Old rowhomes, new builds and what lies between them
Point Breeze sits west of Broad Street in South Philadelphia, with Point Breeze Avenue cutting diagonally across blocks of Wharton, Tasker and Morris Streets. Over the past couple of decades, many lots have filled with three-story new construction, often topped with roof decks, standing right beside two-story brick rowhomes that families have owned for generations. That contrast shows up in the calls we get from both sides of a party wall.
When a builder opens up an older rowhome or a long-vacant shell, they often find years of rodent droppings, pigeon waste in the upper rooms, or sewage residue in a basement that flooded long ago. Those materials shouldn't be swept into a dumpster by a framing crew. We wet down droppings so dust doesn't go airborne, remove contaminated insulation and debris, disinfect the framing, and leave the space ready for normal construction. Neighbors on the other side of the wall stay protected because we contain the work.
Cleanup calls we answer most in Point Breeze
Why rodent droppings in Point Breeze need proper cleanup
Mice and rats are part of life in any older city neighborhood, and attached rowhomes give them easy paths from one house to the next. Dried droppings and urine can carry bacteria and viruses, and sweeping them up or running a household vacuum can put fine particles into the air you breathe. The CDC recommends wetting droppings with disinfectant before cleaning them, and that's how our technicians work in every basement, kitchen and crawl space.
We remove nesting material and droppings, bag them in sealed liners, and treat surfaces with an EPA-registered disinfectant for its full contact time. Contaminated insulation and cardboard storage boxes come out. Where droppings are heavy, we run HEPA filtration while we work. Sealing entry points is a job for a pest control company, so we suggest bringing one in first or alongside us, which keeps new droppings from showing up after we finish.
Death scenes, rentals and reaching Point Breeze from Society Hill
Many Point Breeze families have deep roots here, and older homeowners sometimes live alone in the rowhomes they've owned for decades. When an unattended death occurs, we take over once the Medical Examiner's Office and the police are finished, removing affected flooring and furniture and treating odor where it starts. If the home then passes through an estate, we can sort and clear it room by room, setting aside papers, photographs and keepsakes for the family.
Rentals turn over often in Point Breeze, and some units are left with spoiled food, soiled mattresses or pet waste that a regular cleaner won't touch. We clear and disinfect those spaces so the next tenant moves into a safe home. Our Society Hill office is a short drive away along Washington Avenue or Broad Street, and the Tasker-Morris stop on the Broad Street Line sits close by for family members meeting us at the house. We answer 24/7.
