Ensuring A Pest Free Home This Summer

Image Via: Kate Jackson Design

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Keep The Moisture Level Under Control

Moisture in the form of leaky pipes and drains, dripping ceilings and other plumbing leaks attract pests in a big way. Keeping your home moisture free with regard to leakage and seepage can help combating pest attacks in a big way. The idea is to keep the insides of your home as dry as can be.

Image Via: Mainstreet Design Build

A Check On The Outside Foliage

One should try and keep fruit bearing trees away from the periphery of their house as these attract pests and rodents. If such trees are in close proximity to your house you might unknowingly attract insects and rodents in your house. Also trim the branches of trees that touch the periphery of your home as these too lead pests inside.

Image Via: Luci D Interiors

Seal External Cracks

Seal any cracks or holes that lie in the outer periphery of your house as they provide free, uninhibited entry to pests. Also check your door and window screens for any cracks or holes. It’s a good idea to invest in some repair and replacement to keep your summer home pest free.

Air Tight Containers

Store food in air tight containers so that it doesn’t become a bait for rodents and insects. Use food clips to seal food packets. You can even use rubber bands to do the same. Rubber bands incidentally can also help you secure loose lids on containers. Whilst at it, ensure that your garbage bin is also adequately sealed and covered.

Good Ventilation Helps

Ventilations ensures that there is no dampness. Dampness on the other hand would ensure a home full of pests. So its better to keep dampness away. It’s essential to have a good ventilation system installed in dampness prone areas like bathrooms, attics, kitchens and garages.

Image Via: Michael Bus Architects, Ltd.

If you can provide your home with these basic requirements, the chances are quite high that you will be able to enjoy a pest free summer home. Home remedies like talc or chalk for ants and ground coffee for garden infestation are also very effective. If problems still persists you shouldn’t hesitate to call for professional help. In that case the problem might be bigger than you think. Do share your views on this post.

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During the spring months, termites, insects, and other pests seem to come around, which can be quite frustrating for any homeowner. If you would like to avoid pay too much money for bug extermination during the spring months, there are many things that you can do on your own. While professional extermination may still be necessary, there are also plenty of DIY tips that you can follow to reduce the amount of money you would have spent on extermination.

Image via: Chuck Choi

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Use Insecticides and Bug Sprays

If you are having trouble with insects finding their way into your home, using insecticides can help to target the problem and eliminate them for good. There are many insecticides on the market that are designed to get rid of a number of insects, which includes ants, spiders, beetles, crickets, and many other pesky little insects that are bothering you. You can purchase organic insecticides and bugs spray that work efficiently to eliminate the bugs without causing pollution or damaging any plants within the area. You can even make your own insect repellants and insecticides. One homemade spray would include three cloves of garlic mixed with mineral oil and water. You can spray this regularly outside of the home to reduce the insects in the area.

Keep the Home Clean

While it is not always an easy task, keeping the home clean is one way to save money on bug extermination because there will be fewer bugs in the home. Most insects are attracted to certain scents, particularly sweet scents. Keeping your home clean can help to reduce the number of insects inside the home, but it will not necessarily get rid of them at all. The kitchen is one of the most vulnerable spots, especially since food tends to splatter and spill in this area of the home, so do your best to keep that area the cleanest.

Image via: Zack|de Vito Architecture + Construction

Buy a Lizard

If you already a fan of reptiles, buying a lizard may be in your best interest. It is said that home with lizards often have fewer bug problems, especially since lizards are at the top of the food chain and are willing to eat a variety of insects. This can help you to cut back on the cost of an exterminator because there will not be nearly as many bugs inside the home.

Contact Affordable and Professional Extermination Companies

If you absolutely need to hire an exterminator to help you with the bug problem in your home, make sure that you contact an affordable extermination company that would be willing to do the work at a decent rate, a rate that is not going to cost you an arm and a leg. You can check out information on pest control from exterminators on http://www.pestcontrol.us, along with finding out about any special discounts that are currently being offered.

While the insects and bugs enjoy the spring weather, there are plenty of ways that you can eliminate these pests from taking over your home and your backyard. You can cut the cost of using an exterminator by doing some of the extermination on your own in different ways. The more that you do to get rid of the problem with the bugs, the less you will have to spend on professional extermination services.

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How to Listen In & Call-In!

January 16, 2013 at 12:00pm- 12:30pm EST

On Stagetecture Radio — > Listen here: or go to https://stagetecture.com/episode11

Want to call in and ask me a question? (713) 955-0779(713) 955-0779

Did you Miss the Show? Listen Here:

Topics for Episode #11

“Protecting your Winter Home”

Protect your winter home and family from pests with helpful tips for keeping your family safe from intruders such as rodents, bugs and more. I interview “Do My Own Pest Control” and learn green tips, and essential information to keep your winter home comfortable for all! See their guest blog on Stagetecture – Protecting your home from unwanted pests here.

111 Simple Tips Ebook: All tips are highlights are for saving time and money are in the book.

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Follow Pinterest Board – Stagetecture Radio Show

Want to see all of the great inspiration for today’s show? Follow my Pinterest board for each episode to lend inspiration you can do at home to complete the look

Pinterest —> See pictures here: or go to https://stagetecture.com/Pinterest

How to Download from iTunes

Did you miss the show, or want to download on iTunes so you can listen to again? You can look for Stagetecture Radio show every Wednesday after the show and download my episode or any of the other shows.

If you love the show – please leave a review in iTunes

iTunes —> Download podcast here: or go to https://stagetecture.com/itunes

All ideas are highlights from 111 Simple Tips Ebook – get your copy here!

Can’t wait to have you join me. See or “talk with you” then!

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We don’t like to talk about it but unwanted pests such as rodents and unwelcomed furry friends in your home in the winter can be a nuisance. Today, my guest blogger from ‘Do My Own Pest Control’ will share information to keep your home and family safe. Next week they will be my guest on Stagetecture Radio – on Wednesday, January 16th at 12pm EST.

Join me as I interview their expert next week on ‘Your Weekly Home at Stagetecture’- Episode 11 We will talk about green measures to keep unwanted pests from your home, easy ways to keep rodents out of your home and more!

I asked them to guest blog and share with you how to ensure your home is safe this winter.

Image via: Chelsea Atelier

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Ridding your home of unwanted pests

Winter is upon us in United States and the cool air has settled in. Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who have taken notice of the climate changes; some unwelcomed guests will take this opportunity to try to move in to your home in search of warmth. I am of course referring to our furry friends, the rodent. As temperatures dip down, rats and mice alike will scurry into human dwellings and take up residence for the winter.

Persistent and crafty, rodents will find a way to enter a home anyway they can. Mice have been known to squeeze through space about as wide as a nickel; there are even some rare cases that mice have slipped through gaps as wide as a pencil.

So the moral of the story is to prepare before these critters get in. Now that you know they are capable, where should you look? Rodents can infiltrate your home from multiple locations. Common channels of navigation for rodents include ventilation grills, sidewalk gratings and large sidewalk cracks. They can gnaw through wooden doors and crawl into spaces where pipes meet wood siding. They have been known to scale vertical wires, pipes and tree limbs.

DIY Tips to keep pests out

The next topic of discussion for excluding rodents from your home is what one would need in terms of materials. Once you have located the vulnerable points around your home, you’ll need to cover them up. The first suggestion that comes to mind is galvanized, stainless or non-rusting metals; examples of which include:

Look for sheet metal that is 24 gauge or higher. Expanded metal, 28 gauge or higher.  Perforated metal, 24 gauge or higher. Hardware cloth (steel wool), 19 gauge or higher with 1/4” or less mesh

Another good option for plugging those entrances is Cement mortar. A mixture of one part cement, three parts sand mix or richer is sufficient enough for cement to keep the rats at bay. Along the same lines, concrete works just as well. A mixture of one part cement, two parts gravel and four parts sand mix or richer will do the trick! And just as an extra precaution, adding broken glass to mortar or cement will deter rodents from burrowing through it as it dries.

Image via: Zuniga Interiors

Preventative pest control

Now how do you apply these preventive measures? We discussed a good deal of options but it might not have been clear as to which one should you use in any given case. Let’s run through some examples so we can get a better picture. Creative use of materials combined with knowledge of rodent behavior will help you exclude rodents from buildings, thus you are not limited to just using one method for a multitude of openings. It is recommended that you should patch holes around plumbing with concrete or mortar. For covering drains, vents or chimneys, use 1/4” hardware cloth. Along the bottom of a door, use sheet metal flashing. For drains, place a metal circular rat guard around the entrance of the drain to prevent rats from wedging themselves between the building and the pipe to crawl upwards.

Be sure to check up on your newly place defenses every couple of weeks; take this time to also check for new vulnerable spots around the homestead. Take note that the mice and rats trying to return to their old hunting grounds are probably the most stubborn and strongest of the bunch!

Luis Alberto Simauchi Jr. works for Do My Own Pest Control and his time there has made him a sustainable home improvement enthusiast with a particular interest in sustainable pest control methods.

Join us on 1.16.13 when I interview Do My Own Pest Control – Stagetecture Radio – Episode 11

Download on iTunes after 1.16.13 to hear anytime – iTunes – Episode 11

For more DIY ideas on Stagetecture, & Stagetecture’s YouTube Channel, click here.

Managing pests in your home can range from difficult to nearly impossible–nobody’s ever found it to be an easy task. Pests want to get into your home for the same reasons that you do. Houses are warm, safe, and full of food. Every critter from the tiniest insect to the squeakiest rodent has its sights set on your cozy bounty of resources. Protecting your home and sealing your borders is a tricky matter, and there are many different products available to handle the task. Educating yourself on the various pest control options will help you find the best strategy for keeping your home pest free.

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Risks associated with pest control chemicals

Chemical pesticides are some of the most readily available and widely used substances for controlling the pest population in homes, but the risks associated with these are a turn-off for many home owners. Chemical pesticides can be absorbed into the bloodstream if they are inhaled or touch skin and this can cause negative side effects for you and your family. Children and pets are especially at risk when pesticides are in the house. They are more likely to touch, inhale, or swallow dangerous chemicals around your home, and their bodies are more vulnerable to the effects of these poisonous substances.

Keep your home clean

The first step to controlling the pest problem in your home is to keep everything clean and free of clutter. Cluttered rooms give insects and other pests a multitude of places to hide, as well as making it more difficult to clear areas of food waste and other things on which they can feed. Be sure to do regular sweeps throughout the house, wash dishes as soon as possible after eating, take out garbage often, and clean up spills immediately. Keeping up these good housekeeping habits will minimize the amount of food around the house to tempt pests. This may not keep your home 100% pest free, but it’s a good way to start.

Non-Toxic options

Non-toxic pest control options are readily available and can be just as effective as chemical pesticides in controlling pest invasions. Ants are put off by vinegar, so by spraying a solution of white vinegar and water on areas where they enter the house and congregate, you can break up their trails and keep them from coming in. Boric acid is universally offensive to pests, and less toxic to humans than most commercial pesticides. Look for bait boxes and traps that use boric acid to deter pests, or dust boric acid itself on crevices and openings where pests can enter the house.

Look online at sites like www.ActivePestControl.com for more information on safe pest control options for your home. For tough infestations of hardier pests like fleas or bedbugs, harsh chemical foggers and sprays are often the only viable option for extermination. In these cases, be sure to do a single thorough treatment to destroy the pest population, and clean the house from top to bottom. Pay special attention to eating surfaces and upholstery to make sure that you and your family aren’t ingesting the same chemicals you use to kill pests.

For more pest control ideas on Stagetecture, click here.

How to Keep Pests Out of Your Swimming Pool

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How to Keep Pests Out of Pool

No matter if you have a small, inflatable pool or an in-ground model constructed from imported Italian marble; you’ll still deal with insects, including mosquitoes, bees and midges. Insects are attracted to your pool for several reasons. Some feed on algae, while others make a meal from the dead insects floating on the water’s surface. Whatever the case, there are several methods, some more expensive than others, to keep bugs away from your pool.

• Install brighter lights at least 30 yard away from your pool and turn off any underwater pool lights when no longer in use, especially at night. It may look glamorous, but many times the insects are attracted to your lit pool as much as the neighbors. Turn off your pool lights once the sun goes down.
• Cover your pool when not in use. If you have a small inflatable pool, drain it completely after each use and allow it to dry before storing. Never allow your kiddie pool to remain in the backyard overnight, unless you want to wake up to a watery insect graveyard.
• Hang bug zappers around the perimeter of the pool. These inexpensive, low-tech devices are highly effective and will keep the insects away if you wish to enjoy your lit pool at night.
• Regularly trim any shrubs, bushes or grass around the pool. The shorter foliage isn’t as attractive to insects, making your pool a less desirable destination.
• Finally, keep your pool clean! It cannot be stressed enough that decaying leaf matter, dead insects and algae are a major attraction to several varieties of insects, so never skip your weekly or daily pool maintenance.

How to Keep Mice Out of Pool

• Keep the area around your pool clean. This especially means moving any garbage cans out of the vicinity and generally keeping the area around the pool tidy.
• Remove anything from around the pool that the rodents could use as shelter, such as a small shed or wood pile. This also means keeping the shrubs and bushes neat.
• Cover your swimming pool. Once again, this is the best way to keep any unwanted invaders, including mice, away from your pool when not in use.

How to Keep Frogs Out of Pool

• Cut down any tree branches that hang over the pool. Many times the frog will hop to the end of the branch and accidentally fall into the water.
• Examine your pool fence and repair any damage. If your pool’s fence is falling into disrepair, consider replacing it with a model that features small gaps between the slats. These will keep almost every unwanted visitor, including frogs and rodents, from accessing your pool.
• Skim your pool consistently, paying attention to remove any frog eggs or tadpoles that are now calling your pool home. Often times a frog will see this undisturbed body of water as an excellent place to further their species.

How to Keep Animals Out of Pool: Racoons

Aside from being a destructive menace, raccoons can actually pose a major health risk to your family. The animal’s fecal matter harbors a roundworm called Baylisascaris, which is spread when an individual swallows the parasitic egg. This disease is extremely dangerous and completely preventable by ensuring raccoons do not enter your pool. A pool cover and maintaining your fence are the most effective ways to ensure raccoons don’t access your pool. If you see a raccoon in the area, call your local Animal Control agency or a pest removal company immediately. These agencies will humanely capture the raccoons and relocate it to a more desirable area.

Don’t get too worried about the dangers that surround inflatable pools (or any kind), if you take proper care of your backyard swimming hole and practice vigilance, you will be okay.

For more backyard ideas on Stagetetcture, click here.

In thinking of ways to get rid of them, the first thing that probably comes to mind is to hire an exterminator. That’s certainly a viable solution. However, it can also be costly. Plus, if you’re someone who is very eco-friendly, all of the fumes that come from the chemicals might be something that you’re not too excited about.

How to Get Rid of Pests and Insects in Your Home

Image via: Home Living

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There are other ways to remove pests and insects from your house for good, though. Here are five of them.

Keep your place clean.

Yes, it should be an obvious tip, but it’s still one that should be mentioned. That’s because sometimes our schedules allot an amount of time to do some daily straightening up, but not necessarily any thorough cleaning. Over time, bugs pick up on that (no pun intended). So, make sure that you sweep, mop and vacuum at least a couple of times per week.

Close up any openings.

Pests can’t get in unless there’s a place for them to, right? It’s a good idea to check each room of your house once a season for any signs of holes, especially when it comes to window sills and doorways. If you happen to find some gapes, there is caulk for the walls, weather stripping for doors and screens for windows.

Watch the water.

If there’s one thing that a lot of us have in common with insects, it’s that we both love water. So, if there is leaking plumbing, residual water on the plates where we keep our plants or damp clothes or items that are lying around, these are all surefire ways to draw an insect’s attention. Remember, the dryer the home, the less insects you’ll see.

Image via Minimal Home Ideas

Use some honey or vinegar.

There are two things in your kitchen that are great for keeping flies and ants away. Let’s go with the flies first. You can always go to a store and purchase some pests strips. But, you can also make them yourself by boiling equal amounts of water, honey and sugar, letting the solution cool, cutting strips of brown packing tape, dipping them into the mixture and then letting them set for about 30 minutes. Once they’re done, just stick them to whatever surfaces flies seem to hang around the most. As for ants, a scent that they seem to absolutely loathe is apple cider vinegar. So, if you see some making a trail along your doorways, simply saturate a cloth in vinegar and wipe down the surfaces where the ants are. It not only kills the ones that are present, but keeps other ants at bay for months on end.

Try these things on mice.

If you happen to see a mouse, you probably don’t even want to think about the methods that can be applied to get rid of them; you simply want to call rove pest control and call it a day. However, there are some things that are mostly likely already in your house that can do the trick (and again, save you quite a bit of money). Peppermint, bay leaves, and hot pepper are all things that are excellent mice repellents. Trimming your shrubs and keeping boxes and newspapers down to a minimum (because they like to hide in those kinds of places) are great deterrents too. There are also ultrasonic pest control devices that you can purchase that they can hear, but we can’t. Target and Amazon are two places that carry them for a pretty reasonable price (less than $30).

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For many of us, our homes simply do not have enough storage space. If you are lucky enough to have a shed or exterior storage space, the last thing you want is to find your stored items over run by bugs and spiders or ruined by mice or rats.

This can happen in storage areas outside of the home and with storage areas in the attic, crawl space, or basement. The goal is to store it safely so that when you go to use the item it is there and undamaged.

Image via: My Home Ideas

No matter how well protected your storage area appears, rodents and insects seem to have no problem infiltrating these areas. At times, these pests can invade your home itself.

However, with a few simple precautions, you can safely store your items away.

Use Common Sense When Storing Items

The first thing to do is make sure that you do not store anything that will attract bugs and rodents. Make sure that any opened bags of grain, seeds, or other similar items are stored in airtight, plastic containers or not stored in this area at all.

Keep in mind that pests are attracted to items that have an odor. Either do not store these items or protect them from infiltration by placing them in airtight, plastic containers. Make sure to properly close the containers before leaving the storage area. What they cannot smell cannot attract them.

Consider Using Bait Traps & Insecticides Pro-Actively

Be prepared. Just because there are no pests when you placed your items in the area doesn’t mean that none will ever enter the space. Therefore, you should go on the offensive and place contained insecticides such as ant baits or roach traps to catch these pests. You should also consider placing mousetraps as well. There are mousetraps that do not require that you place any food in the trap as bait.

Image via: My Shed Plans

When storing kitchen appliances, make sure that you have thoroughly cleaned them first. Small kitchen appliances are notorious for hiding small food particles that are sure to attract ants, roaches, and mice. A thorough cleaning of these appliances will also rid them of any lingering food smells as well.

You should wash any clothing, curtain, blankets, etc., before storing them. If you do not have any airtight storage bags or containers for these items, be sure to store them with mothballs to protect them from pests. Be sure to read the instructions before using.

Natural Pest Repellents

Herbs such as lavender, tansy, and mint repel many pests. If the thought of using commercial products because of potential side effects, then these herbs are a natural and safe way to protect your belongings.

Finally, yet importantly, no not forget that you have items in storage. Even the best system is not foolproof. You should periodically check on your stored items to be sure that they are still safe. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. To further protect yourself, be sure to have an inventory of what you have in storage. Doing so will add an additional layer of protection for your belongings and you won’t forget what you have stored away.

• By Evan-Amos (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Aaron Garcia is a DIY expert who has completed numerous home improvement projects. He has experience in remodeling home interiors, landscaping front and back yards, as well as building and installing aluminum sheds and storage space.

For more pest control ideas on Stagetecture, click here.