Summer is a great time of year, synonymous with neighborhood barbecues, celebratory fireworks, and weekend beach trips. Unfortunately, summer also means that insects and bugs come out of winter hiding and begin to suddenly appear in the corners of our homes. No one wants to deal with ants in the kitchen, spiders crawling in windows or wasps in the garage. Thankfully, there are ways to keep unwanted visitors to a minimum. Check out these five tips to bug proof your home and keep insects out this summer:
1) Seal in Gaps and Cracks
It seems obvious that the best way to keep bugs out is to make sure they have no way in, but you’d be surprised at how many secret entrances these critters have into your home. Look behind appliances and furniture for any cracks in the wall and seal them up. Additionally, doors and windows can be the biggest problems. Consider installing a threshold or door sweep under your front door to prevent bugs from crawling under. Check your window screens for tears and add weather sealing along the edges and the frames.
2) Keep Your Home Tidy
Insects usually enter homes in search of food, so make sure to pack up all your food and store it in a secure location. Minimize crumbs in the carpet by containing meals and snacks to the kitchen and dining areas. Even after food has been thrown away, the smells will still attract bugs, so try keep lids on your trashcans. And while food is the main culprit, it certainly isn’t the only one. Messy homes provide bugs with plenty of hiding spaces, and cockroaches have even been found to be attracted to the smell of paper.
3) Manage Vegetation Around the Property
Keep trees and bushes trimmed back so that they do not touch the home
. When branches and trees come in direct contact with the home you are providing an easy path for pests to get into your house. At the base of the home you can create a similar barrier between any mulched areas where pests may live and the foundation of the house to reduce the likelihood of pests entering the home.
4) Minimize Moisture
Most people know that food attracts bugs but usually overlook the fact that water can be just as appealing. To a bug, moist environments mean not only drinking water but also breeding grounds – especially for mosquitoes . Make sure gutters are clear and water drains appropriately away from the house to reduce attractiveness to occasional invaders, ants or wood damage from termites.
5) Call in the Professionals
Even if you follow all of these steps to the letter, no home can be made completely bug proof. When your home is threatened by pests , it’s best to leave the job to the professionals, especially when dealing with particularly difficult critters like termites or an ant infestation. Exterminators have the right tools and experience to get rid of infestations, and professional pest control is the best way to leave your home as bug-free as possible.