Winter is a popular time when pests and bugs invade your home searching for shelter as the temperature outside drops. Pests are a nuisance and cause significant damage to your home. The spiders mess your home with cobwebs while the rodents chew up your walls and wooden furniture. Not to mention the health hazard pests bring in your home. Below are tips to help keep pests away from your home this winter.
Seal all cracks and holes
Cracks and holes in your structure give pests and bugs an entrance inside, whether that is a storage building or your beloved home! . Inspect the structure thoroughly to ensure there aren’t any gaps or spaces where pests can access the inside. Check for holes, cracks, or spaces in anything connecting your home to the outdoors, from windows, pipes, vents, chimneys, doors, and roof shingles. We recommend sealing areas with different products depending on where the problem is, but places like gaps in plumbing penetrations we recommend using a product called Xcluder and then using spray foam. Using just spray foam, a rodent can chew through, but when combining the two products, they cannot pull out the Xcluder and then cannot chew through the spray foam without biting down on the Xcluder. This two-step wonder stops them in their tracks!
No dinner for bugs and pests
You might try to bug-proof your home by sealing and repairing all cracks in your home and covering all open spaces, but some bugs still find a way to enter your home. What if they did all this and found nothing in your home? With no food or water to drink, the bugs and pests have nothing to nibble on, so they have no incentive to stay. Eliminate clutter from your home and remove the unprotected water and food sources. Without food and water, the bugs leave. Some great examples are to just wipe down your counter tops nightly, sweep up any crumbs on the floors and put your sink plug into the sink which keeps roaches from getting in your drains.
Proper trash storage
Trash is heaven for bugs and pests around your home. You might not store trash inside the house, but if you poorly store it outside, the pests get out, feast on it then find a way inside your home for shelter. The trash cans become breeding grounds for the pest too.
Keep all the food trash well covered in the kitchen and not scattered in wastebaskets all over the house. Trash should be emptied each night and kept covered in cans with lids, outside. The exterior trash cans have self-closing lids and tight seals that keep the insects out.
Winter cold is harsh to pests and bugs, and some don’t have an option for survival other than finding their way inside your home. If you suspect that you have a bug and pest infestation, make sure you get rid of them immediately. Don’t give them time to breed in your home. If it seems like too much, get a professional to handle it for you. The professional eliminates the bugs safely and helps you reinforce your home’s defenses against pests and bugs.