Pest Control in Hollis, Queens
Hollis is a residential neighborhood in Southeast Queens, bordered by Jamaica to the west, Queens Village to the east and St. Albans to the south. Its streets are lined mostly with detached single-family houses set back from the sidewalk with small lawns and driveways. Jamaica Avenue and Hollis Avenue carry local shopping and buses, and the Hollis station on the Long Island Rail Road offers a quick ride to Jamaica and Manhattan. The community is predominantly African American and Caribbean American, with a strong culture of homeownership. Hollis is famous in music history as the home of Run-DMC, and the corner of Hollis Avenue and 205th Street was renamed Run-DMC JMC Way in the group's honor.
Also known as: Hollis Park Gardens.
About Hollis
Hollis grew from farmland after developer Frederick W. Dunton bought land here in the 1880s and named the area after Hollis, New Hampshire. Train service on the Long Island Rail Road drew buyers who wanted a suburban setting within reach of the city. Many of the houses standing today date from the 1910s through the 1940s, including sections like Hollis Park Gardens with their curving streets. After World War II the neighborhood became an important center of Black homeownership in Queens.
Common Pest Problems in Hollis
Hollis is largely made up of wood-frame houses that are 80 to 100 years old, which puts subterranean termites near the top of the pest list. Termites often go unnoticed until spring swarms appear near basement windows or wooden porch columns. The same age and construction mean small gaps around foundations, utility lines and garage doors, and mice slip through them every fall. Pavement ants and carpenter ants are also common along driveways and in damp porch framing.
The rail line and the backyards and alleyways between homes give Norway rats places to burrow, especially where compost, bird feeders or loose trash are present. Raccoons are regular visitors, raiding garbage and sometimes denning under decks or in detached garages. In finished and unfinished basements alike, house centipedes turn up in damp corners and around floor drains, a sign that moisture levels are high enough to support the insects they hunt.