My Story: From Fear to Field Science

I WAS ONCE INVADED BY SCORPIONS

Hello, I’m Georgia Clubb, founder of Seal Out Scorpions in Tempe, Arizona.
My journey began with fear and desperation — and led to a new applied science that’s changed how homes are protected from pests.

I grew up in the East Valley and didn’t even know scorpions lived in city neighborhoods until my husband, William, and I bought our first home in Tempe. Soon after moving in, my younger brother Mike found a scorpion in the kitchen sink. That discovery began years of anxiety and sleepless nights.

Despite hiring multiple pest control companies, we averaged five to ten scorpions a year. Then one night I was stung in bed while my two-and-a-half-year-old son, Christopher, was sleeping beside me. The pain was excruciating — but the terror of realizing it had been crawling near his face was worse. I panicked, packed up, and moved to my parents’ house at two in the morning. I never slept another night there.

The Second and Third Homes:

We moved twice trying to escape my fear.
Our second home had fewer scorpions, but even one was too many while we were about to adopt our daughter, Ashley.

The third home seemed like a miracle — no scorpions, no pest control needed, and finally, peace of mind. But after several years, when we moved again to a larger family home, the nightmare returned and was worse.

The Fourth Home — The Breaking Point

The new property looked perfect — a lush irrigated yard, pool, and mature landscaping around the corner from the third home. But the night we moved in, I found 22 dead scorpions and six live ones inside. Within weeks, we discovered an infestation so severe we found 60 to 70 scorpions per night during black-light searches.

We tried everything — multiple professional pest companies, three sealing services, vegetation removal, floor replacement, even demolishing a deck with jacuzzi. Nothing worked.

We couldn’t move. We were adopting for the third time, already raising two kids, and I felt responsible for our situation in moving to the home. Out of fear and necessity, I began studying.

From Fear to Formula

I forced myself to research scorpions, despite my phobia. I immersed myself in university entomology papers, pest management texts, and construction science. I spoke with entomologists from Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, and studied materials from Purdue University. My research deepened with Scorpion Biology by Gary Polis and later Scorpion Biology and Research by Brownell and Polis.

Christopher Clubb pictured at 3 in the first “Scorpion Home”.

I tried to overcome my phobia when outside with scorpions to observe them firsthand—conducting regular night hunts with a black light and documenting every detail of their patterns. Over time, I began to see what no one else seemed to: scorpions were not a problem to be solved strictly with chemicals or fractured, partial sealing. The issue was far broader—the structure, environment, use of insecticides, and overall strategy needed to be corrected.

Drawing on my husband’s contracting background, we began testing materials, reviewing their technical specifications, and studying airflow, pressure patterns and microclimates inside homes. Through this process, we developed a system that integrated building-envelope corrections, pest behavior, effective insecticide chemistry and application, and even landscape adjustments for features that couldn’t be altered.

And it worked.
We went from dozens of scorpions each night to none. That discovery became the foundation for what is now known as Building Performance Sealing™ (BPS) and the Pest Barrier Integrity System (PBIS) — the measurable framework behind today’s Barrier Integrity Science.

The 2019 Office Experiment — Proof in Practice

In 2019, I purchased a residential property in Tempe to serve as our new office and training facility. It ranked among the top ten percent most infested homes we had ever worked on — 164 scorpions in just four nights. Every room had them.

The difference this time was knowledge and control. Unlike client homes, where lifestyle habits, pest control history, and post-sealing maintenance often affect outcomes, this property allowed us to execute every strategy precisely as designed — from building performance sealing to environmental management.

My staff thought I was crazy to buy it, and the office team was understandably fearful. I told them, “If we can’t cure this before we move in, we’re frauds — and I know we’re not frauds.”

Ashley Clubb pictured at 4 in the third “Scorpion Free Home” that I wished we would have stayed in.

We treated and sealed the home to full performance standards before move-in. On the day we moved in, we found one scorpion near a single unprotected door and another upstairs during remodeling. Since then, we’ve had only one additional scorpion — a hitchhiker trapped inside a plastic-lined plant basket brought in from a garden center.

Both my home and our office are located in high-density scorpion zones, yet my grandchildren now run barefoot outside without fear. That property became our living proof that our system works — scientifically, measurably, and permanently.

That same summer, we collected over 5,000 scorpions for a university-led study in partnership with a major insecticide manufacturer. The majority were gathered from the neighborhoods surrounding my home and office — yet not a single scorpion was found on either of my properties.

This experience provided not only validation of our work, but the undeniable evidence that Barrier Integrity Science™ can deliver consistent, repeatable, and verifiable results in even the most extreme pest environments.

Over the Years — What I’ve Learned

Over the years, I’ve seen countless services and products introduced. If it’s been marketed for scorpions or promises to help, my team and I likely know it well — we’ve tested it, researched it, fixed the problems it created, and can tell you exactly what it can and can’t do.

I know the scorpion-control services across the Southwest and understand their methods clearly. We are the company people call when nothing else works and other services have failed — that’s why I know them so well. We’ve become the last stop, not because others don’t care, but because no one else is yet addressing the whole picture — the full science of Barrier Integrity. That’s not opinion; it’s science, supported by real data and outcomes.

There are many gimmicks and weak products that still sell, and there are good providers who genuinely mean well — they’re just fractured, addressing symptoms instead of systems.

We bridge that gap. Our work integrates building performance, pest management, airflow physics, environmental factors, and the chemistry of both building and insecticidal products, along with the human factors that influence both technicians and residents. Together, these form one unified, verifiable approach.

We hope others will one day follow this model — to advance the industry, elevate the standard of work (whether for scorpions or other pests), and give tradesmen a purpose-driven career and homeowners what they deserve: real solutions and lasting results.

Timothy Clubb pictured at 4 and the first day he came to live with us.  In the backyard where we once found 60-70 a night, but under control here.

From Fieldwork to a New Applied Science

After more than 26 years, I realized that what I’d built wasn’t just a service — it was a new applied science.

Barrier Integrity Science™ unites building performance, entomology, material chemistry, airflow physics, and even human psychology into a measurable prevention system.

My goal now is to share this with the broader industry — to help raise industry-wide awareness and skill, create a framework for better technician education, and make these higher standards accessible to companies throughout Arizona and across the country.

Barrier Integrity Science™ isn’t just about sealing homes — it’s about elevating a missing trade, strengthening professionalism, and giving homeowners verified safety and relief from what once felt impossible to control.

Closing Reflection

What began as fear evolved into solution.
What began as curiosity turned into discovery.
What began as frustration became innovation.
And what began as one mom’s mission has grown into a science that may be ready to positively influence — and perhaps even change — an industry.

I’ll keep you posted.