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Most Bushwick homeowners don’t find out they have termites until they’re mid-renovation and pulling back drywall. By then, the colony has usually been active for years quietly working through original sill plates and basement framing that’s been sitting in soil contact since the building went up. That’s the reality of owning a row house on Wyckoff Avenue or Wilson Avenue. The wood is old, the foundations are close to grade, and most of it has never seen a drop of treatment.
What changes after a proper termite treatment isn’t just the absence of insects it’s the confidence that your structure is sound. You stop second-guessing every hollow knock on a wall. You stop wondering what the inspector missed when you bought the place. If you’re a landlord managing a multi-unit on Knickerbocker Avenue, you stop worrying about a tenant complaint turning into a code violation.
Bushwick’s row houses also share party walls, which means a colony that starts in your neighbor’s basement doesn’t stay there. When we treat a property in Bushwick, we’re not just cutting off the path before it reaches yours we’re confirming whether it already has. That’s the kind of outcome that actually matters.
Kingsway Exterminating has been doing this work in Bushwick and across Brooklyn since 1971. That’s not a marketing number it means our technicians have treated the same types of buildings you’re living in right now, through every phase of what this neighborhood has been. The row houses near the Myrtle-Wyckoff station, the converted lofts off Bogart Street, the two-families tucked between Broadway and Flushing Avenue we know these structures, and we know what hides inside them.
We’re still family-owned and operated by the Kourbage family, now in its third generation. When you call, you’re reaching people who have a personal stake in getting the job done right. We hold an A+ BBB rating, carry full NYS DEC licensing, and use only registered materials because in a neighborhood as dense as Bushwick, what we apply in your basement matters to the family next door too.
We offer free estimates, answer phones 24 hours a day, and can typically get to you within two business days often the same day.
It starts with a thorough termite inspection. One of our licensed technicians walks your property basement, crawl spaces, foundation perimeter, any wood that’s in or near soil contact. In Bushwick’s older row houses, that means paying close attention to original framing, sill plates, and any areas where moisture has been accumulating over the years. Leaky basement walls and poor drainage are common in buildings this age, and both create conditions that attract Eastern Subterranean Termites faster than most homeowners realize.
Once we know what we’re dealing with, we walk you through the findings clearly no upselling, no alarm tactics. If treatment is needed, we’ll recommend the right approach for your specific building. That might be a liquid barrier treatment applied along the foundation, a termite baiting system designed to eliminate the colony at its source, or a combination of both depending on the extent of activity. Converted loft buildings near the Bogart Street corridor get a different assessment than a three-story row house the entry points and construction gaps are different, and the treatment plan reflects that.
After treatment, we provide documentation you can keep on file. If you’re buying or selling a property in Bushwick, we also issue certified WDO inspection reports the paperwork that VA, FHA, and most lenders require before a deal can close.
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Every job starts with a full termite inspection not a quick walkthrough, but a real assessment of your foundation, basement framing, soil contact points, and any visible structural wood. In Bushwick’s aging residential stock, that level of detail isn’t optional. It’s how you find an infestation before it becomes a $10,000 repair.
From there, treatment is matched to your building type and the scope of what we find. For subterranean termite control in Bushwick, we use liquid barrier treatments applied along and beneath the foundation line, termite baiting systems that target the colony underground, or both when the situation calls for it. All materials are registered with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation a requirement we take seriously, especially in a neighborhood where your walls touch your neighbor’s walls and families are living close together on every block.
We also handle WDO inspection reports for real estate transactions, which are required by most lenders when buying or refinancing a property in Bushwick. If you’re purchasing a row house and your lender is asking for a termite clearance letter, we can get that done. Senior discounts are available, and free estimates are standard no pressure, no obligation, just a straight answer about what you’re dealing with and what it will take to fix it.
Yes, and more common than most people expect. The Eastern Subterranean Termite is the dominant species in New York City, and Bushwick’s housing stock gives it exactly what it needs: old wood, soil contact, and moisture. The row houses lining Wyckoff Avenue, Wilson Avenue, and much of the surrounding blocks were built between the late 1800s and the mid-1900s. Many of them have original sill plates and basement framing that has never been treated wood that has been sitting at or near grade level for 70 to 100 years.
What makes Bushwick particularly vulnerable is the combination of building age, density, and shared walls. A termite colony that establishes itself beneath one row house can migrate laterally through soil and wall voids into the unit next door. That’s not a hypothetical it’s a structural reality of attached housing. If a neighbor has had termite activity and you haven’t had an inspection recently, that’s worth knowing sooner rather than later.
It’s a fair question, and it’s one of the most common mix-ups homeowners make. Both can cause wood damage, but they’re different problems with different solutions. The fastest way to tell them apart is by looking at the insects themselves if you can find them. Termites have straight antennae, a thick waist, and wings of equal length. Carpenter ants have elbowed antennae, a pinched waist, and front wings that are noticeably longer than the back wings.
Beyond the insects, the damage patterns are different too. Termites consume wood from the inside out and leave behind a honeycomb-like interior with mud or soil packed into the galleries. Carpenter ants don’t eat wood they excavate it to nest, leaving behind clean, smooth tunnels and a sawdust-like material called frass near the entry points. If you’re finding what looks like dirt or mud packed into the wood grain in your basement, that’s a strong indicator of termites. We handle both at Kingsway, so either way, call us for a professional inspection.
A proper termite inspection in Bushwick covers the areas where Eastern Subterranean Termites are most likely to enter and feed: the basement, foundation perimeter, any exposed structural wood near soil, crawl spaces, and areas where moisture has been building up over time. In Bushwick’s older row houses, that typically means checking original sill plates, floor joists, and any wood that’s in or near direct contact with the ground.
Our inspector will look for mud tubes pencil-thin tunnels termites build to travel from the soil to the wood above as well as hollow-sounding wood, damaged or buckling paint, and any visible frass or debris. For converted loft buildings near Bogart Street, the inspection also covers concrete floor seams, loading dock openings, and other structural gaps common in industrial-to-residential conversions. After the inspection, you get a clear explanation of what was found, what it means, and what your options are. If you need a certified WDO report for a real estate transaction, we provide that documentation too.
If you’re financing the purchase with a VA, FHA, or HUD loan or with most conventional lenders a WDI/WDO inspection report is required before the deal can close. This is sometimes called a termite letter or clearance letter, and it documents whether wood-destroying organisms are present in the property. Lenders require it because termite damage directly affects structural integrity, and that affects the value of the asset they’re lending against.
Even if your lender doesn’t require it, getting a termite inspection before buying a row house in Bushwick is worth doing independently. Many of the properties changing hands in this neighborhood right now are older buildings that haven’t been renovated in decades. Termite activity that’s been ongoing for years won’t always show up in a standard home inspection it requires a trained eye looking specifically for the signs. The cost of an inspection is a fraction of what structural repairs cost after the fact, and in Bushwick’s active buyer market, it’s one of the smarter things you can spend a couple hundred dollars on before closing.
Termite swarm season in New York City typically runs from March through May, peaking after warm days that follow periods of rain. That’s when Eastern Subterranean Termite colonies produce winged reproductives swarmers that emerge to find new nesting sites. In a dense neighborhood like Bushwick, swarmers emerging from a colony in one building can show up in adjacent units, near basement windows, on stoops, or inside walls. If you’re seeing small winged insects in or around your home during spring, that’s not something to wait on.
The important thing to know is that swarmers themselves don’t cause damage they’re a sign that an established colony is nearby and large enough to reproduce. The colony doing the actual damage is underground and has likely been active for years by the time swarmers appear. If you find them inside your home, collect a few in a sealed bag if you can and call us right away. The sooner we confirm what you’re dealing with, the more options you have before the damage goes deeper.
Yes. We offer senior discounts on termite control services, and we’re straightforward about it upfront. Bushwick has a significant long-term resident population people who have owned their homes on these blocks for decades and are now on fixed incomes. For those homeowners, an unexpected termite discovery can feel financially overwhelming, especially when the structure they’ve lived in for 30 years suddenly needs professional treatment.
The discount is available for qualifying senior homeowners and applies to our termite inspection and treatment services. When you call for a free estimate, just mention it and we’ll make sure it’s factored in. We also offer free estimates to all customers regardless of age so before any money changes hands, you’ll know exactly what you’re dealing with and what the cost will be. No surprises, no pressure. If treatment isn’t needed, we’ll tell you that too.
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