Pest Control in Stapleton, Staten Island
Stapleton stretches along Bay Street south of Tompkinsville, with a historic village center around Tappen Park and the Edgewater Village Hall. Canal Street and the blocks nearby hold some of the island's oldest commercial buildings, while the hillside section known as Stapleton Heights climbs toward Grymes Hill with Italianate and Queen Anne homes. The Stapleton Houses, a large NYCHA development, sit inland, and on the waterfront the former Navy homeport has been redeveloped into rental apartments and a public esplanade. The Staten Island Railway stops at Stapleton, and the ferry is a short ride north, which draws renters who work in Manhattan.
Also known as: Stapleton Heights.
About Stapleton
Stapleton was laid out in the 1830s by William J. Staples and Minthorne Tompkins, son of Governor Daniel Tompkins. German immigrants arrived in large numbers during the mid-1800s and built breweries such as Rubsam and Horrmann, which made the village a beer-making center for decades. The Village of Edgewater governed the area from Village Hall until consolidation in 1898. After World War II the waterfront declined, and the Navy homeport built in the 1980s closed in the 1990s.
Common Pest Problems in Stapleton
Stapleton mixes a revitalizing waterfront with some of the island's oldest building stock, and rodents thrive where those two meet. Construction on the former homeport and along Front Street has disturbed soil and pushed Norway rats into nearby blocks, while restaurants and delis around Tappen Park and Bay Street provide food. The Stapleton Houses and older multifamily buildings deal with mice and German cockroaches moving through compactor rooms, shared pipes and ground-floor storage. Pigeons gather on the brick commercial buildings and under the railway overpasses near the station.
Up the hill, the concern shifts to wood. Many Stapleton Heights houses date to the nineteenth century and sit on stone or brick foundations with wooden sills, porches and additions that touch soil. Subterranean termites, which are active across Staten Island, can quietly work through those sills for years. Swarms of winged termites inside a basement or near a porch in April or May are often the first clue. Homeowners renovating older properties frequently discover hidden damage behind plaster or under original floorboards.