Pest control in Urmston

A farming village that became a railway suburb

For most of its history Urmston was a handful of farms. Then the Cheshire Lines Railway arrived in 1873, and the place changed fast: fewer than a thousand people lived here in 1871, yet by 1901 there were roughly six and a half thousand, farming had all but vanished, and Manchester’s middle-class commuters had moved in. Most of the housing in today’s town, which counted over 41,000 residents at the last census, comes from the long spell of suburban building that followed.

The 2021 Census shows what that growth left behind. Across Urmston ward, semi-detached houses are home to 44% of households. Terraces account for about a fifth, purpose-built flats nearly as many again, and detached houses around one in ten. A smaller number of people live in bedsits, converted houses or above shops. The mix isn’t even, either. One census area within the town is roughly a third semis and over a quarter terraces, while another is more than two-thirds semis with hardly any terraced rows.

Tucked in among all this are a few much older survivors, including timber-framed Larkrise from 1672 and Yew Tree Farmhouse from 1713, both listed. Old timber frames and centuries of alterations leave more voids than any modern build, and listed fabric can’t simply be drilled and filled, so proofing in those homes is done with a lighter touch.

Why do mice keep turning up in Urmston semis?

A semi shares one wall with next door and a terrace shares two. Behind those walls sit cavities, floor voids and pipe runs that mice treat as private corridors, so a problem that starts under one kitchen floor rarely stays on one side. With semis the most common home in the town, a familiar autumn call is scratching behind the kitchen units or above a bedroom ceiling once the evenings turn cold.

Mice get in through gaps about the width of a pencil. Worn airbricks, holes where pipes and cables pass through outside walls, and the space under a back door are the usual suspects. Our mice control visits pair treatment with sealing those gaps, because bait on its own just makes room for the next arrivals. If the family next door is hearing the same noises, treating both houses at the same time saves everyone repeat visits.

Water on three sides: the Mersey, the meadows and the Ship Canal

The River Mersey runs along the southern edge of the town, and the low ground beside it, Urmston Meadows, is flood plain within the Mersey Valley. Engineers canalised the river in the 1970s to move floodwater away quicker, and the basin at Sale Water Park, just east of here, holds back water upstream. To the north and west the Manchester Ship Canal takes over. The Davyhulme Millennium Nature Reserve follows its banks on old waterworks land, and the Davyhulme wastewater works close by has treated sewage since 1894 and now serves around 1.2 million people.

Brown rats swim well, burrow happily into banks and thrive in sewers, so a town ringed by river, canal and drainage will always have rats somewhere nearby. Mostly they keep out of sight. They reach houses when a drain cracks, a pipe joint slips or a garden offers food and shelter: a compost bin, a bird table, a dry space under decking. Gardens backing onto the meadows, the canal paths or Davyhulme Park, with its two large wildlife ponds, are the ones we look at most closely. Rat control here starts outside, with a drain check and a walk round the boundary, since closing the way in matters more than any amount of bait.

Flats above shops and around Eden Square

Roughly one Urmston household in five lives in a purpose-built flat, and a smaller group live in converted houses or over a shop. Eden Square, built where the old Urmston Precinct stood until demolition began in 2007, brought 144 apartments to the town centre alongside its shops and leisure space. Flats share walls, ceilings, service risers and bin stores, and that’s how bed bugs, mice and cockroaches move between homes that never share a front door. Bed bugs in particular travel in luggage and second-hand furniture, then spread through gaps around sockets and pipework.

For the cafés and small shops downstairs, we offer the same friendly service, and dealing with a shop and the flat above it together usually makes more sense than tackling one and not the other.

Wasps under the eaves, squirrels from the parks

Semis and detached houses come with lofts, soffits and eaves, which are just what a queen wasp wants when she starts a nest in spring. By late summer that nest can be busy, and one above a back door or beside a child’s bedroom window isn’t something to put up with. Wasp nest removal is a quick, careful job, and a nest that has died off over winter won’t be used again.

Grey squirrels do well wherever parks meet back gardens, and homes near Abbotsfield Park, Golden Hill Park or Davyhulme Park are well placed for them. All one needs is a gap at the roofline. Once inside a loft they chew cables, shred insulation and nest in stored boxes. Squirrel removal is always paired with proofing the roofline, so the next one from the park can’t follow.

Is it my landlord’s job?

If you rent, tell your landlord or letting agent in writing, with photos and dates, and keep a copy. Pest problems that were there when you moved in, or that come from repairs the landlord should have made, are usually theirs to deal with, and a written record of each report helps if the problem drags on.

What about Trafford Council?

Many councils run a pest control service for residents, but what is covered, who can book and the charges all vary and can change, so check the council’s own pest control pages before you book. If you rent from a council or housing association, report the problem to your landlord first. If you would rather book a private firm, call or message us and we’ll offer the earliest slot we have.

Children, pets and the dog walk by the canal

Tell us about little ones and pets when you book. Rodent bait goes in locked, tamper-resistant boxes placed out of reach, and in some homes we use traps and proofing alone. The nature reserve by the Ship Canal is a favourite with dog walkers, and fleas brought home by a dog or cat drop eggs into carpets and bedding, so we treat the house while your vet treats the pet.

Getting to you

Urmston sits right next to Stretford, with Sale just across the Mersey, and the M60 runs through the northern half of the town, so reaching any M41 street is straightforward. We won’t promise an arrival time we can’t keep, but we’ll offer the earliest slot we have, often the same day.