Eviction Notice

Are you comfortable sharing your home with flies, ants, roaches, and rats? Some homeowners are unaware they are being invaded. This is the time of year especially with warmer temperatures when pest starts to come out in droves looking for food and searching for mates.

The average home has a minimum of 100 species of insects, spiders, bugs, and rodents as tenants. Many of the species are small, not much larger than a grain of salt. Hopper Termite & Pest are the professionals that can evict those unwanted guests. After they are evicted, consider the following prevention and entry point elimination tips:

• Inspect for pests and pest-proof your home restricting access.
• Since insects target kitchen pantries and cupboards for food sources, insects are found in kitchens where a lot of crumbs fall between the gaps. Be sure to clean food debris frequently.
• Insects create nests in walls or floor voids when indoors. Seal any floor voids and gaps around moldings.
• Pests may crawl indoors through cracks and crevices in the foundation. Seal all cracks, crevices and entry points around doors, walls and windows.
• Roaches and other pests will gather at water sources. Don’t leave dishes in the sink with water in them. Repair any leaky pipes or dripping taps. Remove the water and humidity that pests, including termites and ants, need to survive.
• Ensure trash bin lid stays firmly shut, especially if you put food scraps in there.
• Empty the trash bin regularly of all rotting food. Flies lay their eggs in rotting meat.
• Use bug-proof containers for storing food. Ants are particularly drawn to sugar, so keep anything sweet in airtight containers.
• Screens over windows and doors to help stop flies from gaining entry. Pests will enter your home through torn screens and weatherstripping that’s worn away (bugs will enter via weatherstripping). If you’re worried about mice, check out the rubber gasket under your garage door to make sure it seals tightly with the floor.
• Notice a trail of ants coming through a crack in the windowsill? Fill the gaps.
• Trim, prune or remove any trees, landscaping, vegetation or mulch touching your home. Thus, removing a direct pathway for entry beneath the home’s siding. Bushes and piles of wood are terrific thoroughfares for bugs. Tree branches especially can bring bugs to your home, especially if the tree is tall enough for your second story. Trim back your tree branches.
• Spider webs should be removed. Attempt to prevent web building by sweeping and vacuuming in closets, under furniture, and in corners. Use a long pole to remove webs from hard to reach corners inside and outside your home.
• Termite infestation? Look for swarmers (winged termites) seeking to mate and start a new colony. Inspect dwelling’s foundation for mud tunnels.
• Go through your house looking for gaps around your gas, plumbing and AC lines, exhaust vents, even phone and TV cables. If your home has siding, check for gaps and holes on it and around the trim. You also should look under the siding where it meets up with your home’s foundation. A shifting foundation, rot and bad construction can leave holes perfect for pests to use.
• Your roof’s fascia and soffits can have holes and gaps, especially if your home is joined to another (townhomes, etc.). Holes and gaps in your fascia/soffits are terrific entryways for wasps, bats and squirrels.
• Clean your gutters! Corn ants love to nest in gutters filled with dirt and leaves.
• Check your dryer’s damper door to make sure it opens and closes freely. Check to see if the damper door is sticky and is staying open. Again, birds and squirrels, rats and mice love to enter homes via open damper doors.
• Check your roof for vents that have broken or are missing screens – bats and squirrels often enter attics and roof crawl spaces this way.
• If you have a chimney and you don’t have a cap on it, get one. Birds and rodents love to make nests in chimneys.

You’re Outta Here!

The sure-fire way to kick out unwanted pests is to contact Hopper Termite & Pest. While there are many things you can do yourself to prevent many pest issues inside and outside of your house, you want to make sure you get the results you need in a safe, and timely fashion. A licensed professional at Hopper is your best bet to rid yourself of these unwanted guests. Give us a call and let’s start the eviction process today!