Pest Control Sowerby Bridge

Pest Control in Sowerby Bridge

Sowerby Bridge sits in the Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, wedged between steep wooded hillsides where the River Calder and the Rochdale Canal run through the bottom of the valley. The town has a strong industrial heritage with old mill buildings, stone terraces climbing the hillsides and a busy centre along the valley floor. That combination of water, steep terrain and tightly packed older housing creates the kind of conditions rats do well in. The river and canal give them water and cover and the stone-built terraces that step up the valley sides have cellars, retaining walls and uneven ground at the rear where rats find shelter easily. We deal with rat problems along the canal towpath and in the streets immediately above it more than almost anywhere else in the area.

The stone terraces that make up much of the housing in Sowerby Bridge were built in the 1800s and while they are solid they were not designed to keep pests out. Gaps around doors set into stone lintels, worn pointing between stone blocks and openings where drains pass through walls all give mice a way in. Because many of these terraces are back-to-back or share party walls, mice can move between properties through the wall cavities. The damp conditions in the valley bottom also contribute to problems with insects and fleas can take hold quickly in properties where pets come and go. Wasps nest in the stone walls and under the slate roofs throughout the summer and the old mill buildings that have been converted into apartments or workspaces can harbour nests in the roof voids and wall cavities that are hard to spot until the colony is long-standing.