The buildings here
Planned subdivision housing built mostly between 1991 and 2007. Concrete block and stucco on slab, barrel tile or architectural shingle roofs, screened lanais, paver decks and tightly spaced lots with irrigation on a timer.
What Westchase houses have in common
This is planned suburb housing, mostly built between the early nineties and the mid two thousands. Concrete block and stucco on a monolithic slab, tile or architectural shingle roof, a screened lanai on the back, pavers, and a landscape package with mulch beds against the wall and irrigation on a timer.
Wood framing is limited, so drywood termite calls are far less common here than in Seminole Heights. The slab edge, the bath trap and any later addition are where subterranean termites become the question instead, and daily irrigation against the foundation is what keeps that pressure up.
Ants are the everyday complaint. Ghost ants and white footed ants come in through weep holes, around the A/C lineset penetration and along the lanai slab edge, then trail to a kitchen or bathroom. Both species bud when treated wrong, so the product choice matters more than the volume.
The conservation edge and the ponds
Westchase is laid out around wetland, conservation parcels and stormwater ponds, with the Upper Tampa Bay Trail running along the western side. Houses on those boundaries have a permanent supply of everything that lives in a Florida treeline arriving at the back fence.
The retention ponds produce two separate things. Mosquitoes breed in the vegetated shallow edges and in every container in the yard between them. Blind midges breed in the pond sediment itself and hatch in clouds that cover screens, pale stucco and anything lit up after dark. They are seasonal and harmless, and best handled by timing service to the hatch and cutting back bright white exterior lighting.
Roof lines, lanais and attics
Barrel tile roofs leave an open void along the first course unless it was closed off properly, and that space is a ready made run for roof rats. Gable vents with a torn screen and the corner where a soffit returns into a wall are the other two we find most often.
Screened lanai frames are a climbing route straight to the roof edge, and the screen itself often has a tear at the bottom corner where a pressure washer or a dog has gone through it. Sealing here means galvanized mesh at the tile line, vent guards, and closing the soffit returns.
The lawns
Irrigated Floratam St. Augustine on sandy fill is ideal chinch bug territory, and the damage always starts along the driveway edge and the sidewalk strip where the heat is worst. Fire ants move into any disturbed ground, which on these lots means new sod, resodded patches and the edges of paver work.
What matters locally
Conservation and pond edges
Homes on the conservation boundary and along the retention ponds sit next to permanent habitat. Ants, spiders, midges and mosquitoes arrive from the treeline regardless of how clean the house is.
Blind chironomid midges off the ponds
Non-biting midges hatch off retention ponds in large clouds, usually spring and fall, and coat screens and light colored walls. Timing exterior service to the hatch and adjusting exterior lighting helps most.
Tile roof edges and screened lanais
Barrel tile leaves an open void at the first course, and lanai screen frames give roof rats a climbing route. Both are common entry points on homes of this age here.
Daily irrigation against stucco
Timers set to run every morning keep soil and mulch permanently damp at the foundation, which draws ants and subterranean termites toward the slab edge.
Jobs we do most often in Westchase
- Quarterly plan with heavier perimeter work on conservation boundary lots
- Ghost ant treatment in kitchens and bathrooms using non-repellent products
- Mosquito and midge service around retention ponds
- Roof rat exclusion at tile roof edges, gable vents and lanai frames
- Fire ant and chinch bug treatment on irrigated St. Augustine lawns