Nobody who has pests likes their pests. It’s just basic human nature. We make our houses our homes and pests come in and steal some space and joy. Here are some tips to take back your space and joy and how to keep your home pest free!
Learn tips and tricks to keep pests out of your home or yard and how to prepare for peak season pests.
Table of Contents
- Tips to keep pests out of your home
- Other housekeeping tips for how to keep your home pest free
- Natural repellents for pest control
- Things to avoid
- Tips to keep pests out of your yard
- The benefits of preventative pest control services
- Conclusion and next steps
Tips to Keep Pests Out of Your Home
Minimize plants and mulch. Millipedes and other crawling insects thrive in mulch beds. Many have mulch bed gardens around their home. Consider minimizing your mulch garden, moving it to another area of your yard, or replacing it with rock. This is a simple way to help bug proof your house and how to keep your home pest free.
Keep any wood piles for your fire pits or your wood burning stove or fireplaces away from the house. Wood piles are often chosen for homes by insects. Keep these wood piles away from your home to keep insects out of your house and how to keep your home pest free.
Seal your doors and window screens. We don’t often think of the actual windows and doors themselves as places where insects can enter. Sure, maybe when you open them up, but what about when they are closed?
The Spruce gives this clever tip if you have trouble with little bugs getting into your home. Replace your screens with mesh sizes of at least 200 holes per inch. These small holes are too small for bugs to fit into.
Fix little holes in window and door frames. Like the screens, little cracks and crevices around window and door frames are prime real estate for insects to sneak in. Fall pests like Boxelder bugs, Asian lady beetles, hornets and wasps love to congregate on siding and easily slip into these openings and into your home.
Here’s why you have Asian lady beetles and Boxelder bugs in your home now. Fixing these openings with a type of sealer like wood caulk or putty or other sealers will help seal your home from pests. This is crucial for how to keep your home pest free.
Fix foundational deficiencies. Foundations are easy spots for insects and rodents to squeeze into. Mice rub up against the foundation of the home until they find openings along the way, like near the dryer vent, any utility lines, or cable lines.
Closing these up with a caulk or cement (for larger holes) or a steel wool, copper mesh, or foam (we would recommend Great STUFF, which has a bitter component mice typically don’t like) to seal up these openings and seal your home from pests. This point is crucial for how to keep your home pest free.
It is important to perform preventative mouse exclusion every fall to prevent mice in the winter.
Trim the trees near your home. Did you know mice can climb trees? They can! Squirrels aren’t the only rodents to do so. Because of this, if you have trees next to your house and branches that are near your roof, these rodents can climb up to your roof. This opens your home up to a whole new level of possible rodent entry points.
Soffit, facia, and gutter areas can be areas where these pests can now sneak in. Squirrels can chew into these areas over time to create openings. If this happens, contact a pest professional to get rid of these rodents, and then contact a handyman to fix these openings to help protect your home from these pests.
Schedule regular visits with a pest control company. Regular pest control visits are important to prevent pests to enter your home. This is vital in helping to protect your home from the damages pests cause and an important step in how to keep your home pest free.
Other Housekeeping Tips: How to Keep Your Home Pest Free
Store your food in sealed containers. Insects need food just like we do, but we can keep them out of our food! Keep your food safe by storing it in sealed containers like Tupperware. Do this for the food you keep in the fridge as well as opened snacks, cereals, and other foods kept in the pantry.
Regularly wipe down counters and kitchen appliances. Regularly clean your kitchen after using it. Dried on spills can attract insects. Cleaning these spills up takes away another potential food source for them.
Regularly vacuum and dust. Spiders like to spin webs in nooks and crannies, around knick-knacks and other areas. In order to prevent spiders from invading your home, regularly clean your home. Keeping a clean house is an easy way how to keep your home pest free.
Clean with rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is not a pesticide and it dries quickly. You can use this to clean surfaces in your home, like in the bathroom or kitchen.
Natural Repellents for Pest Control
Cinnamon. Both in ground form and essential oil form, cinnamon can naturally repel insects from your home. If you use this in the basement sill plate area or around cracks and crevices, it can keep pests from even entering your home.
Vinegar. This is a natural repellent because of its strong pungent odor as well as its acidic feel and taste. Vinegar is a good cleaning product in kitchens and bathrooms.
Peppermint oil. Mice and insect pests don’t like peppermint oil. Mice are naturally repelled by peppermint oil. This essential oil can be placed in the basement along the sill plate or even outside around potential openings to keep mice out.
If you have mice, we do recommend multiple approaches to get rid of them than just repelling, but this is a good approach when coupled with other methods. We also have an infographic available that teaches you how to perform your own mouse service.
Use lemon oil or other citrus oils. Most insect pests do not like citrus scents. You can use these as natural cleaning products, or purchase cleaning products that have citrus scents to help repel insects.
Many people treat their homes and pets for fleas themselves and it has actually resulted in the deaths of their pets. A big tip for how to keep your home pest free when it comes to fleas is call a professional. Read more in our guide: Expert Advice on Flea Control.
Things to Avoid
Diatomaceous earth. This natural product, contrary to popular opinion, has some other consequences. Many will read up on this product and try to treat bed bugs with it. DO NOT use this product for how to keep your home pest free. Don’t use diatomaceous earth inside your home. It can be an alternative way to treat for pests in your edible gardens or even flower gardens where you don’t want pesticides used.
Bed bugs and cockroaches should never be treated naturally or with over-the-counter products. These pests require expert attention, especially since cockroaches carry illness and disease.
Many people treat their homes and pets for fleas themselves and it has actually resulted in the deaths of their pets. A big tip for how to keep your home pest free when it comes to fleas is call a professional. Read more in our guide: Expert Advice on Flea Control.
Read more about the 4 Cockroaches in Minnesota and our Complete Bed Bug Guide to learn more of what you can do and more of what pest management professionals will do to treat these pests.
Tips to Keep Pests Out of Your Yard
Get rid of standing water. Standing water is the prime breeding spot for mosquitoes. Some patios and patio furniture gather standing water after rainfall. Regular mosquito and tick prevention is needed in these areas. Read our Mosquito and Tick Flyer if you’re interested in reading more about our regular seasonal services.
Regularly inspect common pest harborage areas in your yard. Pests will often make homes in wood piles, retaining walls, under sheds, etc. Inspect each of these areas weekly to make sure pests don’t take up residence in these areas. If any mice, carpenter ants, squirrels, or other pests do, contact a pest professional to eliminate these pests.
Regularly clean up your yard. Pests like debris typically. Old leaves and other decomposing plant matter is prime real estate for breeding insects. Eliminate this type of debris from your yard and that immediately takes away a potential breeding and harborage spot for many insect pests.
Use ammonia to prevent snakes in your yard. Garter snakes can be a nuisance to many in Minnesota. Bull snakes are also common in some regions of the Twin Cities metro area. Once these pests have a burrow or harborage area to breed and hang out, it can be hard to eliminate these pests.
Use ammonia to repel these pests and eliminate them from your yard. Snakes do not like the smell of ammonia. By wetting a paper towel or other type of cloth with ammonia and placing it in a container, like a bag, near these harborage areas or in other areas you have seen the snakes will deter them from these areas and from your yard.
Snakes also eat insect and rodent pests. So if you have snakes, you may also have mice, shrews, voles, or other species of rodents that these snakes eat. If you eliminate their food source, they will go elsewhere to find food.
The Benefits of Preventative Pest Control Services
There are so many benefits to having a pest control company on retainer for services at your home. Among them are peace of mind, confidence, a type of insurance, return on investment, and more.
Peace of mind. Regular pest control services give you the peace of mind you need in owning a home or business. Many pest control companies have plans where they will come out for minimal fees or free in between regularly scheduled services.
Done Right Pest Solutions is no different. For any pest issues that come up in between regularly scheduled services, as long as the pest is included in your service descriptions, we will come back out at no additional charge!
Confidence. Pests steal your confidence when they infiltrate your home. It is hard to feel comfortable having guests over when there is mouse activity, like droppings, in your home, the guest room, or worse – their bed! Mice, roaches, bed bugs, and many other insect and rodent pest take away confidence when it comes to hosting.
Pest control companies give you your confidence back when they eradicate your pest problems. You can feel confident in Done Right Pest Solutions’ staff with our 15 years of experience in eliminating pests in the Twin Cities metro area.
A type of insurance. You might not think of it as such, but pest control is a type of insurance. With many annual plans, especially with the companies that don’t charge trip fees for in between service visits (like us!), give you a type of insurance feel. If any type of pest issue comes up, just let your pest control provider know!
For an easy way of how to keep your home pest free: let a professional pest control company get it Done Right for you! And don’t overpay for pest control.
Return on investment. Regular pest maintenance helps keep destructive pests out of your home. Less damage and wear on your home keep the investment more secure and keeps your property worth more. Every little bit helps with investments.
Bonus tip. With most home sales, pest inspections are necessary. If you recently bought a home and had some notes from the technician about a type of pest, it’s time to take care of those concerns.
If you are selling a home and need a company to perform a pest inspection for home sale or for mortgage approval, give Done Right Pest Solutions a call! We also perform those inspection services.
Want an effortless solution for how to keep your home pest free? Let us take care of your pest control needs, Done Right.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Now you know a lot of tips to keep pests out of your home and little housekeeping elements or natural repellents you can use for how to keep your home pest free. You also learned things to avoid when it comes to DIY pest control or pest prevention. Keep in mind the tips and tricks to keep pests out of your yard this spring, summer, and fall.
Finally, you learned the intrinsic and visible benefits of having preventative pest control services. Done Right Pest Solutions offers year-round pest prevention services for residential and commercial clients alike.
If you own a home and would like more information on our annual plan, view our Peak Seasons Plan Flyer.
If you own a business and would like more information on different commercial plans available to you, view our Commercial Flyer.
For more information one services, view our Services Page.
Finally, if you don’t have a pest control company on retainer, give us a call for more information on discounts and programs we can offer you. 651-342-9489. We look forward to helping you out in any way we can.
Done Right Team
What tips have you tried for how to keep your home pest free? What did you find helpful in this post? Let us know by commenting below. We want to hear from you!
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