10 Ways You're Attracting Pests To Your Home
As a homeowner, you’ve put a lot of time and effort into making your home a space you and your family can enjoy. One of the last things you want is to find that you’re sharing the comfort of your home with unwanted guests--pests. You may already be taking precautions to reduce pest activity in your home, but there are some common habits that can attract pests and are often overlooked by homeowners.
How to Avoid Pests in Your Home
Here at Tailor Made Lawns, we have years of experience dealing with pests in homes just like yours. Our experts have compiled a list of things you could be doing wrong to attract pests to your home, and what you should be doing instead.
Avoid Living With Too Much Clutter
Everyone’s guilty of having clutter in their home, but did you know that this provides the perfect environment for pests to hide out? Rodents, cockroaches, and spiders prefer dark, cluttered spaces and may find the perfect home in boxes of items you have lying around. By getting rid of things you don’t need and storing what you want to keep in well-sealed plastic boxes or bags, you can not only make your home less attractive to pests, you can more easily identify potential pest problems without obstacles.
Remove Excess Moisture in Your Home
When it comes to preventing pests in your home, taking care of leaks as quickly as possible is something that most homeowners don’t think to do. Having excess water and moisture in and around your home creates a haven for a variety of pests. Indoor pests like cockroaches and rats are especially attracted to damp areas, while outdoor pests like mosquitoes use puddles of standing water as breeding grounds. Perhaps the most destructive -- termites and other wood-destroying insects -- can find a feast in wood that’s been damaged by moisture.
The worst part? Pests can survive for up to a month on just water alone, so even if your home is spotless from crumbs and food residue, you could potentially still be providing sustenance to pests with just excess moisture. To minimize water sources and breeding grounds for them, act quickly if you discover a leak. Be sure to regularly inspect your faucets and pipes for potential leaks.
Take Your Trash Out Frequently
With all the delicious food scraps you dispose of on a regular basis, it’s no surprise that your trash can be a major attractant for pests. When your trash bag isn’t completely full, it’s tempting to postpone taking it out of the house until you absolutely have to, but properly disposing of trash regularly can help reduce the chances of attracting pests. Along the same lines, be sure to clean the trash can itself every few weeks to get rid of all leftover remnants of food sources inside of it.
Trim Your Trees & Shrubs
When tree branches and shrubs are up against your home, they can provide a bridge of sorts that gives pests an easy way to enter your home. On top of that, lining the perimeter of your home with mulch can give pests like termites a good, moist ground cover for tunneling. To reduce your chances of a pest infestation, trim plants back away from your home and use rocks or stone in place of mulch.
Fix Damaged Window Screens
A commonly overlooked entry point for pests is damaged window screens. The slightest cracks can easily go unnoticed and are big enough for a variety of pests to fit through. Perform regular inspections of your screens and repair any tears or gaps to reduce the number of places pests can get in.
Fix Cracks and Holes in Your Home
Along the same lines, tiny cracks and gaps around your home can give pests easy access in. Gaps under doors, holes where wires and pipes come through, and cracks in your baseboards should be sealed up using caulking or some other means to reduce pest activity.
Clean Kitchen Appliances
While wiping down counters after meals is a no-brainer for keeping pests at bay, don’t forget to properly clean the other areas where food droppings are abundant--like your kitchen appliances! Remnants of food can pile up in your refrigerator, oven, microwave, and toaster and attract pests to your kitchen. Make sure to regularly clean out appliances to work towards a pest-free home!
Store Food Properly
Rolling up the ends of food bags may be enough to keep air from turning it stale, but it isn’t enough to keep pests out! With open foods (especially for sticky or sweet foods), opt for plastic storage with tight-fitting lids. Not only do you not want to attract more pests to your kitchen, you certainly don’t want to find them in your food!
Remove Recyclables
Sugary soda cans, cardboard boxes, and other recyclables can easily attract pests and storing these close to your home can make it a quick hop, step, and jump for bugs and rodents to get into your home. If you have to keep your recycling bin close to your home, make sure your recyclables are rinsed out and your bin has a tight lid on top.
Inspect and Clean Drains Regularly
Being fond of dark, damp areas with easy food access, it’s not surprising that some pests may take up residence in your drains and pipes. For pests like flies, this damp environment can act as the perfect breeding ground. To keep pests away, inspect and clean out the gunk in your sink, tub, basement, and laundry room drains.
How Tailor Made Can Help
Even when you put in the effort to make your home unattractive to pests, they can still find their way in. If they do, it’s time to act fast to avoid damage and restore your peace of mind. When you need fast and effective relief from pests, turn to your neighbors here at Tailor Made. With recurring pest control services from our team of Charlotte pest control experts, we can keep your home free of pests all year long.