12 Tips for Keeping Bugs Out of Your House - Bug free homes at Kenna real Estate

In Colorado, we enjoy some of the most spectacular natural beauty anywhere. It’s one of the enduring joys of living here. But we all want to draw the line between nature and our home when it comes to bugs. Mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks can make life miserable for us, our families, and our pets. Let’s explore what attracts mosquitoes and other pests and our 12 essential tips for keeping bugs out of your house.

Essentials of Pest Control

Effective pest control relies on a three-pronged approach:

* Eliminate the lures.
* Control the entry points.
* Employ nature as an ally.

All pests, whether insects or rodents, seek food, water, and shelter. These lures attract pests and entice them to enter our property and homes. Eliminating the attractants is critical for keeping your home free of pests. It is just as important to block all entry points pests use to enter your home. And finally, get natural predators and repellents on your side to keep your home free from bugs. Each of our 12 tips pertains to one of these approaches.

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Eliminate Pest Lures

The first prong of effective pest control is learning and eliminating what attracts mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks to your property and home.

Tip 1: Maintain Your Yard

Before insects enter your home, they generally reside on your property. Overgrown grass, shrubs, and weeds attract mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. Fallen leaves, brush piles, and pulled weeds provide shelter. Standing water is also highly attractive to pests. Poor drainage, blocked gutters, full bird baths, and stagnant pools can provide essential drinking water and an ideal mosquito breeding habitat.

Tip 2: Keep Food Cleaned Up Inside and Out

Many insects can make excellent meals based on what we and our pets eat. Keep all food cleaned up and sealed away, indoors and out. Bird feeders that spill seed attract rodents and insects. Keep feeders away from your home and regularly clean up spilled seeds. Additionally, consider utilizing strategically placed near these potential entry points to deter rodent intrusion further.

Tip 3: Seal and Dispose of Trash

Trash, too, provides food and shelter for pests. Ensure the garbage is always covered and secured in your home and outdoors. Regularly wash receptacles to eliminate odors that attract pests.

Tip 4: Fix All Leaks

The ability to feed, drink, breed, and rest attracts mosquitoes or any pest. So, fix leaky sprinkler heads, hoses, and faucets indoors and out. A mosquito can lay 100-200 eggs in just a bottle cap of water.

Block All Entry Points

Even after eliminating the lures that attract pests to your property and home, inclement weather and hunger may still drive them indoors. So, the next step is to block all the access points insects exploit.

Tip 5: Seal Your Doors

Ensure that all the doors and windows fit tightly. Insects can enter through tiny spaces. Weatherstripping and adding a metal threshold and a door sweep will help prevent easy insect entry. Also, consider installing an automatic door closer so forgetful kids don’t leave the door standing open.

Tip 6: Add and Repair Screens

Ensure that all windows have sturdy, intact screens. Check that screen frames are not bent, allowing insects to enter a gap. Repair any cut or worn screens so only fresh air comes in.

Tip 7: Repair Cracks

Examine your home’s interior and exterior, hunting for cracks or gaps. For example, if a pencil can slide through a crack, a young mouse can enter, along with insects.

Tip 8: Seal Around Wall Penetrations

There are many holes in your walls through which pests can enter. Where pipes, internet cable lines, power lines, and telephone lines enter your home, they do so through wall penetrations. Ensure each is well sealed around the pipes or cords with pipe sealants, caulk, or expandable polyurethane foam.

Make Nature Your Ally

Every pest you battle has natural predators and repellents they cannot tolerate. Once you have eliminated what attracts mosquitoes and other pests and cut down on entry points, it’s time to enlist natural allies to protect your home and property from bugs.

Tip 9: Encourage Natural Predators

Once you have eliminated what attracts mosquitoes, it’s time to consider what eats them instead. Bats and birds are the primary predators of mosquitoes and other pests, and there are ways to attract them without attracting bugs, too. A bat house provides shelter for bats; birdhouses do the same for feathered friends. A bubble emitter added to bird baths prevents mosquitoes from breeding while attracting birds. Ever wonder what eats ticks? Ants, spiders, nematodes, and birds. While you might not want to establish an ant farm or encourage spiders, you'll attract insect-eating birds to your property when you provide bird feeders filled with mealworms. Also, release beneficial nematodes on your property to eat fleas and ticks.

Tip 10: Cultivate Plants That Discourage Pests

It’s not just people and animals that need protection from pests. Many insects that trouble us also feed on plants. Many plants have a natural chemistry that actively repels pests. Some are hardy perennials that thrive in Colorado’s climate; others are tender herbs and annuals that can be enjoyed from spring through fall. Consider planting the following around the foundations of your home and just outside the windows:

* Lavender
* Basil
* Lemongrass
* Mint
* Thyme
* Allium
* Chrysanthemums
* Petunias
* Marigold
* Mosquito plants
* Rosemary
* Sage
* Catnip

Tip 11: Use Essential Oils

Essential oils are insect-repellent plants in liquid form. Just be aware that horses and dogs are somewhat sensitive to certain essential oils, while most are harmful to cats. So educate yourself, and use them with care. With that understanding, essential oils can be powerful weapons for homeowners. For instance, lavender oil is a natural tick repellent for dogs. It can kill tick eggs on dogs as well.

Tip 12: Use Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a fine powder made from the fossilized remains of tiny aquatic organisms. DE rapidly dries out insects until they are desiccated. Diatomaceous Earth can be used in the garden and the home to repel and kill insects. You can even work DE through the fur and onto the skin of your dog, cat, or horse. It not only eliminates living fleas and ticks, but it also kills tick eggs on dogs, cats, and horses. Sprinkle DE along your baseboards and in any cracks to prevent insects from entering your home. Mix DE 50-50 with sugar to create a highly effective roach terminator.

These tips should have you well on your way to a bug-free home, but sometimes, you must call the professionals. Reputable companies such as Mosquito Joe provide customized and comprehensive pest control to protect homes throughout Colorado from unwanted visitors.

Craig and Michelle Fried are the owners of Mosquito Joe of Northern Colorado. They have been making outside fun again for those in the northern Colorado area since 2016. Their team of trained and skilled specialists follows the protocols of the EPA’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program to keep your property itch-free.