{"id":3029,"date":"2022-01-21T08:04:44","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T13:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.novaextermination.com\/realisations\/smoketest6\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T09:29:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:29:44","slug":"smoketest6","status":"publish","type":"realisations","link":"https:\/\/www.novaextermination.com\/en\/achievements\/smoketest6\/","title":{"rendered":"Smoke test in Varennes, mixed-use commercial building"},"content":{"rendered":"

An owner of a mixed-use commercial building in Varennes, on the South Shore, contacted us after noticing signs of mouse activity in the commercial premises on the ground floor as well as persistent musty smells in the second-floor apartments, despite several classic extermination rounds carried out in the past. The configuration of this building, built in the 1980s, mixes a commercial space open to the street, two apartments upstairs and a basement partially converted into storage space. This combination creates gray areas that are difficult to control without accurate mapping of infiltration pathways. Our technicians recommended a complete smoke test<\/a> covering both the plumbing network and the building envelope in order to establish a true and complete picture of the situation before any treatment. <\/p>\n

Diagnosis of transition areas between commercial and residential<\/h2>\n

The junction between a commercial space and residential dwellings in the same building creates specific challenges: the building standards applied to the two areas may differ, and the wiring, pipes and ducts often pass through fire separations without proper sealing plugs. The technicians at our exterminator in Varennes<\/a> began with an inspection of the technical spaces, including the suspended ceiling of the commercial space and the cavity under the floor of the second floor. Smoke from the main drain spread rapidly through these hidden spaces and revealed several exits that were not visually reported during previous inspections. <\/p>\n

The main leaks detected included a hot water heating pipe passage through the slab separating the basement from the ground floor without any sleeves, an opening in the bottom of a plaster partition between the commercial space and the stairwell, and micro-cracks along the rear foundation wall caused by tree roots that had exerted progressive pressure in the concrete. The latter observation was particularly significant, as it explained both the rodent infiltration and the moisture problems reported by second-floor tenants. Without the smoke test, the link between these two separate problems would have been difficult to establish. <\/p>\n

Remedial work and coordination between tenants<\/h2>\n

Coordinating the work in a building occupied by both a business and residential tenants required careful planning over several weekends. The interventions in the common areas were carried out outside the business hours of the business, while those in the apartments were carried out with the agreement and presence of the tenants. The missing sleeve around the heating line was installed with a removable two-piece hose clamp, facilitating future maintenance access without having to undo the seal. The plaster partition has received an acoustic seal lined with a galvanized steel panel at its base, offering double protection: pest tightness and sound insulation between the store and the stairwell. The caulking of the foundation cracks<\/a> was carried out with a high-strength epoxy injection resin, adapted to the stresses caused by root pressure and freeze-thaw cycles. <\/p>\n

All the work was documented with before and after photos for each point treated. Check out our Rental Property Smoke Test<\/a> for another example of our approach in mixed-use buildings, as well as our commercial caulking case study<\/a> for remediation techniques applied in commercial spaces in the area. <\/p>\n

Results and recommended maintenance<\/h2>\n

The control test carried out ten days after the end of the work confirmed that the treated areas were completely watertight. The landlord was given a preventative maintenance plan recommending a semi-annual visual inspection of at-risk areas and a full smoke test every four to five years, especially after any renovation work in the building. For mixed-use commercial buildings in Varennes or neighboring cities such as Boucherville or Contrecoeur, our team of certified exterminators<\/a> is available for personalized evaluations to protect both businesses and residential tenants from pests in all seasons. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An owner of a mixed-use commercial building in Varennes, on the South Shore, contacted us after noticing signs of mouse activity in the commercial premises on the ground floor as well as persistent musty smells in the second-floor apartments, despite several classic extermination rounds carried out in the past. The configuration of this building, built […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2695,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":""},"type_realisations":[94,95],"class_list":["post-3029","realisations","type-realisations","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","type_realisations-job-type","type_realisations-smoke-test"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSmoke test in Varennes, mixed-use commercial building - Nova Extermination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.novaextermination.com\/en\/achievements\/smoketest6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smoke test in Varennes, mixed-use commercial building - Nova Extermination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An owner of a mixed-use commercial building in Varennes, on the South Shore, contacted us after noticing signs of mouse activity in the commercial premises on the ground floor as well as persistent musty smells in the second-floor apartments, despite several classic extermination rounds carried out in the past. 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