Expert Advice to Prevent a Pest Party in Your Home Following the Harsh Winter Season
Every autumn, when the leaves begin to drop and the air turns brisk, it seems like every small beastie in the animal kingdom wants to crash your home. Squirrels bed down in your attics. Mice shimmy up pipes to your bedroom walls and storm your garage. Rats tunnel their way into the basement like criminals pulling a heist.
And once they got inside, these cunning rodents seemingly make themselves right at home, shredding insulation, gnawing electric wires, chewing trim, and even feasting on leftover foods and garbage bins.
And while these rodents are on the job of tearing your property, and more likely exposing your family to rat-bite fever, salmonellosis, bubonic plague, and hantavirus, they will lustily populate and bring forth more icky offspring! And they very much do it very quickly that you may not know that you have a rodent problem until it is too late and you see them playing hide-and-seek in your kitchen counter.
So before your house becomes a warm vacation home and cozy breeding ground for pests, here are some tips and advice you can follow to prevent these pests from running your home:
Seal The Doors
Checking your door, you might see a number of cracks which make them an easy path that welcomes bugs into your home.
- Use a clear caulking in order to seal door joints
- Added door-seal or weather-stripping kits to the perimeter of frames in order to keep bugs from getting on the top and sides of your door.
- Install a sturdy steel or aluminum threshold underneath the door or consider adding a door sweep for even better protection.
- Consider installing a hydraulic door in order to make sure that door closes behind people who are coming and going.
Add Screens
During the winter season, the house can get stuffy or the fireplace can make a lot of smoke, so you would want to open the window to get some air come in. Unfortunately, not only air comes in but a few pests can also sneak in.
- Install window screens in order to make sure that pests can’t get inside the house. Consider choosing a fine screen or 20-mesh so that bugs can’t sneak through holes.
- Make sure that there is no spacing between window seal and screen frames for these are the perfect path for bugs to sneak in.
Repair Cracks
Pests can enter your house via microscopic holes or cracks. Here’s an idea, if a pencil can slide through a crack or gap so can a tiny mouse and a hundred of insects.
- Use mortar or cement to patch walls and foundations.
- Replace damaged sections of cladding and siding.
- Clear away any damaged brings and make sure to replace them with new ones.
- Replace rotting wood and look for potential damage or termites.
- Use caulk around siding cracks, foundation, any cracks or holes,and window frames.
Maintain Your Yard
Maintaining your yard has the biggest effect on pest infestations and is usually not properly cared for because of crazy busy lifestyles.
- Trim the trees back from your home so that they are not touching of hanging over the roof of your home.
- Remove any pile of debris or leaves before the snow coats them since these are ideal places for bugs to stay warm during winter.
- Keep soil and mulch away from the side of your home or create a barrier between them.
- Eliminate all soil-to-wood contact around your foundation and make sure that you keep firewood and other wooden debris from being directly stacked against your home.
Properly Place And Store Trash
One man’s trash is another rodent’s treasure.
- All bins outside and inside of your home needs to have a secure lid with tight seals in order to keep pests out.
- Trash should be placed in a bin with a lid and make sure to empty them every night.
- Keep food waste in the garbage bin and not in wastebaskets throughout the house.
Or You Could Just…
All this tips and advices can make your home pest-free for the rest of the winter. But it seems like a lot of work, right? So, why put up with so much work? You can just hire pest control pros in Pretoria to do all the hard work for you. We guarantee that you will have no pest problem so you can enjoy the cold, winter months!