Rodents, ants, centipedes, spiders, fleas, and other annoying pests can quickly become a problem if your home has the right conditions to create it. Different pests arrive in different seasons, so you must stay active with pest control year-round. You need to take immediate action when you discover evidence of pests in your home, either by yourself or by calling a professional pest control company like Ortex.
Reducing Pests in Your Home
Pests in your home can spread illnesses, destroy your property, and leave a mess for you to clean up. Infestations don’t happen overnight, so it’s essential to implement proactive actions to make your home’s conditions unsuitable for these pests before they enter your home. Let’s review five easy ways to reduce the number of pests in your home.
- Seal Cracks, Holes, and Other Openings
The cracks in your windows and doors where they don’t seal adequately shut don’t only allow outdoor air to flow into your home—they also allow pests to enter. Holes in your baseboards (including heating systems) and structural damage to your walls, ceilings, and floors also give pests such as rodents an accessible entryway to your home. Don’t forget to consider exterior damage to your roof or siding.
An effective way to ensure that these pests don’t get inside includes sealing these openings and making repairs where necessary. In addition to finishing the proper repairs, you can use steel wool, sheet metal, weather stripping, and bricklayer cement.
- Store Food Properly
Food easily attracts pests like flies and rodents if not stored correctly. Be sure to put away leftover food in airtight containers promptly after you eat to avoid drawing these pests into your home. Don’t skip over foods that come in their own resealable cardboard or flimsy plastic packaging such as granola or chips—tiny insects can fit into the smallest spaces. The best food protection against pests is a reusable, resealable hard plastic container.
Don’t forget to regularly check for open containers or food packages in your pantry to ensure their proper storage. Busy family members may leave food containers open by accident, but you will commonly find that rodents chew these packages open.
- Keep Your Home and Yard Clean
The state of your home and yard directly affects whether pests come inside. Pests become attracted to dirty, debris-filled areas, so it’s vital to keep your home clean. Vacuuming, mopping, and sweeping up dust and debris regularly disrupt pest activity, helping you clean up any potential materials they could use for a home or meal. Make sure to get dark, hard-to-reach areas where pests are more likely to hide and be especially thorough when cleaning your kitchen and bathrooms.
Your outdoor area can also bring pests to your home. Keep your yard clean of natural waste such as grass clippings, piles of leaves, and animal droppings that may attract pests to avoid creating an ideal home for them.
- Control Moisture Indoors
Indoor moisture also appeals to insects like centipedes and silverfish. Your bathroom, kitchen, laundry area, and garage represent prime locations where moisture may appear. Taking control of humidity with a dehumidifier in especially damp rooms and ensuring that water drains or gets soaked up properly on floors and other surfaces will help reduce these pests.
Kitchen pipes, leaking faucets, and other faulty appliances such as washers and dishwashers can create stagnant, dirty water that becomes a breeding ground for various pests. If you notice problems, you’ll need to perform or schedule repairs to ensure these appliances no longer increase indoor moisture.
- Maintain Your Outdoor Trash Area
If possible, your trash can and outdoor trash area need to be well away from your home and yard. The smell of food waste and other debris can attract cockroaches and other pests that may use garbage as a food source or home.
It dramatically helps to keep your trash can clean. You don’t have to wash your trash bin, but make sure it contains no standing water, grass, or other debris that often creates ideal conditions for pests. Also, ensure that the bin’s lid fits securely.
At the first sign of pests, take action. Be sure to contact Termites and Pest Control Services at (931) 213-7181 to schedule a home inspection and start ridding your home of pests. Ortex offers professional pest control services to help you get rodents and bugs in your home under control fast.
