When it comes to professional recommendations and guidance to help prevent pests from invading, the common steps include ensuring food is properly sealed, ensuring tree branches, shrubs, grass, and other plant life are trimmed back from the home, repairing leaks and sealing the home. Not only does having the home properly sealed help avert pests from infiltrating your home, but there are other benefits, such as increasing the energy efficiency of your home. Today, we at A-Tex Pest Management would like to share a few basics steps to properly seal your home to avoid pest invasions.
How to Seal Exterior of House
These fissures are frequently the welcoming entry point for most pests. They are found from the base of your foundation to the seam where your roof meets your wall and come in different shapes and sizes. Using a weatherproof silicone caulking or a patch for larger jobs is how you want to seal up these cracks, holes, and gaps. If you have a chimney, consider a chimney cap to prevent rodents, birds, bats, and other pests.
Windows & Vent Screens
A missing or damaged screen from the windows allows many of the flyings and crawling pests inside. Additionally, the older homes are installed with screens around the vents in the attic space that can also become damaged. If these vents are not properly covered, bees, wasps, and even bats and pigeons, among other pests, can make their way into the attic. Evaluate your screens and make there are no punctures, tears, or other signs of damage, and they are all in place. You can patch screens, however, replacing them might be the better investments.
Seal Doors & Windows
The frame of windows and doors expand, contract as well as shift as the home ages and settles. Eventually, the gaps surrounding the doors and windows manifest, making an open invitation to any curious or wondering pest. Sliding doors are challenging to efficiently seal as well. When the weather is nice, many homeowners prefer to leave the back-sliding door open too. To ensure the windows and gaps are tightly fitted, use fresh weather stripping, if you have old weather stripping that is not performing, you will need to remove it and reinstall weather stripping. Once the weather stripping is in place, and if you see or feel any gaps still, you need to include silicon caulking around the frame. For sliding doors, be sure to consider screens if you like the doors open when the weather is optimal and invest in a self-closing hinge or kit for your sliding doors if kids do not always close the door as they are coming in and out.
Seal Exterior Walls Against Pests
Having a wall on the perimeter of your property helps prevent some pests from wandering too close, among other unwelcome visitors. Larger pests, mostly wildlife, are hindered in their approach with a well-sealed wall. As long as there are no gaps at the bottom for animals to squeeze through, any type of fencing will due to prevent larger animals from entering. Smaller pests, however, need a more solid wall, such as a stucco concrete block fence or wood paneling. Having any cracks properly sealed, depending on the type of wall, will help keep the pests back.
Pest Inspections, Control, Removal & More in Round Rock, Leander, Pflugerville, Cedar Park & Austin Texas.
In addition to your efforts, have A-Tex Pest Management scheduled for routine maintenance to keep the barrier in place and help you avoid many pests from gaining access to your abode. Contact us today!