Most of the common pests like bedbugs, cockroaches, ants, spider etc can find way in to your home easily. No matter how prepared you are, but these pests can get in to your home through the smallest of holes and narrowest of crevices. Like us humans, pests also need favorable conditions to survive and thrive. With the onset of summer, the pests and bugs may enter your home for food and shelter. It’s not easy to keep your home safe from pests, especially when you don’t know how to get rid of them early on.
Pests are always looking for a better place to hide and survive and hence they may come from your neighbors’ home. Once they infest, they may cause havoc in your otherwise peaceful home. If you are tired of pests and bugs and wondering if there are effective ways to keep your home safe from pests and bugs then read on this post. Today we are going to discuss about how to make your house pest free.
But before we get into it, let me tell you a few things about how the pests enter your home.
How do the pests enter your home?
There are various sources of entry and exit for the pests. The gardens or the outside of your house can be the place with hundreds of pests, and they can enter your home through tiny holes, cracks or crevices. You may think that the points are so tiny that none can enter, yes true, none can enter but the bugs. Those tiny holes in the windowsill, that small crevice on the walls, all these can just be perfect for the bugs. If you want to prevent the bugs, then you must cover up and seal all the cracks and holes.
Often the bugs travel through clothes and furniture as well. When you move furniture from one place to another, the bug in it also moves along with it. This is how they spread from one room to another.
The pests also can remain hidden in the walls, and when they multiply terribly then they come to the surface. During construction of the house or during renovations, sometimes the bugs can manage to enter your home and you fail to notice that.
But thankfully, there are ways to prevent them from entering your house. And even if they enter by chance, the chances are you will be able to spot them early and eradicate them easily because the level of infestation won’t be severe initially.
Best ways to keep your home safe from pests
Keeping your home pest free is not easy, but if you know the right ways, you can definitely make your home pest free. There are just a few basics things that can help you make your home free from pests like proper cleaning, occasional inspection, and not accumulating garbage and so on.
Here’s the list of 35 simple but effective tricks that can help you keep your home safe from pests like cockroaches, bedbugs, ants and lizards.
Look well around your home and check the warning signs. Bird baths, piece of wood or debris, pot filled with water can all be breeding grounds of several bugs.
Check your house if there are any holes, or crevices or any cracks. Seal them well.
Check the walls, the window joints, door hinges, the gap underneath the windows, and cover them.
Add screens on the windows so that the bugs cannot enter the home.
Close all the entry points that link your home with the outside, like the door gaps, the torn screens or broken window panes etc. Work from outside to inside to keep all the pests away from the home.
De-clutter your home, the more the objects, the higher is the chance of pest infestation in your home.
Clean the furniture and the other household items, to avoid insects like spiders and cobwebs.
Wet mop the floors with floor cleaners and phenyls if you sense the presence of any pests. This will keep the germs away and the bugs cannot tolerate the strong smell of these objects.
Check the signs, if you see that there are one or two insects like ants or cockroaches then there may be many of them. Insects always come in groups and clusters.
If you see signs like holes in the furniture, or the mud lines, then the termites must be the culprits. Do not ignore the signs.
Do not keep the unwashed utensils in the sink and leave them overnight. Food particles and smell attract many harmful pests.
Keep the food covered always, use air tight containers and cupboards for the purpose.
Keep the areas dry, wet areas like bathroom, basins, sink can be the breeding grounds of several insects like mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can cause fatal diseases like malaria and dengue.
Household spices like white vinegar, turmeric, red chili powder, cinnamon repel the ants with their strong aroma.
Boil cinnamon and cardamom in a bowl of water, and let the smell spread everywhere in your home. Many insects like ants and mosquitoes are repelled by the strong smell.
If you find that you are having red swells and rashes after waking up in the morning, then maybe there are bedbugs. Burn camphor in the room. You should also close all the windows and doors, and let the room be closed for about one hour. The bed bugs will die.
You can use alcohol to get rid of the bed bugs.
Cut slices of cucumber, and keep those in places where you see maximum number of roaches. The roaches will avoid the place.
Mix warm water with soap, it can be detergent or dish wash, pour the mixture where you find the roaches. They will die of suffocation.
Roaches often find their homes in high places, like the untouched places of the above racks of the cupboards, the space behind the top shelf etc. Look for the signs.
Keep some plants in your home which help in repelling the bugs, like the mint, tulsi, neem, marigolds, rosemary etc.
Close the windows and doors after sunset, the darkness of the outside will make the bugs rush to a brighter space like your home.
You can use the insect killers that are available in the market, but they are chemicals and can be toxic too. Keep them away from children and pets.
Clean the drains and the basin pipes as water clogging can be the breeding grounds of several bugs.
Keeling the bugs is not the only solution; you must find the nests and also the breeding grounds where they are reproducing generations of bugs.
The insects usually follow a trail, so when you find one, you can follow the trial and reach the place where bugs may be hiding.
Substances like kerosene oil can kill the ants within minutes, so use such repellants when you see bugs like ants.
Take action even if you see one or two insects, usually they are never alone and they can also multiply super quickly.
Hang half empty egg shells in the corners of the room. The lizards cannot tolerate the pungent odor of the eggs.
Vacuum clean the house every alternate day if not daily. Vacuum cleaning, mopping, sweeping, broom cleaning can keep many pests out of the house. Pests do not like clean and tidy house.
Monthly inspection of the house can help you get rid of pests much effectively.
You have to check both inside and also the outside of the house, look for any entry points and then take action.
Keep the outside of your home clean and tidy, as that is the place where all the insects dwell.
And last but not the least; consult a professional pest exterminators who can help you get rid of all types of pests.
How the pest exterminators help in making your house pest free?
Pest exterminators offer complete pest management service. Pest control is the process of removing and eradicating pest from the affected area like homes, offices, workshop, factories and warehouses. Pest control process involves the use of various kinds of chemicals i.e. pesticides and insecticides which can kill pests, but generally are not harmful for humans.
Apart from using herbal solutions, nowadays, the professional pest exterminators use chemicals, which are eco-friendly to some extent. Since they are professionally trained and have access to tools and equipments, they can help you make your home pest free much effectively.
There are special techniques for the application of these chemicals. They (exterminators) usually put on gloves and masks while applying any of these chemicals, because some of the chemicals are not suitable for the human.
Here are the various types of chemicals which the pest exterminators may use to deal with different types of pests.
Pesticides
The pesticides are a class of biocide. They can kill any pests within minutes. There are special techniques to apply them. They can be used in commercial, domestic, urban and rural environment. The pesticides control the pests by interfering physically, chemically or biologically in to their metabolism. Some pesticides are not lethal to the target pests. They are repellents, attractants, or sterilizing agents, even there are pesticides that boost the action of another substance without being toxic.
Insecticides
These chemicals can reduce or remove the insects from any space. The insects include termites, bed bugs, fleas, mosquitoes, ants, cockroaches, flies etc. The insecticides can be mixed with water into a solution and sprayed directly on the insects. Some products are applied directly on the insects without any dilution. The insects can die instantly, or even take some time.
Herbicides
The herbicides are used to control the weeds, or any unwanted plants in your space, like in home, garden etc. The unwanted weeds often attract pests and insects, so it is advisable to remove the unwanted vegetation around your space like garden or courtyard.
Baits
There are some pesticides, which are mixed with foods so that the insects and the pests die after eating them. These substances reach the metabolism of the target pests by foods.
Fungicides
These chemical substances can remove the fungi from any space.
Rodenticides
These chemical substances can remove the rodents like rats and mice from your home or office.
Keeping your home clean and well organized can certainly help you in keeping your home free from pests and bugs. But you should keep a close watch and the moment you find a pest or sign of pest, you should be active and try to get rid of it.
When you don’t act on pest early on, they are bound to multiply and spread. If that’s the case, it’s best to call a professional pest exterminator or pest control company for proper pest management.
Over to you
There are pest exterminators or pest control agencies in your city who can help you to get rid of the unwanted beings. They have expertise, special equipments needed to do the job. They are also well aware of where to find these creatures and then remove them permanently. You should consult a professional exterminator when you find the situation is not under control.
I hope you can get rid of the pest from your home. Sharing is usually considered as a good habit, but that does not mean you should share your home with pests and bugs.
Using some of these techniques, you can definitely make your home safe from pests and bugs.
