A KCMO homeowner called us because they wanted a second opinion before spending $18,000 with an unnamed National Franchise having their attic insulation replaced due to mouse droppings.

First, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. $18,000 for insulating a house? We've insulated businesses and churches that cost $18,000 or more, but a house? That sounds very high.

Second, mouse droppings?! Sure, no one likes droppings, but let's be reasonable here: mouse droppings are not hazardous. When we say that bat and raccoon droppings/feces/guano are hazardous, we're not simply promoting our services or trying to scare people into calling us - bat and raccoon droppings are hazardous to humans. The CDC lists those hazards on their website. But mouse droppings? First, ok, yes, make sure you don't have active mice. Then second, sure, clean that "stuff" up where you see the mess - but you don't have to throw out thousands of dollars of insulation in your attic and bring in new insulation due to mice.

As I said, the homeowner called us because they wanted a second opinion before spending $18,000 with the unnamed National Franchise. We offer free inspections for insulation estimates only. All our inspections include entering the attic to inspect for any signs of animal or pest activity as well as evidence of damage, such as wire damage, flex tube damage (very common if squirrels or raccoons are present), etc. Our job is to protect your home. Each technician will take pictures to show the homeowner what was found. We can email or text these pictures to the customer for future reference. 

We went out and inspected the attic and provided the homeowner with a report along with our recommendations.

What did we find? Two little mouse droppings. That's it. This is not what would be considered an infestation, and even if there was a larger quantity let's not forget that, despite any type of waste being unclean and unpleasant, mouse droppings are not hazardous. You don't have to throw EVERYTHING out. Only in EXTREME situations would we even consider removing attic insulation because of a mouse infestation. 

The homeowner called us up later in the day, expressing appreciation for the professionalism and expertise demonstrated by our technician, and saying that they are ending their business relationship with the unnamed National Franchise and will only call us in the future for any type of pest or animal control need.

What's sad about this situation is that this is not an isolated instance. We've heard and seen this before. It's too bad that not all businesses choose to conduct themselves in an ethical and honorable fashion. Whether the franchise was simply being greedy and purposely trying to take advantage of this homeowner, or whether the franchise innocently thought that mice droppings were hazardous and doesn't know what they are doing - neither one of those bodes well for the franchise.

For us? What more can we do besides be here, and available. We're continuing to conduct business the way we have for over 30 years. We might be considered "old school" because we're not greedy and are not quoting high prices for unnecessary work and have spent years studying and gaining knowledge and experience in this arena, but we believe that, in the long run, this is the proper way to do business.

Here's a bat removal job that we handled in Leavenworth, Kansas. The call came in the spring and when we arrived to inspect the home the bats already had pups (babies). We quickly found the access point: a damaged chimney crown. The bats were using this to access a heater vent and then getting down into the the homeowner's basement - which brings up an interesting point: bats don't always get into attics, it is not uncommon for them to suddenly appear in other parts of a home.

Bats are an important part of our local ecology and are protected by law. We needed to find a way to protect the bats and their pups until the pups were mature and able to live on their own - but at the same time it's not really acceptable to have bats flying around this dear lady's basement.

We installed a mesh screen in the basement so that the bats were contained to a small area and would not be flying around. A few months later the pups had matured and we installed one-way doors so that the bats could exit, but not re-enter, the home.

Next we repaired the damaged chimney crown. This is an important part of what sets us apart from other bat control companies: we not only do repair work, but we do quality repair work. With other companies you often have to hire a contractor to handle repairs.

The photo shows the repaired chimney crown. Later, we also installed a chimney cap, and it's too bad we forgot to get a photo of the final chimney!

Here’s a bird netting project we completed for a large hospital system in Olathe, Kansas, that was having problems with birds nesting under the covered patient drop-off/portico. We proposed an unobtrusive bird netting solution that would harmlessly prevent birds from nesting in the area where patients were being picked up and dropped off.

An important component of our solution involved the lighting system. While the ideal is to install permanent bird netting, the reality is that in many places where netting must be installed, occasional maintenance access is necessary. Our solution took into account providing the hospital system with maintenance access to the light bulbs. 

Speaking of maintenance access into areas of bird netting, we also did a bird netting remediation project across the street from this particular Medical Center. Someone else had installed bird netting but didn’t take into account access for light bulbs, and we were called in to fix their netting install so that the maintenance crew could access the lights. Knowing how to fix the existing, improperly installed bird netting, so that the lights could be accessed without having to take down the netting is just one of the advantages of having been in business for decades, as opposed to merely being in business for years.

This is a great example of what can happen with undetected animals living in your attic or home. A family of raccoons got into this house's attic and was living there, unnoticed, for quite some time. The weight of the animals' waste (both urine, and feces) built up to the point where the living room ceiling completely collapsed. 

The good news is that we were able to completely remediate everything for the homeowners, and it was all covered by insurance. Yet the moral remains: if you hear something odd in your attic, make sure to get it checked out sooner, rather than later.