Roofline junctions are checked before anything at ground level, because that is usually the way in. Rodent control in Southlake closes yours with copper mesh and silicone, and an interior problem gets a free assessment first.
Large homes here have long attic runs, several rooflines and junctions where one section meets another at a different height, and every one of those junctions is a detail a builder had to improvise. Your way in is almost always up there rather than at ground level. Around Southlake Forterra starts above the gutter and closes the roofline joints with the Zero Gap System™. Licensed TPCL #850046, free inspection for interior issues.
Rodent calls to the Southlake office from larger Southlake homes are mostly about the roofline, so the visit checks every junction up there before anything at ground level.
Southlake homes tend to be large, with complex rooflines and attic spaces big enough that a rodent population can live in one for months without anyone hearing much. Properties backing onto greenbelts and creek corridors have a standing supply of roof rats, and the landscaping that makes these lots attractive also provides the ladder. Trees overhanging a roof and trellis or heavy vine against a wall are the two things we most often ask to have cut back.
Because the structures are newer the failures are different from the older stock elsewhere. Rather than decades of rust and recut penetrations, it is usually a small number of specific gaps, at roofline transitions, around gas and AC line penetrations, and behind gutter runs. That is good news, because sealing a defined set of openings on a sound building holds. Interior inspections are free, and exclusion is quoted per home rather than per rodent.
Attic size is the other Southlake factor worth naming. A large attic can hold a population long enough for droppings and nesting material to build up substantially before anyone hears anything, so the inspection covers what has accumulated as well as how they got in. Sanitation is quoted separately because not every job needs it.
"I called Forterra for pest control after reading awesome reviews. Chad did not disappoint, he came out because my new house had an abundance of spiders and wasp and insects and mosquitoes . First treatment was done a week ago and have already seen I huge improvement. I would recommend this company a million times over. Chad was very knowledgeable on insects that were on my property and knew exactly what to do to take care of them."
"Chad from Forterra was amazing. He was very informative and did a quick and completed job at our home. Thank you very much!!"
"Cesar from Fortera was very thorough in his treatment of our property and house. Very professional and knowledgeable. Thanks!!! sean f"
"Communication was great!"
Ready when you are. Real prices online in about 60 seconds, phones answered 24/7.
Rodent control is a structural problem dressed up as a pest problem. Trapping the rats inside without sealing the building is a treadmill, kill ten this month, ten more come in next month. We work the other way: find the entries, seal them durably, then monitor for new pressure outside.
We find every entry point, the obvious ones and the ones you'd never spot.
A trained inspector walks the structural exterior of your home: ground level, roof line, eaves, vents, utility penetrations. Rodents only need a hole the size of a quarter (rats) or a dime (mice). Our job is to find every one of them. The inspection is in-person, on-site, and free. The quote that comes out of it is a real plan with real materials and a real timeline, not an estimate.
We seal each entry point with materials rats and mice can't chew through.
This is the work. Foam alone is not exclusion, rodents chew through expanding foam in days and we know technicians who only spray foam. Real exclusion uses copper mesh stuffed deep into the gap, hardware cloth or steel flashing fastened over the opening, and masonry sealant or concrete patch where the structure allows. The inspection determines the materials; the materials determine the durability.
Tamper-resistant exterior bait stations catch incoming pressure before it gets back in.
Once entries are sealed, the work shifts from emergency to maintenance. We install lockable, tamper-resistant exterior bait stations at high-pressure points along the foundation. They intercept rodent pressure from neighboring properties and surrounding habitat, the population that wants in next. Stations are inspected and serviced quarterly. This is what makes exclusion durable.
"You can pay somebody to trap rats in your attic every quarter forever, or you can pay once to seal the building and stop the problem at the source. Trapping is somebody else's recurring revenue. Exclusion is the actual fix. We do exclusion because it's the part that holds, the rats either find a way in or they don't, and our work is what decides that."
Roof rats enter from above. Norway rats enter from below. Most homes have a mix. The diagram below is what we look for during the free in-person inspection, the same nine vectors on every house, with details that vary by construction.
Roof rats enter through metal ridge vents with worn flashing. Sealed with steel hardware cloth from underneath.
Triangular gable vents with chewed-through screening. Re-screened with 1/4″ galvanized hardware cloth.
Where the roof meets the wall, framing gaps open up over time. Mice need only a dime-sized opening.
Where dormers, valleys, and chimney flashings meet the main roof. High-traffic for climbing rats.
Refrigerant lines and condensate drains pass through the wall, sealed with copper mesh and silicone.
Plastic dryer vents are chewed through routinely. Replaced or armored with steel sleeve.
Worn weatherstrip on garage doors leaves a gap rats walk under. Replaced with rodent-resistant seal.
Brick weep holes are entry-by-design. Open weeps get screened; foundation cracks get patched.
Where plumbing or electrical conduit enters the foundation. Often the largest single gap on the home.
The first step is the only one with a fee at risk, and it's free. Everything below it is optional, you'll have a written quote in 24 hours and decide from there.
Book online or by phone. We confirm a 2-hour arrival window. The inspection is in-person, on-site, and free, there is no per-visit fee, no diagnostic charge, no obligation.
An inspector walks every face of your home, foundation, eaves, roof, utility penetrations. We document each entry point with photos and mark severity. You see what we see, in real time.
Within 24 hours you have a written quote: every entry point, every material, every line item. Not a verbal estimate, a real plan. You can compare it to anyone you'd like.
Most homes are sealed in a single day. We work the roof line first, then mid-house, then ground. Every gap gets the right material, copper mesh, hardware cloth, steel flashing, masonry sealant.
If droppings or contaminated insulation are present, we can quote droppings and nesting cleanup with antimicrobial treatment (insulation removal and replacement is an insulation contractor's job, not ours), and replacement insulation as a separate scope. Pricing varies by attic size and contamination level.
Tamper-resistant bait stations are installed at high-pressure points along the foundation. We service them quarterly: bait check, refill, photo log. This catches new pressure from neighboring properties before it can find a new gap.
The free in-person inspection is what makes the quote real. We don't price exclusion blind. Below is the range and what moves a quote from one end to the other.
If droppings or contaminated insulation are present, attic sanitation is a separate quoted scope: droppings and nesting cleanup with antimicrobial treatment, insulation removal and replacement not included. Cost varies by attic size and contamination level, we always quote it on-site.
If you don't see yours, call (817) 665-6527 or text us, a human will answer.
Overhead, nearly always, rather than anywhere near the ground. Where several rooflines meet at different heights a builder has to improvise the junction, and improvised junctions leave gaps. Add long attic runs and branches touching the roof on a Southlake property and the route in never comes near your foundation, which is exactly where most treatment gets applied by default.
Because the bait is in the wrong place entirely. If they are coming in over the roof, anything set around the base of a Southlake house will sit untouched for weeks while the noise overhead carries on every night. The work has to start above the gutter line, which is where a proper survey on a property this size begins.
Trimming limbs clear of the roof helps considerably and is often the single most useful thing an owner can do. On a wooded Southlake lot a branch resting on the eaves is a bridge over every treatment applied at ground level. It is not something we sell, but it usually gets raised on the first visit because it changes the outcome.
Both are common on wooded Southlake properties and they sound similar through a ceiling. Droppings settle it, along with the time of day the noise happens, since squirrels are active in daylight and rats after dark. Getting it right first matters, because the entry points, the trapping approach and the law around handling each of them all differ.
Not where the rodents are inside the building. The assessment is the one thing here given without a price attached first, on purpose. A technician attends, establishes what you actually have, finds the route and takes you to it, and the treatment conversation happens afterward with the evidence in front of you instead of a description over the phone.
Copper mesh packed tight, silicone to finish, and hardware cloth across anything a mesh plug would not hold. Foam and steel wool are both ruled out because they look right on the day and fail within a season. On a Southlake property with many junctions to close, the standard has to be something nobody comes back to redo in five years.
Generally within two weeks of the sealing, and it can get louder before it goes quiet as animals inside search for a way out that is no longer there. That noise is evidence the closure held rather than a sign of failure. If it carries on well past that point, call and somebody returns to find the opening that was missed.
Yes, and it is counted inside the price rather than added to it. Taking out carcasses and nesting material deals with the odor and with the mites that abandon a dead host, which otherwise return as a separate complaint within the month. Anything sitting behind finished surfaces where nobody can reach is described to you rather than quietly left.
Same treatment and the same guarantee from the same offices. See the DFW rodent control overview →
No phone tree, no diagnostic fee, no pressure. We'll walk your property, find every entry point the rodents are actually using, and you'll have a written quote in 24 hours. From there, you decide.
