Spring is just around the corner. While we’re looking forward to warmer weather and blooming flowers, springtime also marks the peak of pest activity in Georgia and the Carolinas.
Don’t let pests get in the way of your springtime fun. Here are Terminix’s top tips for a pest-free home and yard, to help keep your home safe and avoid having to call in professional pest control services.
1. Avoid Bug Extermination by Keeping Food Sealed
Inside your home, pests are attracted to the abundance of water, shelter, warmth, and food. That’s why proper storage of food is one of the most effective pest control practices there is.
Make sure food in your pantry and kitchen are properly sealed up, as well as any birdseed or pet food you may have lying around.
2. Keep Your Cooking and Dining Areas Clean
Keeping your kitchen clean is a must! Leaving food or dirty dishes out is basically an open invitation for pests to make themselves at home.
Again, without an easily accessible food source, pests are less likely to set up residence in your home, and you’re less likely to have to call in the bug extermination services.
3. Check for Leaks in Your Plumbing
Leaking plumbing is another attractive sight to pests of all kinds, representing a source of fresh water or a site for breeding. Damaged wood around leaky plumbing has also been known to attract subterranean termites.
Some pests, like the American cockroach, can even enter your home via drain pipe. (Looking for Palmetto bug control services? We can help.)
4. Checking Your Entryways and Windows Is Easy Preventative Pest Control
Make sure you aren’t leaving an opening for pests! Window screens should be intact and properly installed, and jams should be flush with the sills.
We also recommend getting door sweeps put in around your entrances to ensure pests like rodents and cockroaches can’t crawl in.
5. Don’t Let Water Stand
Outside of the home, make sure you don’t let any spring showers leave behind standing water in birdbaths, buckets or other low-lying parts of your yard. Any instance of standing water in birdbaths, buckets, puddles, etc., is a potential mosquito breeding ground as well as a water source for other pests looking to establish themselves in your home and yard.
6. Clean Up Yard Waste
As you get your lawn ready for spring, make sure you’re disposing of all your yard waste promptly and properly. Leaves, lawn clippings, felled branches, and other plant debris are attractive shelters for many different pests (including fleas, termites, and roaches), and should be left for pickup away from your home and foundation.
7. Keep Firewood and Scrap Lumber as Far From Your House as Possible.
Similarly, any excess wood around your home — like firewood or spare lumber—should be stored as far away from your home as possible. This helps mitigate the risk of pests moving from your yard into your home.
8. Trim Trees and Bushes Close to Your Home
Make sure the plants in your yard aren’t encroaching on your home. Branches that have grown too close to your home can serve as an express route right into your home. Cut back any bushes or branches that are growing close to your home and the foundation.
10. Check Your Gutters
Clogged gutters present a host of problems for homeowners in the Southeast. Ants, roaches, and mosquitoes have all been known to take advantage of the debris and standing water left behind in a clogged gutter. Are you living in one of the top 15 cities for mosquitoes?
Take the time to clean out your gutters every spring, or consider investing in gutter guards to ensure you aren’t inviting pests into your home.
9. Check Your Crawl Space and Attic
Places around your home that you don’t use often — like your attic and your crawlspace — can make an inviting home for many pests precisely because they are dark, quiet, and secluded. Trust Terminix to encapsulate your crawl space to avoid unwanted guests.
Rodents are especially fond of both attics (in the case of roof rats) and crawl spaces (in the case of Norway rats).
11. Get a Free Pest Control Inspection From Terminix
Nothing beats the peace of mind of knowing your home has been given the Terminix stamp of approval from one of our local technicians. Call for a FREE pest control inspection and rest easy knowing you’re in good hands, backed by the strongest guarantee in the industry.