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Ballard’s built environment — a mix of late-19th- and early-20th-century brick homes, rowhouses, and industrial lofts — creates a distinctive urban habitat. Among the architectural features that stand out are the many brick chimneys that punctuate rooftops. Those chimneys are more than ornamental remnants of an earlier heating era: their mortar joints, flues and sheltered…

There’s a good reason Rainier Beach residents sometimes joke that their floors feel alive on cold mornings: radiant floor heating turns a simple comfort into a potential magnet for pests. Warmth is one of the most powerful attractants for many animals and insects seeking shelter, especially during Seattle’s long, wet cool season. In homes with…

In many older, tree-lined neighborhoods named Wallingford, the same quiet threat can be hiding at the junction where street trees meet houses: an underground network of burrows and tunnels that exploit the spaces created by tree roots near foundations. What begins as a benign root system seeking water and nutrients can, over time, open voids…

As the temperatures drop and outdoor insect activity retreats, dining spaces that once felt secure from pests can become unexpected hubs of ant activity. In Northgate’s busy dining nooks—compact, often-warm corners where students, shoppers, and workers gather to eat—winter brings a particular set of challenges. Ants that normally forage outdoors shift their behavior to exploit…

As the holiday season draws near, the upswing in travel, guest visits and furniture exchanges brings an often-overlooked risk to rental properties: the spread of bed bugs. These tiny, elusive insects are expert hitchhikers, clinging to luggage, clothing, holiday gifts and used furniture. In dense housing situations—like Fremont’s many rental duplexes—the movement of people and…

Crawlspace vents are a deceptively small part of a home’s exterior, but in neighborhoods like Green Lake—where seasonal rains and high humidity are common—they play a pivotal role in protecting your house from moisture-related damage. Proper ventilation helps equalize temperature and humidity between the crawlspace and the outside, discouraging mold growth, wood rot, and pest…

As West Seattle embraces the shift to cleaner, more efficient home heating and cooling, air-source heat pumps have become a common sight on properties across the peninsula. Those outdoor condenser units do important work year-round, but their location—often close to the ground, tucked against foundations, or surrounded by landscaping—also makes them a tempting habitat or…

Magnolia trees, with their glossy leaves and generous canopy, make patios and decks inviting outdoor rooms — and the space beneath those decks a convenient spot for storing garden supplies, firewood, and seasonal furniture. But come winter, that same tucked-away under-deck area can become an ideal nesting site for rats. Cold temperatures drive rodents to…

On Capitol Hill, where narrow brick rowhouses and late-19th-century townhomes cluster along tree-lined streets, window trim is both a functional component and an important piece of architectural character. Those carved sills, muntins and narrow casing pieces have aged alongside their buildings, and their joints and gaps—whether from settling foundations, repeated window sash movement, or centuries…

Queen Anne houses—those ornate, turreted, gingerbread-accented Victorian homes that proliferated in the United States and Britain between roughly 1880 and 1910—are beloved for their craftsmanship and complex floor plans. But their distinctive construction techniques and the way they were retrofitted for plumbing over the last century also create ideal hidden thoroughfares for pests. Narrow cavities,…