Fall is here, and winter is around the corner – let’s get ready and Winterize your Home Against Pests!

Almost everywhere we go there are insects crawling, flying, and sometimes being blown around by the wind. Cooler weather means that insects are preparing to follow nature’s cycle and “overwinter” in and around your home.

Cooler weather means that insects are preparing to “overwinter” in and around your home… Winterize.

Here’s a few things you can do to keep this season’s most common pests at bay so you can relax.

How To Winterize Your Home Against Pests

• Wasps
• Spiders
• Ants
• Rats
• Cockroaches
• Other pests

They like to set up shop in and around your house for a reason. It offers the best protection from the elements, and from predators too.

Raking bark back or leveling it so that it doesn’t go up your foundation wall is a good idea.This will prevent wood-to-soil contact on your siding, which serves as a highway for moisture ants, termites, and rats.

Similarly, shrubs and tree branches touching your house offer pests an easy way into this safe haven.

If you’ve been letting landscaping grow over the summer, clear out an 18-inch wide zone around the perimeter.

Getting rid of fallen or trimmed branches, other debris, and even piles of firewood is beneficial. This will stop wasps from nesting on the ground where these things provide shelter.

Clearing standing water around your house may help reduce the populations of nearby yellowjacket nests too, because wasps drink water. Specifically, they combine the water with tree bark or other seasoned wood to build their paper-mache nests. In other words, making standing water scarce will inhibit yellowjackets from expanding their nests to accommodate more wasps.

Removing standing water is also a good defense against mosquitoes, which breed in puddles and containers of water.

If you have a problem with spiders and their webs, try keeping your outside house lights on only when necessary. Spiders are more than willing to eat flying insects attracted to these lights at night. Also, simply sweeping webs away from lights, windows, and doors removes their homes. At the very least, this will discourage them from expending resources rebuilding the web in the same place. Spider control can be challenging, and takes time, but reducing the availability of their food and shelter will help.

It may seem obvious but make to sure to keep doors shut, especially the garage door so nothing sneaks in and makes a home out of your garage.

Finally, with colder weather upon us, rats and mice tend to look for warmer attics and crawl spaces to nest in. Rodents can multiply quickly, and can cause thousands of dollars in damage from chewing entry points and contaminating insulation.

Try A Pest Control Service

Pest control companies have many tools for preventing infestations as well as for eliminating pests once they are established.

Reputable companies will want to work with you, the homeowner, to find the right mix of strategies and products to address your needs. That’s because a lot of the time, success takes more than just a pesticide application.

In addition to treating your home with an EPA-registered material, reputable companies will be able to provide other solutions. Namely, non-chemical integrated pest management tactics, such as the ones discussed above, to minimize the threat from various insect pests.

So be sure to consult professionals who have the broad expertise in pest control services to offer all those solutions.

How To Winterize Your Home Against Pests Infographic

HOW TO WINTERIZE YOUR HOME AGAINST PESTS DO’s & DON’Ts

DO:

• Keep woodpiles at least 1 foot away from the home, bringing in what you need
• Keep doors shut, especially the garage door
• Clean out planters and pots before bringing them in for the winter

DON’T:

• Stack wood against siding as it provides harborage for rodents and carpenter ants.
• Leave dog or cat food out on the back patios or porches as it can attract rodents and wildlife.
• Don’t forget to check the underside of things brought in for the winter as spiders can leave egg sacs for springtime hatching.