Pest Control in Gowanus, Brooklyn
Gowanus sits in the low-lying valley between Park Slope and Carroll Gardens, centered on the Gowanus Canal, with Fourth Avenue on the east and Bond Street on the west. Long an industrial area of warehouses, concrete plants and auto shops, it has become a mix of artists' studios, breweries, event spaces and new residential development. Row houses line some side streets, and the Gowanus Houses and Wyckoff Gardens are important parts of the community. A 2021 rezoning has brought large new apartment buildings along the canal. The canal itself is a federal Superfund site undergoing cleanup. The R train along Fourth Avenue and the F and G trains nearby provide transit.
About Gowanus
The Gowanus Canal was built in the mid-1800s from a tidal creek and marshland to serve a booming industrial district. Coal yards, gas plants, tanneries and cement works lined its banks, and the canal became notoriously polluted. It was designated a Superfund site in 2010, with dredging and cleanup underway. The area has been changing quickly as industrial lots are converted to housing, especially after the neighborhood's 2021 rezoning.
Common Pest Problems in Gowanus
The Gowanus Canal, its bulkheads and the old industrial lots along it are prime rat habitat, and the ongoing Superfund dredging and heavy construction regularly displace colonies into surrounding streets. Rats are frequently seen near the canal, along Third Avenue and in the backyards of nearby row houses. Warehouses and older buildings provide easy entry for mice, especially in cold weather, and cockroaches are common in multi-unit housing. Construction trash and debris piles near new projects add shelter too.
Pigeons nest under the canal bridges, on industrial rooftops and on the ledges of older buildings along Third and Fourth Avenues. Because Gowanus sits in a low valley with a high water table and was built partly on filled marshland, many basements are damp, which is ideal for house centipedes. New buildings next to active construction sites should watch closely for rodent activity. In older row houses, cracked basement floors let groundwater seep in after storms.