Pests are a common issue for many households worldwide. They are a nuisance anywhere you’re located. It doesn’t matter if you live in a rural, suburban, or urban area.
Besides, your home is a haven for you to unwind and relax, and having pests around can pose a risk to you and your family’s health as well as cause damage to the structure of your home.
Furthermore, pests come in different sizes and shapes, from rodents to squirrels, cockroaches, and the occasional deadly centipede. However, they all have one thing in common: love for your food and a need for shelter in your home.
Therefore, you must understand what drives them to your house and take adequate precautions to prevent a pest infestation. This article will discuss six expert tips for protecting your home from pets.
Tips To Protect Your Home From Pests
Pest infestation is a nasty thing to go through in your home, and you must eliminate any conditions inside and outside your home that might attract pests. Below are tips to keep your home safe from pests.
Clean Regularly
Keeping your home tidy and clean is the first step to ensuring it is safe from pests. Pests love cluttered and dirty environments filled with trash and littered food. So, you must clean your home and surroundings regularly to keep them away.
Furthermore, ensure that all trash accumulated in your home is disposed of effectively. Upgrade to trash containers with lids and keep them outside to prevent the pests from crossing into your home. Keep the area around the trash can clean and tidy to prevent pests from feeding on the spills and debris.
Additionally, you can do a deep clean by vacuuming, mopping, and wiping down every nook and cranny of your house. Doing this will help eliminate any that might want to attract pets to your home. Deep cleaning your home can also help you find and destroy any potential pest-breeding ground.
Store Your Food Properly
Rodents have a perfect sense of smell. If you have an uncovered food container somewhere in your house, chances are they will be attracted to it. Ants also have excellent odor sensors compared to other insects. This means your leftover strawberry on the kitchen counter is bound to catch their attention.
Therefore, you must ensure your food is appropriately secure and stored. Invest in containers with good lids that can effectively store your food and keep it in cool, dry areas. Doing this will prolong the freshness of your food and keep pests away.
Seal Any Potential Entry Point
Pests cannot infest your home if they cannot get in. One of the ways to ensure problems have absolutely no access to your home is to seal any possible entry point. You can inspect everywhere in your home, from the attic to the backyard, and seal up or repair every tear, crack, and crevice.
Check your walls and screens for holes and your windows and doors for gaps. All these must be fixed immediately after they are noticed to prevent pest infestations.
Bed bugs and cockroaches need as little as 1cm of space to enter your home, so you must seal every gap or hole and repair any tear.
If you don’t have any protective screens on your doors and windows, consider investing in a fly screen. This will keep the little pests like wasps, bees, and spiders out of your home.
Dry Your Home
High humidity levels can lead to an infestation of mosquitoes and termites, which can cause damage to your house’s structure and pose a risk to your well-being. They can also cause your food to spoil over time, attracting many pests. This is why you must check your home for any stagnant water and get rid of it on time.
If you have an air conditioner, check for leaks around where it is placed. Any pail used to fetch water should be cleaned and dried to prevent water accumulation in the house. You should also change the water in your flower vase to prevent it from stagnating and breeding pests.
Clean Your Drainage Properly
Your drainage is like a buffet service for flies and cockroaches due to the rotten food, debris, and residue it collects. To ensure that your home remains pest-free, you must inspect and clean out the drainage in your home regularly, including the ones in the basement and laundry room.
Fortunately, there are several solutions you can use to keep your drainage pest-free and clean. Two of the best drainage cleaners are vinegar and baking soda. Mixing the two will create a foam that will flush out clogs, eliminate bacteria in your drain, and keep it running smoothly.
To use this vinegar-baking soda mixture, pour about half a cup of baking soda down the drain, follow up with half a cup of vinegar, allow it to sit for a while (10 minutes), then pour hot water to flush it down. You can repeat it once a month to keep your drain pest-free and clean.
Make Use of a Pest Control Company
If your home is already infested with pests and you cannot control or maintain them, it might be time to call a professional pest control company.
A pest control company like the Wildlife Pest Control Service in Ohio will inspect your home and develop a structure to eliminate and control the pests invading it.
These professionals will be able to find spaces that harbor pests that you might have missed and help you prevent recontamination.
Conclusion
Pests in your home pose a risk to your health and the structure of your building. Keeping them away is critical to maintaining good health and a comfortable and safe home. However, effective pest control requires continuous inspection, preventive measures and sometimes professional assistance.
By considering the tips in this article and keeping your home tidy, you can prevent the invasion of pests on your property. Remember that pest control isn’t a one-time event; you must continuously inspect your home to ensure it is safe and comfortable.