Easy Ways to Keep Your Home Pest-Free

August 1, 2015 Guest Post

As a homeowner, you likely prefer to keep wildlife outdoors and house pets indoors. However, as hard as you may try, pests like squirrels, raccoons, mice, rats, birds, and insects may seem to find their way in. By utilizing the tips and tricks below, you can reduce your risk of pest infestation.

Make It Difficult To Get In
Pests can make their way into your home through even the smallest of holes, cracks, and openings. These openings could include a tear in a window screen, a hole a cupboard or underneath your sink, an open soffit, an open crawlspace, or any open areas underneath your porch. Do a walk-through of both the interior and exterior of your home to identify any areas that can be covered with mesh, filled in, patched, or repaired. Don’t forget to look for cracks in the walls, floor boards, grout, or baseboards that may occur as your foundation shifts over the years.

Check Again 1-2 Times per Year
Weather, wear and tear, and moving objects in and around your home can create new holes and entrance areas for rodents and pests. If you have a quarterly home maintenance and repair checklist, make sure to add checking for new areas of entrance at least once in the fall, and again in the spring. Addressing the possible entrance areas will not only reduce your risk of pest and rodent infestation, but many times will also improve your home’s energy efficiency.

Keep Things Clean
Once a pest or rodent makes it into your home, they need somewhere to feed. The more difficult you make it for them to find sustenance, the more likely they are to move on. Ensure that you keep your home clean and sanitized, particularly your kitchen and bathroom. Take that time to sweep, mop, and vacuum periodically behind your furniture and appliances for the inevitable food, crumbs, and debris that find their way in these places.

Take Preventative Measures
Sometimes when you take the precautions above, pests and rodents will still find their way in. In order to identify them and discourage them from staying, you can take a few extra preventative measures. This could include purchasing traps for mice and roaches, or spraying pesticide on the exterior of your home in the early spring. With the increase in bedbugs over the last several years, you can take preventative measures such as putting mattress covers on all of your beds, and vacuuming your floors and furniture each week.

Learn Your Local Pests And Rodents
Every area of the country has native pests, rodents, and insects. It is important to learn what each of your native pests, rodents, and insects are so that you can learn what the signs of an infestation are, and what their droppings look like. By taking the time to educate yourself, you will be best prepared to learn what preventative measures you should take to reduce the likelihood of an infestation, and to identify an infestation when one occurs.

The tips above will help you to keep your home rodent-, pest-, and insect-free.

This article was written by father and home handyman Jared Miret. If you already have a pest problem, Jared recommends Bain Pest Control Service to remove any existing pests before following the steps above to avoid reinfestation.