6 Ways to Protect Your Home from Pests

If you’re looking to keep your home safe from animals and bugs trying to wreak havoc, there are a few options you can consider. You can seek out some professional help, or you can take matters into your own hands. Ensuring your home is free from pests doesn’t mean you have to physically remove these intruders yourself. Be proactive. The following are ways that you can protect your home before pests can even get into your house.  

1. Seal Your Windows

If you’re constantly finding bugs in your house, you might want to inspect your windows. Windows that aren’t properly sealed can cause costly air leaks and allow small pests like ants, millipedes, and other critters to sneak inside.

The best way to check if your window has a draft is to hold a lit candle up to it. If it sways, then you most likely have an air leak. To fix, remove old caulking and loose glazing and reapply new layers of each.

2. Check for Gaps in Your Doors

Gaps in the space between your doorframe and door can allow pests to slip into your home. Another easy entry point for vermin is that space between your threshold and the bottom of your door. There are three easy methods to secure both of these areas.

To protect your home, replace damaged and rotted trim. Before replacing the trim, have the wood examined to ensure you don’t have termites. Keep your frame safe by applying weather stripping or a door seal kit.  Place a door sweep under your door to get rid of that gap at the bottom.

3. Update Your Soffits

The soffits of your house are the overhang between your house and your gutters. They serve as part of your attic system, helping to ventilate the crawl space at the top of your house. If there are boards missing or damaged, it allows rats, mice, squirrels, and bats to find their way into your home, according to the folks at Central Plains Bat Removal. To prevent this invasion, keep up with regular maintenance or replace your current system with one that’s maintenance-free.

4. Add Screens

One of the easiest ways to prevent pests from entering your home is to add screens to your doors and windows. This is especially important for homeowners who live in areas with mild summers and who like keeping the windows open to let in the breeze. Unfortunately, doing so without the right security leaves your home vulnerable to mosquitos, flees, and other pests.  

If you already have screens, be sure to look over them regularly to keep up on tears and holes. If there are small misaligned wires, carefully move them back into place with a screwdriver or scissors. If there’s something off with the screen’s attachment to the frame, then use staples (for wood) or a splining tool (for aluminum) to reattach it. Screening is a fairly easy material to work with, making it an appealing and simple option to pest-proof the home.

5. Use Flashing to Stay Dry

The chimney and the valley on the roof are more vulnerable to water penetration. To prevent rotting and to prevent termites, it is necessary to install flashing. Homeowners can choose to install metal flashing alongside their chimney and in the valley of their roof to not only keep their roof dry but also free from pests.

6. Install Siding to Block Exterior Crawl Spaces

 

Vermin can find their way into your home by going under your home. Animals can easily sneak their way under your house if the vinyl siding isn’t installed all the way to the ground. Once under there, squirrels, rabbits, and other critters can nest and chew through important plumbing or electrical wiring.

 

The Bottom Line

 

Inspecting your house regularly prevents pests from making their way into your home. Once they’re in there, these bothersome animals can cause big problems down the road, in which case your best bet is to call a professional removal service. To prevent these issues, do what needs to be done to ensure that your home is pest-free.