How Home Repair Can Prevent Pests
Pests of all types are pretty much always looking for ways to get into your home - easily accessible food is always a big draw to insects and wildlife alike. In the Capital Region, where the winters are cold and long, critters and bugs are looking for something else, especially with the abrasive months looming large: warmth and shelter. As far as warmth and shelter go (as well as access to a food source) there’s nowhere quite as appealing to invasive pests as a nice, warm home stocked with food - which makes your home an ideal target. This makes it especially important to have the exterior and interior of your home well prepared and fortified, especially in the locations that are most susceptible.
How Pests Get Into Homes
To understand where you might need repairs, you first need a solid understanding of the potential weak points in homes that pests typically use as an entryway:
- Unsealed Doors and Windows
Your doors can act not just as an entrance for people and pests, but for pests as well - especially insects. If the area around the exterior of the doors that lead outside are not properly sealed, even the smallest space can act as a flashing neon sign to any small insects that can fit through them. The same goes for your windows; make sure that any spaces with outdoor accessibility are tightly sealed! - Cracks in Siding and Foundation
Unfortunately, poorly sealed doors and windows aren’t the only thing you need to worry about. Cracks on the exterior of any home can quickly turn into a winter infestation. Again, sealing can go a long way in eliminating the points of entry, it just requires thorough investigation and inspection; identifying all cracks on the entirety of a home requires a careful eye and quite a bit of patience. - Outdoor Passageways
Any cables or ventilation that have exterior home access can become prime entry-points for insects and even some smaller, more flexible wildlife - like mice and rats. This means you need to be resilient and consistent in checking up on any of these passageways and making sure that they’re properly maintained and sealed. Vents are extremely susceptible, so make sure you’re keeping tabs on their condition; if your vent dampers are broken, that can quickly turn into a major pest problem. Get them fixed! - Chimneys
Although chimneys have become exceedingly rare, if you do have one, beware: chimneys are a favorite entryway for a whole host of pests enduring cold outdoor temperatures. This is because, for one, they are unusually large spaces that provide indoor access and, for two, they emit large amounts of heat, which will draw in cold critters. If you have concerns about the security of your chimney, contact experts who can install protective safety mechanisms into your chimney. - Crawl Spaces
Crawl spaces are frequently cited as places where pests will hide, especially if they are not sealed or contain an excessive amount of moisture. Keep your crawl spaces sealed and clean, and check them regularly to gauge moisture and humidity levels - and also to see if any unsavory pests have made it their home.
Protecting Vulnerable Areas
Knowing what to look for is a great first step, but it’s more-or-less useless if you can’t actually turn that knowledge into actionable results - and solutions to these problems isn’t always going to be something that can be done as a DIY project. That’s where Thomas Pest Services comes in.
As the Albany experts on all things pest-related, we want to help you not only identify problem areas, but also fix them; that’s why we offer home repair services that are focused on pest exclusion. These services include solutions to many of the above problems, with chimney protective installation, pest exclusion, wildlife damage repair, and exclusionary insulation installation being just some of the services offered.
Ready to get moving on repairs to stop your pest problems before they ever start? Contact us!
