The following contribution is from another author.
Winter is the time of the year when you most likely want to stay indoors where it’s warm, enjoying some comfort food, spending time with family, and generally waiting for spring to arrive. That’s not a problem – it sounds great, in fact, and can be exactly what the doctor ordered. However, the fact is that if it’s something you like the sound of and want to do, you’re not the only one; pests want to do exactly the same thing.
Depending on where you live, the pests in question will vary, but what’s always going to be the same is that they’ll want to get inside where it’s warm when the temperatures drop, and they’ll want to be in a place where they can find food easily, and unfortunately, your home ticks all the boxes.
The good news is there are ways to prevent pests in your home over winter, so keep reading to put these useful measures in place because it’s never too late to put a stop to unwanted visitors.
Check The Chimney
If you have a working fireplace, your chimney could be an ideal spot for pests to get into your home and make a nice home for themselves – after all, it’s warm, dark, easy to access, and it’s a safe place to retreat to if you or your pets try to chase the creatures away. In fact, a chimney could be the very best place for pests to spend their time, making it potentially very problematic for you.
Not only do you not want bugs and other creatures to live in your chimney and have unrestricted access to everything in your home, but in wintertime, you’ll probably want to use the fire, and therefore, you need the chimney to be safe – with no blockages.
That’s why the best thing to do is to find a good chimney sweep like the ones at https://www.jcs-homeservices.com/chimney-cleaning-fairfax-va/. Your chosen chimney sweep can check the chimney for any blockages and remove them if possible. They can then clean the chimney and make sure it’s safe for you to use, as well as ensure that the cap – the part of the chimney that keeps things out – is installed correctly. Once that’s all done, your chimney should work as it’s meant to, and you can stop worrying about anything nasty getting into it – and into your home.
Seal The Gaps
When you know the weather is going to get colder (or really at any time of the year – it’s better to do this job than not, no matter when you remember the job needs to be done), take a walk around the exterior of your home and keep an eye out for any cracks and gaps. It might be cracks in the wall, for example, or gaps between bricks where the concrete has come away. It could be gaps around windows or doors. There are all kinds of places where these issues can be found, and although they might not be obvious unless you’re looking for them (which is why you need to look for them), they can be great ways for pests to get inside.
True, they might not be able to get all the way into your home through these gaps and cracks (if you can see daylight through them, they’re a bigger problem than you first thought!), but they can get into the fabric of the building, and cause problems – they might chew through wires or build nests from insulation and so on.
That’s why you need to check for the presence of gaps and cracks, and then you need to fill those gaps and seal those cracks once you do find them.
If the problem keeps coming back and you find that you constantly have new cracks appearing in your home, then it’s probably best to speak to a professional, such as a builder or contractor, as there might be an underlying issue that needs to be dealt with.
Put Food Away
There are only a few things pests want from your home. The first is shelter, which is why you need to stop them from getting inside in the first place if you can, and the second is food. Dealing with this second point is easier than the first, and if you can do it, you might find that pests decide not to bother with your home after all – they’ll find another warm place to live that also has a good food source. It’s certainly worth a try.
This is a simple idea, but it’s so easily forgotten – you need to put food away once you’ve finished eating or cooking. And you can’t store food on your counters unless it’s in a sealed container – never leave anything out in your kitchen or anywhere else in your home if it’s uncovered (it’s easy to leave a plate of crumbs from breakfast or lunch by the sink to deal with later, but in the meantime, pests might find that plate and your home will become much more appealing).
Make it a rule to clear everything away every time you cook or eat, and invest in some better storage so that your food doesn’t become the pests’ food, enticing more and more to want to be in your home when you would much rather they were anywhere else. Plus, tidying up and getting into this kind of habit makes your home a generally better and healthier place to live, so even if you’re not bothered about bugs and other creatures, it’s still an important thing to do.
Repair Water Leaks
The point above is quite an obvious one when you think about it, but something that’s less obvious is that water leaks can attract pests, which is why you need to repair them immediately. If you can’t do it yourself, then call on expert help to do it for you, but don’t leave it too long, or pests might start to become a problem.
On top of the pests, a leak can cause mold (which is bad for your health) and damage to your property (which is bad for your equity and potentially your insurance), so it’s well worth any investment needed to make the repair.
