Pest Control in Devens, MA

Planning a visit on a mixed-use site

On a mixed-use site one property can be a home, an office or a store, and each needs a different list. The walk notes the use of the building on the call, because the spaces UMass describes as overwintering sites differ between a house and a workplace. A homeowner and a business owner on the same site get separate reports.

A shared roof, wall or service entry is walked once, and the entries on it are listed against the property that owns the wall.

Shared walls, shared roofs and service entries

Where two buildings share a wall, the joint is checked from both sides, if the owners allow it. A service entry, such as a cable or pipe run that serves more than one building, is recorded by its position so a later visit can find it. Gaps at a shared joint can carry insects from one space to the other, so the joint is never left as a note alone.

The report says who owns each entry, so that the owner can arrange the sealing where it is their wall.

What a workplace on the site needs

UMass names office buildings and warehouses among the overwintering sites. A workplace is walked with the building manager, and the loading doors, the service openings and the roof edge are checked, because those are the spaces staff rarely see. The list is kept in a form the manager can pass on.

Booking a Devens visit

Say whether the property is a home or a workplace, and give the building's address and the ZIP code 01434. Ask for the business name, the technician's name and the licence details on request. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources is named for the licence, and the details are checked on mass.gov.

Access and security on a site with several owners

A mixed-use site can have gates, shared car parks and buildings that are locked outside working hours. The visit is arranged in advance with the owner or the building manager, so the technician can reach each entry on the walk. A list of entries that the technician could not reach is written on the report, so that the owner can arrange the second visit rather than assume the work is done.

Access to a shared roof or a shared service room is agreed with everyone who has an interest in it, and the report says so.

Keeping the list up to date on a site

On a site where buildings change use, the list of entries needs updating after each change. A home that becomes an office, or a store that takes on a new loading door, has different overwintering spaces from the building the first list described. The technician records the change of use on the visit, and the next report uses the new list.

The page makes no claim about how often Devens buildings change use. The point is that the list follows the building as it is on the day.