Home Improvement

Pest control is an ancient occupation that coexisted right from the agrarian age that dates back to around 4000 BC. Controlling the breeding or spread of any insect or animal that causes hurt to our health, wealth, or our habitat can be termed as pest control. Over time several pest control sciences were evolved and each of these branches is still being perfected to serve the mankind with a better and quicker solution.

Chemical pest control and organic pest control are the two main types of pest control systems widely followed by people. These are further subdivided into rodent pest control, commercial pest control, Termite control depending upon the purpose and specifications. These subdivisions can be chemical, organic or a combination of both. Among the ones mentioned above organic pest control is quick gaining importance. Since the time of industrial revolution chemical drugs and medications have dominated the market. But, modern generation is questioning the authenticity and safety of the conventional methods and people everywhere are now depending on organic products. Right from the fruits they eat to the cosmetics they apply, people want to know whether they are all organically produced.

Organic pest control involves use of natural extracts, plants and herbs that repel the pests. Organic pesticides are safe and are effective against most of the garden, farm and home pests. For domestic pest control, you can find products based on d-Limonene which is a substance found in orange peel extracts. They work well on indoor insects like fruit flies, ants, roaches etc. d-Limonene corrodes the wax coating found on these insects. This leads to dehydration in these creatures and thus they die naturally. This doesn’t involve any sort of chemical reaction and hence it is considered as a safe substitute for chemically treated insect repellents that cannot be sprayed on your kitchen countertops or your dining table.

Yet another effective all-natural pest control solution comes from in the form of diatomaceous earth. It is a fine powder made from sedimentary rocks known as diatoms. They are used in storing grains and flour powder as they prevent the growth of pests and also absorbs unwanted moisture. It is extremely safe and you can use them anywhere inside your home. It is effective in repelling the harmful pests and insects that breed on garden plants. It is composed of natural silica and is completely safe for humans as well as animals.

Neem extracts, or neem seed oil is yet another powerful element used in many organic pest control drugs. Neem has strong neutralizing power and it has found to be effective in killing around 500 known pests that are harmful to humans in different ways.

Image by by david.eugene.

The world is going green. “Green” is the color of environmental concern, the impetus that drives cutting-edge technology, the buzz word of the socially conscious. Concern for the environment and man’s impact on it is bringing a slew of new products to market, and pest control is no exception. Environmentally-friendly pest control services are growing in popularity, particularly in the commercial sector. Even eco-savvy residential consumers are asking about natural alternatives to traditional pesticides, but their ardor often cools when confronted with the 10% to 20% cost differential and lengthier treatment times, sometimes several weeks.

The raising of America’s environmental consciousness, coupled with increasingly stringent federal regulations governing traditional chemical pesticides, appears to be shifting the pest control industry’s focus to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques. IPM is considered not only safer for the environment, but safer for people, pets and secondary scavengers such as owls. Of 378 pest management companies surveyed in 2008 by Pest Control Technology magazine, two-thirds said they offered IPM services of some sort.

Instead of lacing pest sites with a poisonous cocktail of powerful insecticides designed to kill, IPM focuses on environmentally-friendly prevention techniques designed to keep pests out. While low- or no-toxicity products may also be used to encourage pests to pack their bags, elimination and control efforts focus on finding and eliminating the causes of infestation: entry points, attractants, harborage and food.

Particularly well loved with schools and nursing homes charged with guarding the health of the nation’s youngest and oldest citizens, those at greatest risk from hazardous chemicals, IPM is catching the attention of hotels, office buildings, apartment complexes and other commercial enterprises, as well as eco-conscious residential customers. Driven in equal parts by environmental concerns and health hazard fears, interest in IPM is bringing a host of new environmentally-friendly pest management products — both high- and low-tech — to market.

“Probably the best product out there is a door sweep,” confided Tom Green, president of the Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America, a non-profit organization that certifies green exterminating companies. In an Associated Press interview posted on MSNBC online last April, Green clarified, “A mouse can squeeze through a hole the size of a pencil diameter. So if you’ve got a quarter-inch gap underneath your door, as far as a mouse is concerned, there’s no door there at all.” Cockroaches can slither through a one-eighth inch crevice.

IPM is “a better approach to pest control for the health of the home, the environment and the family,” said Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, the .3 billion pest control industry’s trade association, in the same Associated Press tale. But, because IPM is a relatively new addition to the pest control arsenal, Mannes cautioned that there is small industry consensus on the definition of green services.

In an effort to make industry standards for IPM services and providers, the Integrated Pest Management Institute of North America developed the Green Shield Certified (GSC) program. Identifying pest control products and companies that eschew traditional pesticides in favor of environmentally-friendly control methods, GSC is endorsed by the EPA, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and HUD. IPM favors mechanical, physical and cultural methods to control pests, but may use bio-pesticides derived from naturally-occurring materials such as animals, plants, bacteria and certain minerals.

Toxic chemical sprays are giving way to new, sometimes unconventional, methods of treating pests. Some are ultra high-tech like the quick-freeze Cryonite process for eliminating bed bugs. Others, like trained dogs that sniff out bed bugs, seem decidedly low-tech, but use state-of-the-art methods to achieve results. For example, farmers have used dogs’ sensitive noses to sniff out problem pests for centuries; but training dogs to sniff out explosives and drugs is a relatively recent development. Using those same techniques to teach dogs to sniff out termites and bed bugs is considered cutting-edge.

Another new pest control technique is birth control. When San Francisco was threatened by mosquitoes carrying potentially life-threatening West Nile Virus, bicycle messengers were hired to cruise the city and drop packets of biological insecticide into the city’s 20,000 storm drains. A kind of birth control for mosquitoes, the new method was considered safer than aerial spraying with the chemical pyrethrum, the typical mosquito abatement procedure, according to a recent tale posted on the National Public Radio website.

Naturally, there are efforts underway to build a better mousetrap. The innovative Track & Trap system attracts mice or rats to a food station dusted with fluorescent powder. Rodents leave a blacklight-visible trail that allows pest control experts to seal entry paths. Coming soon, NightWatch uses pheromone research to lure and trap bed bugs. In England, a sonic device designed to repel rats and squirrels is being tested, and the aptly named Rat Zapper is purported to deliver a lethal shock using just two AA batteries.

Alongside this influx of new environmentally-friendly products rides a posse of federal regulations. Critics of recent EPA regulations restricting the sale of certain pest-killing chemicals accuse the government of unfairly limiting a homeowner’s ability to protect his property. The EPA’s 2004 banning of the chemical diazinon for household use a couple of years ago removed a potent ant-killer from the homeowner’s pest control arsenal. Similarly, 2008 EPA regulations prohibiting the sale of small quantities of effective rodenticides, unless sold inside an enclosed trap, has stripped rodent-killing chemicals from the shelves of hardware and home improvement stores, limiting the homeowner’s ability to protect his property and family from these disease-carrying pests.

Acting for the public excellent, the government’s pesticide-control actions are particularly aimed at protecting children. According to a May 20, 2008 report on CNN online, a study conducted by the American Association of Poison Control Centers indicated that rat poison was responsible for nearly 60,000 poisonings between 2001 and 2003, 250 of them resulting in serious injuries or death. National Wildlife Service testing in California found rodenticide residue in every animal tested.

Consumers are embracing the thought of natural pest control and environmentally-friendly, cutting-edge pest management products and techniques. Availability and government regulations are increasingly limiting consumers’ self-treatment options, forcing them to turn to professional pest control companies for relief from pest invasions. While this has proved a viable option for commercial customers, few residential customers seem willing to pay higher prices for newer, more labor-intensive green pest control products and even fewer are willing to wait the additional week or two it may take these products to work. It is taking leadership efforts on the part of pest control companies to educate consumers in the long term benefits of green and natural pest treatments.

Even though the cold, hard truth is that when people have a pest problem, they want it gone and they want it gone now! If rats or mice are in their house destroying their property and threatening their family with disease, if termites or carpenter ants are eating away their home equity, if roaches are invading their kitchen or if they’re sharing their bed with bed bugs, consumer interest in environmental friendliness plummets. When people call a pest control company, the bottom line is that they want the pests dead! Now! Pest control firms are standing up against the tide of consumer demand for immediate eradication by enhancing their natural and green pest control product offerings. These new natural products take the most responsible long term approach to pest control; one that protects our environment, children, and our own health. Sometimes it is lonely moving against the tide of well loved demand, but right leadership, in the pest control industry, means embracing these new organic and natural technologies even when they are not well loved with the consumer – yet.

Gerry Tyack is no weirder to a challenge. He served with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, having lied about his age to join up as a 16-year-ancient in 1939. After working as a fitter on Wellington bombers, he joined a mobile radar unit driving deep into Germany to pinpoint bomber targets.

More recently, Gerry combined a career as a garage owner with a weekend passion for motor racing. In the Sixties and Seventies he set international hill-climb and sprint records in a series of Porsche, BMW and Brabham cars.

But Gerry’s latest challenge has been coping with the aftermath of last summer’s flooding. His Cotswold stone home in the town of Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, was terribly affected as 18 inches of water swept through the ground floor.

The water also flooded into the Wellington Aviation Museum that Gerry, 84, founded in former school rooms adjoining his home in 1990 as a tribute to the RAF personnel who trained at the wartime air base in Moreton-in-Marsh.

Unique books, documents and pictures were ruined. Gerry says: ‘The water turned these records into an unidentifiable pulp.’

Fortunately, the building itself was nearly unscathed. Gerry says: ‘I had every reason to close the museum for excellent after the floods, but something kept me going.’ After some disinfecting and cleaning, the museum was open again within a fortnight.

But repairing Gerry’s house took longer. Plaster had to be stripped off the walls, warped floors needed to be ripped up and the kitchen required a complete rebuild.

Gerry parked a caravan in his garden to act as a sitting room and kitchen while the repairs were under way. His insurer, NFU Mutual, paid £60,000 to restore the property and to replace hurt contents. The final recarpeting and redecoration was not completed until May.

Gerry’s tale is one among many of the lives turned upside down by the flooding. More than 130,000 homes and 30,000 businesses were flooded and 20,000 vehicles were hurt.

Insurers will end up paying more than £3bn to settle claims. Uninsured losses total up to £2bn. Even now, thousands of families are living in temporary housing or caravans. The scale of the floods represented a huge challenge for insurers and loss adjusters. Some managed to handle claims efficiently while others struggled.

Government adviser Sir Michael Pitt was commissioned last year to report on the lessons from the flooding. His final findings are expected at the end of the month but his interim report says: ‘There were highly variable experiences of insurers’ responsiveness.

‘Most homeowners received an immediate response, though some tried for several days to reach their insurer before being able to make contact. The timing of visits from loss adjusters was also crucial… many received visits very quickly while others were forced to wait due to a lack of available loss adjusters.’

Pitt says home insurance companies must adopt common standards in assessing flood claims so householders can get on with clearing out wet and rotting items without waiting for a visit from an adjuster.

Simon Black, head of flood mapping at Norwich Union, says: ‘A flood claim isn’t like any other claim that we deal with. Homeowners have to live with the aftermath for months on end.

‘We have learnt lessons on how we communicate with customers. When someone is going to be out of their home for months, sitting down to discuss rebuilding one week after the shock of a flood is hard. It may be better to let someone settle in alternative accommodation, then a month later start plotting for the future.’

Many of those who were flooded now face increased excesses – the amount they have to pay towards the cost of any future flood claims. Black says: ‘We have had to look at £5,000 excesses where someone has a huge house and lots of assets to protect.’

NU has increased household premiums by about 10% since last summer, though it says this is not only because of floods. For flood victims miserable with the deal being offered by their insurer or the claims service they experienced last year, getting another quote is not easy.

The comparison website moneysupermarket.com recently analysed quotes for high-risk postcodes across the UK. It found that in cases where a property had been flooded within the past year, on average only three out of a total of 60 insurers were willing to quote.

The huge losses have also raised questions over whether insurers can continue to provide universal cover against floods. Under an agreement between insurers and the Government, insurance companies promise to offer flood cover to all homes where the risk of flooding is less than once every 75 years and to those in higher-risk areas where flood defences are plotted.

In return, insurers questioned the Government to boost flood defence spending and to change plotting laws to stop building on flood plains. Insurers are reviewing the agreement and there is a chance that some homes may be left without cover.

Black says: ‘Newly built properties in high-risk areas will become increasingly hard to insure unless they are built with flood resilience measures in mind.’

Interior design consultancies know light in all its forms. In London, lighting is crucial to interior design consultancies that need to make stunning results. In this, the eighth and final article in my series which I call “DeLIGHTed by Design,” I continue to draw on my experience working with some of London’s Top Interior Deign Consultancies to clarify this exciting area.

When most schoolchildren are questioned to reckon of the countryside, they often imagine the hot, shimmering flicker of a bonfire on a crisp autumn evening or the comforting flare of a scented candle. But how is an interior design consultancy to re-interpret these fabulously earthy and atmospheric scenes for, say, an elegant central London flat? The answer is artificial light.

Interior design consultancies recognise that artificial light is available in many different shades. It is similar to the situation with paint, where buckets that are marked “white” can really contain a multitude of different tones. Interior design consultancies use colour professionals who know that the cool white light of an energy-efficient bulb makes an entirely different effect from the warm yellow-orange tones of a tungsten filament. In London, low-voltage halogen options are often used in darker flats where there is a need to add light during the daytime. Interior design consultancies will install dimmer switches that allow homeowners to reduce the brightness of halogens at night, causing them to adopt a more husky yellow-red glow that is akin to an ancient lantern or oil lamp. By contrast, lamplight is too yellow for most interior design consultancies to include for daytime use, and indeed it can lead to sleepiness or lethargy at work (one of the reasons it is nearly never seen in London offices). But at night, tungsten lamps become much more warm and welcoming.

Some interior design consultancies have a like-despise relationship with fluorescent lighting options. These fixtures often emit various shades of white, ranging from a very cool, nearly daylight tone, which can be quite crisp, to a warm, rosy streetlight glow. Some interior design consultancies like fluorescent lights for London kitchens, where they illuminate workspaces but save on electricity bills. But, other interior design consultancies stay well away from fluorescent options because their colour does not change as they are dimmed. Fluorescents merely become less bright under such conditions, which can contribute to an unattractively dull, and nearly grey, lighting effect.

That brings me to the end of my series “DeLIGHTed by Design.” Thank you for letting me share with you about how London interior design consultancies make fabulous lighting schemes!