Pest Control in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Red Hook is a peninsula on Brooklyn's southwestern waterfront, surrounded by Upper New York Bay, the Buttermilk Channel and the Gowanus Canal, and cut off from Carroll Gardens by the BQE and the approach to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. It has a distinctive, somewhat isolated character, with cobblestone streets, old warehouses and wide views of the Statue of Liberty. Van Brunt Street is its main commercial strip, lined with small restaurants, bars and shops. The Red Hook Houses, one of the largest public housing developments in Brooklyn, are home to many residents. Red Hook Park and its ballfields draw crowds on weekends. There is no subway stop; buses and the NYC Ferry connect the area.
About Red Hook
Named by Dutch settlers for its red clay soil and hook-shaped point, Red Hook became one of the busiest shipping ports in the country in the 1800s, with the Atlantic Basin and Erie Basin handling cargo from around the world. Dockworkers lived in row houses nearby. When container shipping moved to New Jersey after the 1960s, the waterfront declined. The Red Hook Houses were built in 1939. Superstorm Sandy flooded much of the neighborhood in 2012.
Common Pest Problems in Red Hook
Red Hook's waterfront, piers, warehouses and industrial lots give rats plenty of shelter and food, and they are a common sight along the waterfront, Van Brunt Street and around the large public housing campus. Many older row houses and converted warehouses have deteriorated foundations and loading doors that do not seal well, letting mice and rats inside. Cockroaches are an ongoing issue in the larger multifamily buildings where units share plumbing lines.
Much of Red Hook sits in a flood zone, and many buildings still have damp basements after Superstorm Sandy. That moisture draws house centipedes and earwigs into cellars and ground floors. Pigeons roost in warehouses, on piers and in the old industrial structures along the Erie Basin, leaving droppings on rooftops and fire escapes. Stored pallets, scrap wood and outdoor furniture in yards and loading areas give earwigs even more damp places to hide, and they often wander indoors under doors during dry spells in late summer.