gain ingress to an apartment complex.
This is because they can easily move from one unit to the other after each extermination attempt.
This exemplifies the need to treat all units on both sides of the affected spaces.
While it will initially cost more, the end result will reap savings in the form of fewer visits from the technicians at Pestco.
Monitor Regularly & Thoroughly
Apartment complex owners and managers must make sure that all cleaning staff are thoroughly informed about the proper cleaning protocol, and how and where to report pest problems when they are noticed.
It is also vital to maintain careful and detailed records of cleaning processes and visits from the selected professional pest control company.
Pest control and pest-maintenance are not just for summer or some other season; it is a process that must be employed all year long.
Tips For Residents:
Apartment Owners Must Keep Spaces Clean
Cleaning once in a while as many of us do will not keep pests away.
Particular attention should be paid to high traffic areas such as: kitchens; trash areas; bathrooms and utility spaces which are consistent trouble spots and should be attended to on daily basis.
Pests just adore discarded food crumbs, junk and debris.
Homeowners should be mindful of areas under appliances and sinks, keep counters and floors clean and free of crumbs and dispose of garbage regularly.
Maintain Outside Areas
Apartment complex dwellers should keep trees and shrubs trimmed away from the unit and cut back overhanging limbs.
Replace torn screens and caulk up any gaps to eliminate points of ingress.
Seal any gaps around windows and doors or cracks in your foundation.
Installing yellow or sodium vapor lighting in exterior light fixtures helps to repel pests.
If wood is stored outside, it is important to keep the woodpile a safe distance away from living quarters.
Avoid Second-Hand Furniture
While a piece furniture might be priced just right and fit perfectly into a unit’s decor, apartment complex residents must inspect it very carefully before bringing any used furniture items into an apartment building.
They can harbor bed bugs, powder post beetles and other unwanted creepy crawlies.
Pittsburgh Friendliest Pest Control Company
We are a leading, family-run and operated, five-star rated, pest control and pest management company and have been in continuous operation since 1948.
We have an impeccable reputation for qualified customer service. We are Google Guaranteed, Quality Pro and Sentricon Certified and proud members of the National Pest Management Society. Even more, 2 of the 7 Ace-certified technicians throughout all of Western Pennsylvania environs are a part of our close-nit family!
Our unwavering mission over the course of the years has remained the same; namely, to provide experienced, responsive and uncompromising services to all of our loyal customers, which include homeowners and business owners of all types throughout Greater Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
The Complete Facility Care Program
This three-pronged, cost-effective hygiene control initiative offers the ultimate in pest control, washroom hygiene services provided by Enviro-Master and environmental odor and air freshening solutions supplied by Air-Scent International.
This blanket of services is available to all types of commercial and industrial spaces including apartment complexes.
Facility hygiene, whether it concerns an odor or a pest problem, is an ongoing concern, and much more effectively addressed when technicians are called to a scene before a malodor gets out of hand and earns an apartment complex a reputation of being both smelly and neglectful.
Signing up for the Complete Care Facility Program marks the commitment to provide the best pest, odor control and air freshening services available for all apartment complex residents.
For apartment complexes, being stewards of property translates into a serious and consistent approach to building maintenance, environmental odor and air freshening solutions as wells as pest-control and pest-management.
Knowing the job will be done efficiently and at the best prices available will relieve the sale of sedatives and the many hours of sleepless nights that come with the territory of managing an apartment complex.
Call our teams today and be pest free tomorrow!
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