Other than being visually displeasing, a pest infestation is a danger for the stability of your home, as well as the health of all of its inhabitants. Termites alone can cause as much as $5 billion in damage to homes all over the United States, which is just one of the reasons why they need to take a high place on your priority list when you are moving into a older property.
As for the health hazards that come along with these pests, you might soon start dealing with issues like asthma and respiratory issues, West Nile virus, hantavirus, leptospirosis, and numerous other illnesses. From all of this, it’s more than clear that keeping your home pest clean might just be one of the most important tasks of every new homeowner. Here are several tips and tricks that should help you handle this issue.
1. Most common types of pests
As far as the types of pests go, there are over 500 different kinds of creatures that could, potentially, be crawling around your home. These are just the anthropoids, whereas insects, rodents and other mammals are just as likely to inhabit your household. This diversity means that before you know exactly what you’re dealing with, there are no measures that you can take to make your home pest-free. Therefore, inspection and identification of the type of pest that you’re dealing with the need to become your number one priority. Speaking of which…
2. Hire professionals to investigate it
Sometimes, the infestation will be so serious that it will be impossible for you to handle it on your own. Moreover, there are scenarios in which you’ll have to use potentially toxic materials and measures, which is why, by doing it on your own, you’ll risk turning your living space into a massive health hazard. This is why, before you actually make a choice, you need to know exactly what you’re dealing with, this is why you should look for professional building and pest inspection agency and entrust them with the survey of the space. Some pests (like termites), are capable of making structural damage on your home, which is why once your home is finally pest free, that you check for any structural damage that may have befallen you.
3. Further preventive steps
Just because your home is now pest-free, this doesn’t mean that pests won’t return on a later date. This is why you need to take further preventive steps in order to ensure that your home is pest-free. First of all, you need to thoroughly clean the place in order to reduce potential food sources and hiding spots for pests. Second, you need to seal both interior and exterior gaps in order to prevent the infestation from the outside. Lastly, there are instances in which following up with a preventive chemical control might be a good idea. When conducted carefully, this can be completely safe for you and your family.
Home-made solutions
Lastly, there are more than several home-made solutions that you might want to try out, due to the fact that they’re frugal, safe and somewhat effective. For instance, it’s known that garlic-mint insect spray really works as a potent repellent and, other than being simple and inexpensive to make, you don’t have to worry about it being spread out around the place. Coffee grounds are also quite effective, especially due to the fact that critters and pests, for some reason, really despise coffee. The combination of borax and sugar is a well-known trick for dealing with ants and the list of these solutions goes on and on.
In conclusion
As you can see, there are so many means for you to deal with pests and, seeing as how it’s a high priority task, you would do well to adhere to them as much as possible. Being a homeowner is not just a privilege, it’s also a great responsibility and the above-listed four items are a perfect example of how and why this matters so much.
Make you home pest free now...
