Tips for Keeping Your Home Free of Winter Pests

If you live in Louisiana, you know that winter can be the biggest pest season of the year, if you’re not careful. While you aren’t as likely to get eaten alive by mosquitoes when you step out the front door, as the weather gets colder, ants, roaches, mice, snakes, and other pests seek out warm places to weather the winter.

And when it comes to warm places, nothing is warmer or more attractive to these pests than your house. Fortunately, though, pest-proofing your home for the winter is not as difficult as you might think. Though your house is very attractive to them, if they can’t get in and don’t have anywhere to hide, they’ll stay out.

Create a Barrier

You might not be able to dig a moat around your house, but you can create a mulch barrier. Most insects are repelled by cedar and cypress mulches, making them the perfect choice to line your foundation.

Inspect and Seal Off Entry Points

Even with a good mulch barrier, though, if there are easy access points, pests will find their way inside. If you have cracks or holes in your foundations, pipes, or drains, pests will get inside. These entry points give them easy access to your home. So, before you get any unwelcome guests this winter, do a physical inspection of the outside of your home, and make sure that all entry points are sealed off.

While you’re doing your inspection, check for any gaps around pipes or utilities, and check your flues and eaves, as well. You want to ensure that your home is sealed off from any easy access by any of the pests in your yard. Don’t leave anything open. You’d be surprised at the tiny holes mice can fit through.

Replace Aging Weather Stripping

Check the weather stripping around your windows. Ants and cockroaches can get into the smallest cracks in old stripping, but they won’t be able to find their way through new stripping. Plus, this step will better insulate your house for the winter, so you’ll save on your utilities bills, as well!

Install Door Sweeps on Outside Doors

Speaking of improving insulation, you can go a step further and keep even more pests out if you install door sweeps on the bottoms of all of your outside doors. These will keep heat in and ants and other pests out.

Eliminate Food Supplies and Hiding Places

If you already have pests coming in, and you’re trying to get rid of them, you should also store all of your food in sealed containers. Don’t leave unwashed dishes out after you cook, and do sweep, mop, and/or vacuum your floors regularly.

The cleaner the environment, the fewer food sources the pests will have and the less attractive your home will be, no matter how warm it is. Keep in mind, as you do this, that cockroaches can feed on the glue, binding, and paper in old books, newspapers, and magazines. So, if you have any piles of clutter, including old papers and books, you should go ahead and clean those up to eliminate hiding places and food sources at the same time.

Speaking of hiding places, if you have a wood-burning stove, you should keep your firewood covered and store it at least 20 feet away from the house. If you can, keep it off the ground, as well. This will help keep pests out of it, and it’ll help you avoid carrying them into your home when you pull logs for the fire.

Follow these tips, and you should have a pest-free winter. And, of course, if you still can’t get rid of them, don’t hesitate to call a qualified pest control service. Here in Louisiana, we have some pretty stubborn pests, and sometimes you need to call the professionals. Dugas Pest Control has over 50 years experience as an industry leader in providing pest control services for residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in the Greater Baton Rouge area and most of south Louisiana. Have questions about the services offered at Dugas Pest Control? Call today!