5 Ways to Keep Insects Out of Your Home This Summer

Doubtlessly, summer is an excellent time of the year. Unfortunately, during this season, insects come out of their winter habitats to look for food in homes. Thankfully, there are ways to keep insects out of your home this summer.

1. Keep Your Home Clean

One significant reason insects enter homes is to get food and shelter for survival. First, ensure that you store your food in pet-proof containers. To cut crumbs on the carpet, meals, and snacks should get taken to the kitchen and dining area. After cooking, also ensure to clean your countertop and floor.

Besides, do not let dirty dishes stay overnight as they attract cockroaches. Note that food’s smell attracts insects. Thus, ensure you tightly seal your trash can after throwing away food. While food is why insects will invade your home, it’s not the only reason. Messy homes are also culprits.

Note that cockroaches hate the light and love the smell of paper. So, having papers and magazines or bags scattered around is a suitable nesting place. Thus, try to avoid clutters around your home so that bugs have fewer places to hide.

2. Seal Gaps and Cracks

One of the main ways bugs enter your home is through cracks in walls, doors, and windows. Thus, look behind furniture and appliances to see where there are cracks and seal them. Also, check spaces around your utility pipes, vents, windows, doors, and other openings.

Install an aluminum or steel threshold under the door to prevent bugs from crawling under your door. You can combine the threshold with a door sweep for the best protection. To know whether there are cracks in your home, start examining the exterior with a critical eye.

Meshing your window is also a great way to keep out insects this summer. Note that the mesh material allows air to flow freely while keeping all insects away. If you have window screens and they have tears in the edges, ensure to fix them. This ensures that bugs do not have an entry point.

3. Insect Repellent and Sprays

This is one of the most targeted approaches to keep out insects in your home. What’s outstanding is that sprays and solutions are effective. You can use over-the-counter sprays to deal with some pests. A good option is the use of sulfur pellets. Mix the pellets with water and spray infected areas to end the pests.

You can also rely on home remedies such as insect repellent. Notably, ants do not like the smell of coffee. Therefore, to keep your home ant-free, sprinkle coffee grounds on your windows and in front of your doors. You can also do this to areas you suspect are an entry point for the ants.

4. Maintain Your Yard

Yard maintenance has a significant impact on the insect population. This is especially the case with flees and mosquitoes. For mosquitoes to breed, they need a water supply. To cut the mosquito population, ensure to eliminate stagnant water in your yard. One of the significant reasons for pooling your yard is thatch build-up.

Therefore, ensure to detach by mowing the grass and aerating your yard. This ensures that water is naturally absorbed into the soil. It’s also relevant to ensure all drainage systems are working effectively. This is done by removing debris on gutters and drains to ensure no pooling.

While ensuring there is no stagnant water in your yard, remove debris or leaves. These are perfect spots for insects to hide and breed. When there is an infestation, it can be challenging to eliminate them. To ensure your yard is in good shape, ensure to work on it regularly.

5. Watch Out for Pests in Your Pets

The cat flea is the most common domestic flea. Your dog can also pick up fleas. Flea bites on you can be itchy and can lead to eczema. To ensure there are no fleas in your home, always treat your pet with flea treatment. Also, wash your pet’s bedding and vacuum the area once a fortnight.

Keeping insects off is a way of keeping germs and infectious bacteria from your home. If insects infest your home and it becomes hard to eliminate them, ensure to hire professionals. This ensures you limit its population.