Pest Control and Exterminator Service in Swarthmore, PA

Pre-War Stone and Frame Houses Beside the Crum Woods

Many of Swarthmore's large homes went up before the Second World War, with deep porches, fieldstone basements and wood trim that has been painted many times over. Fieldstone walls rely on mortar that crumbles with age, giving mice, camel crickets and groundwater an easy path inside.

The Crum Woods follow Crum Creek along the college's edge, and that wooded corridor keeps deer and blacklegged ticks close to back yards. CDC data place Pennsylvania near the top nationally for Lyme disease cases, so tick work here is a health measure, not a cosmetic one.

Mature trees shade roofs and gutters, keeping old wood damp. Carpenter ants nest in that softened wood around porches and window frames, and subterranean termites reach sills and porch posts set close to soil. Low, shaded ground along the creek holds water into summer, which suits mosquitoes.

Slate roofs, built-in box gutters and big attic dormers are common on the borough's Victorian and Colonial Revival houses. When one of those gutters leaks, the rafter tails behind it rot slowly and carpenter ants move in, while gaps around the dormers let stink bugs and boxelder bugs into the attic every fall.

Three Miles from Our Media Base: Visiting Swarthmore Homes

We reach Swarthmore along Baltimore Pike and then Chester Road (Route 320). With older homes we take our time: fieldstone basement walls, porch framing, attic eaves and any yard edge that touches woods. Thom and his team finish the free inspection with a written quote and explain which work protects the structure and which is optional. Call (209) 563-1650 between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m., any day.

Crum Creek, the College and the Wallingford-Swarthmore District

Swarthmore College's campus, including the Scott Arboretum and the Crum Woods, takes up a large share of the borough. SEPTA's Media/Wawa Line stops in the town center, and the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District serves families here and in Nether Providence Township. Small businesses near the station can use our commercial pest control service, and we also cover neighboring Morton and Rutledge. The Scott Arboretum's plantings and the Crum Woods trails are open to the public, and the deer that browse them leave ticks along the streets that border them. Swarthmore-Rutledge School and the other Wallingford-Swarthmore public schools follow Pennsylvania Act 35 of 2002 integrated pest management plans. Around the station, the small business district's shops and cafes share alleys and older buildings, so a rodent or cockroach problem in one storefront can travel next door.