While “pest proofing” your home is not an attainable goal, these 5 fall pest prevention tips will help keep unwanted pest out of your home.

Fall Pest Proofing Tips

1. Check all screens for holes.  If you are like most families who like to enjoy the gentle breeze of the cooler autumn nights, this tip could be one of the biggest in preventing unwanted guests. Spend a few minutes this weekend before you decide to prop open the door or throw open the window to check the condition of your screens.  Small holes and even gaps in coverage around screening, will allow occasional invaders such as lady bugs, stick bugs, and roaches into the house. If you find a tear or hole, most DIY stores will have replacement screen for at home pest control.

2. Leaf Clutter. While those beautiful orange and brown leaves on your trees look great as a backdrop to your home, the leaves around your foundation are offering insulated protection to insects.  Insects like smoky brown roaches and American roaches are seeking warmer shelter, and your leaf pile is a great source of warmth. Since leaves are dropping and piling up on your foundation, leaves are also clogging your gutters.  Check your gutters regularly in the fall to make sure you are free from clogs.  Clogs can cause insect infestations, as well as water intrusion if not properly maintained.

3. Seal Gaps.  Many insects and rodents are looking for water and shelter as temperature drops and water sources dry up.  The rule of thumb for mice is that any hole bigger than the diameter of your thumb is a possible entry way for mice.  Seal up any possible entry ways like plumbing penetrations with copper mesh or steel wool. Installing door sweeps and making sure there are no gaps in your door jabs can also help thwart intruders like spiders, roaches, and ants.

4.  Caulk.  Something as simple as caulking around windows will help keep ants at bay.  Ants are foraging in the fall for water just as much as food, and will seek out the best way to get to a source for nourishment.  Caulking windows can decrease the likelihood of an autumn ant invasion.

5. Pruning.  Vegetation such as crepe myrtles and vines are know for being a haven for ant populations.  When these havens are allowed to grow onto the structure of you house ants have a direct, almost invisible, highway in and out of the structure.  The American cockroach, also known as the Palmetto Bug, like to climb into trees and then drop from limbs that overhand the roof line of the house.  For the reasons given make sure that no vegetation touches the structure.  It is recommended that there is a twelve to twenty-four inch gap between the house and any vegetation.  For tree limbs, draw an imaginary line straight up from the roof line towards the sky.  If any branches interrupt this plane, prune the tree back.   This step will also limit branches from falling onto or through your roof during a severe storm.

Implementing these 5 fall pest prevention tips will help prevent unwanted pest from entering your home.  When you combine these steps with the Palmetto Exterminators superior quarterly pest control service, you can rest assured that your home will be pest free.  If you are experiencing unwanted pests, please give one of our eight locations of pest exterminators a call today so we can start protecting your health and property.