Atlantis is a planned town about 40 km up the West Coast, with a large industrial area beside its housing. It is windy, sandy and fairly isolated, so pests here have a lot to do with dune sand, open veld and the factories and warehouses on the edge of town.
Hygiene & disinfection in Atlantis: what we see
Schools, clinics and crèches here benefit from scheduled disinfection, especially in winter flu season. Factories often want canteens and change rooms sanitised.
Atlantis sits in sandveld, with big white dunes on the edge of town and open strandveld scrub all around. The wind blows strongly most of the year, the summers are dry and hot, and the soft sand makes burrowing easy for rodents. Winter rain is lighter than in the city, but low spots still flood.
Homes are mainly brick council houses and semi-detached units built from the 1970s onwards, plus newer RDP housing and backyard structures in suburbs like Saxonsburg, Protea Park and Witsand. Small yards and shared walls let rats and cockroaches move between neighbours easily. The industrial zone has big warehouses, food and manufacturing plants that need proper commercial monitoring programmes.
Tell-tale signs
- Shared equipment such as till points, keyboards, phones and kitchen counters is used by many hands every day.
- Vulnerable people, such as the elderly or anyone on chemotherapy, live or work in the building.
- A staff member, resident or regular visitor has tested positive or gone home sick with flu-like symptoms.
- Normal cleaning has been done, but nobody has wiped door handles, light switches and lift buttons properly.
- You are about to reopen a space that was closed because of illness.
Worth knowing
For homes with small children or pets, the main rule is simple: everybody out during the treatment, windows open afterwards, and wait out the re-entry time we give you.
Fogging is not magic smoke. The real work is the manual wipe-down of the things hands touch all day, and the fog then reaches the places a cloth misses.
Our process, step by step
We start with the boring part that matters most: wiping down high-touch surfaces by hand with a suitable disinfectant, because fogging alone does not scrub a greasy door handle. Then we fog the rooms with a ULV fogger, which puts out a fine mist that settles on surfaces, including the ones nobody thinks to wipe. We choose products that are suitable for the surfaces and the people who will use the space, and we tell you how long to keep the area closed before re-entry. Electronics are covered or wiped rather than soaked. Afterwards you get a short report listing the areas treated and the product used.
Want the full step-by-step? See how our COVID-19 disinfection service works.
Stopping a repeat visit
- Put a daily wipe-down of handles, switches and shared phones on someone's task list, not just the cleaner's.
- Stop sharing headsets, pens and keyboards between shifts where you can avoid it.
- Open windows where you can. Cape Town's south-easter is good for something, and moving air dilutes airborne virus.
- Know who to phone before you need it, so a positive case does not turn into a day of scrambling.
- Keep people at home when they are sick. It does more than any amount of spraying.
What affects the price
The cost depends mostly on floor area and how many separate rooms need fogging. Heavy furniture, lots of electronics or food preparation areas take more time because they need careful wiping and covering. After-hours or weekend work and repeat treatments during an ongoing outbreak also affect the quote, which is free.
A household with one sick person can do a decent job with gloves, a disinfectant and some discipline about door handles and the bathroom. For an office, a shop or a care facility, I would get it done professionally, partly for the thoroughness and partly because you get a written record that it was done properly.
Questions we get asked in Atlantis
Do you come out to Atlantis for COVID-19 disinfection?
Yes. Atlantis is part of our regular Blaauwberg & West Coast route, along with Mamre, Melkbosstrand, Bloubergstrand. Most bookings are done within about 48 hours, and after-hours visits can be arranged.
Is it safe for children and pets afterwards?
Yes, once the re-entry time has passed and the room has been ventilated. Keep pets and kids out while we are working.
Do we have to close the whole building?
Not always. We can treat the affected section first and work around the rest, or come in after hours.
Are scorpions common in Atlantis?
They are more common here than in most of Cape Town because of the sandveld and open veld around the town. Most are thick-tailed types found under rocks, rubble and wood, so clearing yards and treating hiding spots makes a big difference.
Does fogging kill the COVID-19 virus?
The disinfectants we use are effective against enveloped viruses on surfaces when they are given the right contact time. Fogging treats surfaces in the room; it does not make the air or the people in it immune.
Can you do pest control for factories in the Atlantis industrial area?
Yes, we set up regular monitoring with bait stations, insect checks and written reports. That suits food plants and warehouses that need records for audits.
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