### ?…ask the Bugman

Green Pest Management | ID your Bugs | Animal Issues | Natural Living
All Creatures Great and Small

# Pest exclusion

Posted by askthebugman ⋅ June 9, 2020 ⋅ Leave a comment

This is what you need to do to keep pests and pesticides out of your home. The most effective part of pest control is exclusion. Here is how to pest proof your house. The purpose of pest-proofing your home is to help keep cockroaches, ants, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, rodents and other pests out. It will also allow you to not have to hire a pest control company to spray pesticides all around your home or in it. Along with pest proofing your house, you need to remember to keep all of your sink, tub and floor drains closed at night. This will prevent cockroaches from coming up the drains from the sewer system or septic tank. If you don’t have a drain cover, you can fill a Ziploc bag with water and place it over the drain. That will keep the roaches out.

You should install door sweeps on all outside doors that need them. If you can slide a piece of paper under a door, it needs a door sweep. Also, add a door sweep to a door going into the garage.

Don’t leave any debris laying around the house. This is a good hiding place for cockroaches, scorpions and centipedes. If you have firewood, stack it away from the house as it will attract black widows. It is a good idea to cover firewood with black plastic and stack it in the sun. The heat under the plastic will keep spiders and insects from hanging out in the firewood.

When you have branches touching the house or roof, it will allow acrobat ants and carpenter ants access. You should trim them back and keep them from touching the roof during the warm months. Also, you should sweep down any spider webs anywhere around the outside of the house.

When you get to the garage, you will probably find that the door doesn’t close tightly and never will. There are almost always small areas at either side of the door when any insect or rodent can get in. As mentioned earlier, make sure there are door sweeps on the door entering the house. Put Niban Bait in any areas behind storage or shelves where roaches can hide. Niban will last three or four months, so you only need to apply it a couple of times a year. Niban is made from boric acid. It is available online.

This procedure will keep most crawling insects and other arthropods out of your house. Keep anything that pests can hide in or under away from your house and don’t leave outside lights on any longer than necessary as they attract insects. Check your home every few months to make sure all of the work you did is still in place and effective. You won’t have to spend a lot of money having toxic pesticides sprayed in your house.

If you have any pest questions, you can contact me at askthebugman2013@gmail.com.

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## About askthebugman

I have been in the pest management industry for over 40 years. In that time I have used almost every pesticide available to control so-called “pests”. With this experience, I have learned over the years that the pesticides we use are far more dangerous than the pests we are trying to control. As a result, it has become a passion for me to improve the quality of life for humans and the planet, by assisting people to not only become more educated and aware of their environment – but also by learning to manage their home and business with a sustainable and healthier approach to tending to unwanted infestations of bugs. Please enjoy my blog posts, check out my publications, utilize my services, or simply stay in touch if you have a bug question…
View all posts by askthebugman »

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