Pests can be more than just unwelcome visitors – they can also pose health hazards and damage your home. To stop pest infestations from happening, take proactive steps such as eliminating food, water, and shelter sources.
Cockroaches, rodents and other pests are always searching for somewhere safe and cozy to call home, which means eliminating their hiding places by cleaning closets, guest rooms and other seldom used spaces regularly.
Keep Your Home Clean
One of the best ways to keep pests out is to maintain a clean home. Pests are drawn in by food and shelter; by making your space less inviting for them, they’ll likely move on quickly. Open food, crumbs on counters or floors, dirty dishes – these all serve as magnets for ants, rodents, flies and other bugs that inhabit homes.
Clutter can provide pests with places to hide. Be sure to dispose of garbage regularly and store any food items in airtight containers. Keep compost piles away from your home and trim back any branches or firewood that could touch it; and teach kids or pets to pick up after themselves and other items on the floor.
As part of your efforts to prevent pests, make regular inspections of your home and yard for cracks and gaps that might provide access points for pests. Pay particular attention to corners of rooms and behind appliances where cracks might form; any time there are gaps large enough for insects to enter through, caulk or seal it off using expanding foam sealant as soon as you notice one to deny entry to these unwanted guests.
Moisture attracts pests, so be sure to drain any standing water in wheelbarrows, birdbaths and buckets. Inside the house, wipe down kitchen and bathroom sinks while fixing leaky faucets; additionally if any parts of your home become damp during warmer temperatures use a dehumidifier to reduce excess moisture levels.
Light is another major attractant for pests, so use low-watt bulbs or switch off outdoor lights altogether to reduce how much light shines into your home. Carefully inspect any furniture and outdoor decor items you bring into the house as ticks, bed bugs, or other pests could be hiding on or in these items; and always put up a screen over fireplaces if used for cooking – mosquitoes are notorious for sneaking inside them and being harmful.
Seal Off Entry Points
Pests tend to invade homes more during certain seasons when they’re searching for warmth, shelter and sustenance. Luckily, you can prevent this invasion by taking steps to stop their entry.
Pests can easily gain entry to your property through left-open doors and windows. But they may also gain entry through tiny crevices; rodents and insects have even been known to gain entrance through tiny holes in walls, floors, potted plants, basement window wells and attics.
Sealing off entry points to prevent pest infestation is the key to avoiding an outbreak. You can do this by installing door sweeps, sealing gaps around vents in your house and repairing holes in window screens, using caulk where larger openings exist or using copper mesh or expanding foam as recommended by Natural Green.
Your foundation and siding of your home can also be sealed off using spackle and house paint to fill holes, as well as metal mesh to cover drainpipes or wires that penetrate its exterior surface.
If you don’t have time to conduct an inspection and seal off these entry points yourself, enlisting professional assistance could be very helpful. A professional will not only identify common entry points but will also seal them so pests cannot gain entry.
An infestation can be more than a nuisance: it can result in costly repairs and damages to your home’s structure, electrical cords and plumbing; landscaping will even suffer as a result of this issue. But if you take time to keep your landscape trimmable and seal off entry points promptly you can prevent pests before they become an issue – after all cockroaches and rodents do more than disrupt peace and tranquility; they carry disease-causing pathogens into your pantry!
Keep Your Landscaping Trimmable
Overgrowth may look attractive, but it can also provide the ideal breeding ground for pests like mosquitoes, flies and ants – not to mention other vermin – like mosquitoes, flies, ants and others who love hiding out in thick shrubbery and trees. When left to their own devices they will easily gain entry into homes and gardens through windows or doors that were left open due to overgrown shrubs, vines or branches blocking windows or doorways; trimming regularly will not only reduce aesthetic value but will help residents enjoy spending their summer days outdoors!
Stagnant water attracts mosquitoes that lay their eggs there, leading to another source of potential pest infestation. Make sure all containers, bird baths, kiddie pools, koi ponds and their surrounding areas are regularly dumped out to reduce this source of mosquito breeding grounds. Drain away any water which remains standing around these structures so as to rid yourself of an additional potential source of infestation.
Overgrown vegetation can block out sunlight from entering your yard, making it hotter than it needs to be and drawing pests such as ticks, aphids and fungus closer to home – which in turn leads to problems in your garden. Mulch is an easy solution that keeps soil cool while simultaneously decreasing pest populations.
Pests require food, water and shelter in order to survive; anything that provides this is likely attracting them. Trash bins, compost piles and wood piles are often magnets for pests; in order to avoid their invasion into your property it’s a good idea to cover all trash bins properly while leaving ample distance between them and the home; also add racks for firewood so it does not touch the ground where ant hills or termite tunnels may form.
Additionally to these basic maintenance tips, consider creating a landscaping plan with plants that naturally repel or resist pests – marigolds, chrysanthemums and lavender are great natural tools that repel mosquitoes while planting garlic can deter wood-eating pests like termites. Employing these HOA landscaping ideas is an effective way to prevent unwanted visitors in outdoor spaces!
Get Rid of Unwanted Pests
Pests enter homes to find food, shelter and water sources – often in the kitchen, basement or backyard. If it becomes difficult for these pests to inhabit your space, they’ll look elsewhere for shelter. One way you can prevent unwanted pests from moving in is through regular cleaning and grooming of your home; such preventive tips should be implemented into regular household chores like sweeping, mopping, dishwashing, vacuuming dusting wiping down counters spraying sanitizing solutions on beds sofas etc. Furthermore drain any outdoor receptacles like birdbaths/children’s wading pools / areas which collect stagnant water collects to ensure no accumulation of stagnant stagnant water pools/accumulates and collects/accumulates there
Store all food in airtight containers to deter pests such as cockroaches and ants from feasting. Keep a trash can with an airtight lid close by your home for garbage collection; compost piles attract rodents, ants, squirrels and other nuisance pests that could enter through it.
Trimming tree limbs that touch your house and blocking access to your roof will help ward off pests from entering. Also, keep vents and chimneys free from debris; check windows and doors for holes or cracks immediately, repair them as soon as you notice them; keep fly screens in good condition; consider investing in insect repellents to further safeguard against potential invaders;
If you have a pest problem in Western Massachusetts, don’t hesitate to get help from local Western pest control specialists! With regular prevention tips like those outlined here, your unwanted pests should soon be history! Kacey Bradley is an author who specializes in travel, lifestyle, health, fashion and decor topics – her work has been featured by U.S. News, SUCCESS Magazine Guides for Brides Hotel Online among others! She can be followed on Twitter as well as visiting The Drifter Collective blog for additional inspiration! Follow Kacey on Twitter as well as visiting The Drifter Collective blog for even more inspiration.