What we treat, and how

How you know

• Scratching or running overhead at night, usually in the ceiling
• Droppings along skirtings, in cupboards or behind the stove
• Gnawed food packaging, wiring, or a smell that will not clear
• Greasy dark smears where they run the same route every night

What the treatment involves

We work out how they are getting in before anything else, because a treatment that skips that step buys you a few weeks. Bait is placed in locked stations that a child or a dog cannot open, in the roof, the drains and wherever the route runs. We come back to check and replace what has been taken.

How you know

• One or two in the kitchen at night when the light goes on
• A stale, oily smell in cupboards near the sink or stove
• Small dark specks like coarse pepper on shelves and behind appliances
• Shed skins or egg cases in the gap behind a fridge or a dishwasher

What the treatment involves

Gel bait applied into the cracks and hinges where they actually live, rather than a spray across surfaces you cook on. They carry the bait back to the harbourage, which reaches the ones you never see. In a block of flats or a restaurant the drains and the shared walls get treated too, because that is where they travel between units.

How you know

• A steady line running to a food source, a bin or a pet bowl
• Fine sand or soil pushed up between paving bricks
• Winged ants indoors, which usually means a nest in the structure
• They come back within days every time you wipe the trail away

What the treatment involves

The trail is not the problem, the nest is. We follow the line back to where it comes from and treat there, using a bait the workers carry down rather than a barrier that kills the ones you can see and leaves the colony producing more. Paving and wall cavities are treated at the entry point.

How you know

• Bites in a line or a small cluster, usually on arms, shoulders or legs
• Small dark spots along the mattress seam, the headboard or the bed base
• Tiny pale shed skins in the seams and screw holes of the bed frame
• A sweet, musty smell in a badly infested room

What the treatment involves

Bedbugs need the room treated, not the bed. We go through the mattress and base seams, the headboard, the bed frame joints, skirtings and any upholstered furniture in the room. A follow up visit is part of the job, because eggs already laid will hatch after the first treatment and have to be caught.

How you know

• Mud tubes running up a foundation wall, a pillar or into the roof
• Timber that sounds hollow when you tap it, or paint that bubbles in a line
• A pile of discarded wings on a windowsill after a warm, wet night
• Door frames or skirtings that crumble under light pressure

What the treatment involves

We inspect the structure first and tell you what we found before quoting, because termite work is the one job where the difference between a small treatment and a large one is decided by what is behind the wall. Treatment is placed at the point of entry and along the affected timber. Damage already done does not reverse, so the sooner it is looked at the smaller the job.