Pest Control and Exterminator Service in Clifton Heights, PA

Mill-Town Slopes, Darby Creek and Baltimore Pike Storefronts

Houses on the slopes down to Darby Creek often have basements that take on water, and wet soil against a foundation is exactly what subterranean termites look for. Old wood sills, porch posts set in soil and finished basements over damp walls give them a route in, while low ground and storm drains hold mosquito water.

Up on Baltimore Pike, restaurants, shops and older mixed-use buildings line the road, and their dumpsters and back doors attract rats and mice. Rodents move from there into the twin blocks behind the Pike, especially in fall, through gaps that 70 years of settling has opened at pipes and foundation joints.

Many houses built into those slopes have a full basement wall on the uphill side and a walkout or ground-level door on the downhill side. Storm water runs toward the high wall and keeps that soil wet, while the low door, often an old wood or steel cellar entry, swells or rusts and stops sealing. That pairing gives termites their moisture and mice their gap.

The creek's wooded floodplain also leaves storm debris, logs and leaves at the bottom of yards, ideal for millipedes, carpenter ants and the rats that travel the stream. About 26% of homes are rented, including apartments above some Pike storefronts.

Straight Down Baltimore Pike From Media

We drive east on Baltimore Pike through Springfield into Clifton Heights. Thom and his team inspect without charge, looking at basement walls, sills, porch posts, kitchen and the yard toward the creek, and give you a written quote before any work. We're open 7 days, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Darby Creek, the 102 Trolley and Clifton–Aldan Station

Baltimore Pike is the borough's main commercial road, SEPTA's Route 102 trolley runs through it, and Clifton–Aldan station sits on the Regional Rail line to Media. Darby Creek forms an edge of the borough. Students attend the Upper Darby School District. Neighbors include Aldan, Upper Darby Township and Lansdowne. Darby Creek's mills gave the borough its start in the 1800s, and the oldest houses near the creek are older than the 1951 median suggests. Baltimore Pike carries heavy traffic between Springfield and Lansdowne, and the strip's food businesses keep dumpster and grease-bin pressure on the blocks behind it. Trolley stops and the Clifton–Aldan station put commuters on foot through those blocks, and the brushy edges of the transit rights-of-way add cover for rodents. Upper Darby School District schools follow Act 35, which calls for an integrated pest management plan and notice before pesticide applications on public school property.