Spring is coming

Spring time is only weeks away now and people are soon to forget that a black and blue / gold and white dress ever existed as they head back outdoors. Spring time is the start of the gardening season, outdoor construction projects, and travel. You have spent a good majority of your time this past winter contemplating all of the projects you want to get done. I for one sure know that creating a second garden area in the backyard will soon have me complaining. One thing that people fail to think about until they have a problem is their pest control needs. Did you know that while you are thinking about everything above, there are multiple pests such as spiders, box elder bugs, and carpenter ants waiting behind your siding and in your walls? Did you know that they too have been thinking all winter long? Say it isn’t so! They have been thinking about that endless supply of crumbs from the children, the pet food, or the sweet nectar from the humming bird feeder that was removed from the kitchen window last fall. There are several steps you can take before you start seeing all of these pests coming inside this spring. Right now is a great time to take a walk around your home and complete these four steps.

Step 1

You’ll want to take a screwdriver, steel wool/mesh and a quality caulk along for the trip. Using the screwdriver you will probe at any cracks and crevices that you see around the siding and foundation of your home. You are going to also do this along your soffit if you can safely reach these areas without injuring yourself.  (DO NOT FILL WEEP HOLES WITH THE CAULK) If you find that you can get the screwdriver in any of the gaps you will want to fill the gap with the steel wool and caulk over the top of that. If you cannot get the screwdriver in fill the gap with only the caulk.

Step 2

Repeat step 1 but this time you are going to do this in the basement or crawl space of your home. If you have a slab home you’re finished with this step.

Step 3

With those two completed you can ditch the caulk and screwdriver and find all of your cleaning supplies; I.E. cleaning agents, brooms, mops, garbage bags and vacuums. Now is the best time to start your spring cleaning, especially when we start to get days that you can crack the windows open a bit? This year you are going to do your spring cleaning a little different than in the past. This year you are going to pretend that you are a lowly spider or part of an ant army. Start out by thinking of all the areas in your home that are dark, quite, damp, unpleasant areas of the house. Once you find all these areas you will start by vacuuming them. Vacuum all spider webs and debris that you find, you don’t want to use your broom here or you will potentially spread spiders around your home.  After that you will finish by cleaning your home top to bottom like you normally would. The idea here is to eliminate any reason that a pest is going to find your home a comfortable place to take up residence.

 Step 4

Now that the exciting step number 3 is over we can move back outside, this is when things start looking up; literally. Begin by looking up at the trees and shrubs around your home, you are looking for areas where these over hang onto the roof or touch the siding. When this happens you create avenues for pests to enter your home. Carpenter ants’ entering from the roof via an overhanging branch is not good because they will start to destroy your home in an area you are likely to not notice for some time. If you take these steps you are going to be one step ahead of the pests this season. If any of the work mentioned above are something you would rather not tackle yourself you can always give me a call at VexGuard and we can assist you with our pest management services. P.S. For the record the dress is gold and blue!