All posts in “carpet”

What do you look for with carpet and pests?

 

 What do you look for with carpet and pests?

 

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Yearly carpet cleaning is a great time to examine and inspect your carpets. More dirt equals more wear and tear on carpets. This pest above is a carpet pest as well as a pest to any type of hide, carpet or artwork. Webbing Clothes Moths or Casemaking Moths can do real damage to all types of products including taxidermy, feathers, any type of wool and furs. Remember it is not the adult that feeds on these products but the larva, so be on the lookout for any strange type of actvity happening on the carpet or product.

The key to control is proper identification, good sanitation and pesticide application when necessary.

What makes sense with a Bed Bug service?

What makes sense with a Bed Bug service?

 

When this bed bug issue hit th U.S., many companies started purchasing heat equipment or special heat packs etc. Rather than spend a great deal of money on something that I personally didn’t know how much business was available, we decided on a truck mounted carpet cleaning van.

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ProBest Pest Management is in the business of SERVICE and it doesn’t matter to me what kind of service that is. Nothing makes more sense than steaming the Bed Bugs and cleaning the carpets on the way out.

New carpet can improve the appearance of any room, but how can carpet that is walked on every day continue looking new? To keep your carpet clean, it’s necessary to vacuum regularly with a strong, well-functioning and properly-filtered vacuum cleaner. Unfortunately, due to traffic, children, pets and normal wear, carpet fibers inevitably become soiled, and a dull appearance results. And no matter how much you vacuum, eventually you will need to call a professional carpet cleaner. That call should be to ProBest Carepet Care at 480-831-9328 or 623-414-0176

 

Are you refurbishing your Home?

Are you refurbishing your Home?

 

So this last week I decided to replace a piece of carpeting in my dining room. I never liked it in the dining room to begin with and finally decided to put in tile. After removing the carpet I noticed a very large crack and YES I had the termite expert (Mike) come to my house and drill it before putting in the tile.

Nothing looks worse than tile that has to be drilled after you notice the termites.

So a piece of  free advice – if you are replacing a floor with wood or tile, take the time and treat for termites. Most termite companies would prefer not to drill a new tile, it will never look the same.

A few pictures of cracks in the concrete…

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Before replacing a floor take the time to have it fixed, I don’t like drilling new wood or tile floors. Trust me on this one, please!

 

 

 

Incredible story of those crafty termites.

Incredible story of those crafty termites.

 

As good as you may think you are, termites are probably better! What’s that you say, no way. Termites have been working out their problems over the last 250 million years and what do we do but build houses (wood) right on top of their homes. If you give them an inch they will certainly take it and that is evident of the picture posted below.

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You never know how or where they will enter a home and you almost have to play detective to understand and eventually solve the problem. So be prepared to investigate and you will be rewarded with the clues to solve the dilemma for the customer.

 

What sucks your body and wallet dry?

What sucks your body and wallet dry?

 

I know what you are thinking “Uncle Sam” or the Federal Government, right! The inevitable blood sucking tax man or could it be “Bed Bugs at the Federal Building in Cleveland, Ohio“. This last month it happens that the library in (Hamden, CT), Sinai Hospital, Firehouses and the Federal Buildings are being hit by these little biters.

So let’s reflect on this Bed Bugs are NOT going away, we must all be vigilant. They are popping up everywhere from libraries to hospitals, from movie theaters to high end cloths stores and everywhere in between. If you travel take care not to bring them home and if you get them, don’t waste your money on Do It Yourself (DIY) products – they can work but it’s the knowledge you need to treat effectively. Check out our website for further details on this pest at ProBest Pest Management.

FTC Consumer Alert

FTC Consumer Alert

 

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt194.shtm and this article on deceptive claims on advertisement “FTC Takes Action“. I constantly hear people say things that are just not true or factual. Bed Bugs do not jump, I don’t care what you have heard they cannot jump. They may be able to fall into cuffs of pants or onto clothes and hitchhike in a lot of different ways. The biggest item is that you must throw away everything, not true use common sense just like the article above suggests. It isn’t always necessary to throw away mattresses or dressers, they may be old and you may want to discard them but in 99% of the cases a Pest Management Professional can treat and eliminate the Bed Bugs without damaging the article.

These sites listed above can be a valuable tool in getting rid of Bed Bugs and that Creep Factor associated with them.

 

Before you replace the floor, treat for termites.

Before you replace the floor, treat for termites.  (Yesterdays answer on picture – magnified picture of wasp nest….)

So you decide its time to replace that old flooring in your home and as you take up the old floor you discover damage and concrete cracks. Now is the time to call your termite experts because and trust me on this one you don’t want to put down the floor and then discover you need it treated. This will destroy or at the very least make the new flooring look terrible. Here is some damage from termites and some water damage, I don’t know which came first but my guess is the termites.

                           

Nothing worse in my mind than having to drill grout lines in stone tile, because no matter how good you are it will never look as good as new. So please take a moment and think it through, treat the concrete and then lay the new floor. It will save you money in the long run and more importantly the aggravation of knowing where those drill holes are. Because your mind will focus on those marks, trust me.

ProBest Carpet Cleaning

Why did ProBest Pest Management get into carpet cleaning: Bed Bugs are the main reason.

The Bed Bug epidemic has spread across the USA at a rapid pace and people react with a sense of urgency and frustration. Often times people panic and react by immediately throwing things out and this leads to the spread of eggs and adults throughout the home including carpets. ProBest Pest Management decided to offer a service of pest treatment with carpet cleaning as a way of total and complete eradication. What better way than to steam everything including the carpets if needed. We offer steam, limited pesticides and follow-ups if needed.  ProBest immediately sought certification and so far 2 employees are “The Clean Trust” certified.

The Clean Trust – training continues

The Clean Trust -training continues

 

     

Why did ProBest Pest Management get into carpet cleaning: Bed Bugs are the main reason.

The Bed Bug epidemic has spread across the USA at a rapid pace and people react with a sense of urgency and frustration. Often times people panic and react by immediately throwing things out and this leads to the spread of eggs and adults throughout the home including carpets. ProBest Pest Management decided to offer a service of pest treatment with a carpet cleaning as a way of  total and complete eradication. What better way than to steam everything including the carpets if needed. We offer steam, limited pesticides and follow-ups if needed.  ProBest immediately sought certification and so far 2 employees are “The Clean Trust” certified.

Bed Bugs and other issues…

Bed Bugs and other issues…

 

This article “Landlord Liability for Bed Bugs and Bed Bug Bacteria” appeared in the “NOLO Law for All” site and whether or not there is or is not a connection with MRSA, I think we should all be more vigilant in our encounters with Bed Bugs. So here are some of my concerns, as I see them. By the way I’m not an attorney or a medical doctor but I do report myself to be “Dr. Bug” but anyway back to what I consider the issues.

After having dealt with this issue for the last 3 years, I empathize for landlords because ultimately it comes down to the fact that no matter who brought them in, you are responsible. At the end of the day it’s your building and these littler buggers could move to another unit and the issues just start compounding. I will add my biggest recommendation – document, document and document. Keep excellent records and keep them in one place, handy to get to and again document everything.

Here is an excerpt from the article  – please follow the link above to read the entire article, its well worth your time.

What This Means for Landlord and Tenants

The implications of this study for landlords and tenants are significant. A widespread bedbug infestation has always qualified as a habitability problem, which, if not addressed, enables tenants in all states except for Arkansas to break their leases and leave, without liability for future rent. Tenants in some states can withhold rent until the habitability problem is fixed or can take steps to deal with the problem themselves and deduct costs from the rent. Typically, however, landlords have a reasonable time to fix a habitability problem before tenants can utilize their remedies.

But, if bedbugs are proven to be vectors for staph infections on the order of MRSA, the stakes have been raised dramatically. A “reasonable time” may be much faster than previously thought. And if tenants contract an MRSA infection as the result of the landlords’ inattention to the problem, the tenant’s measure of damages goes way beyond what it would be if the bedbugs’ bites were merely annoying.

Here is the link to House Bill 2210

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