Your Checklist for Winter Pest Control Around the Home
We’ve been answering many questions about winter pest control this year to give our professional advice on the solutions you can try at home. Here and now, we’re compiling them into a master list of our best ones with a few new recommendations, too.
At the end, you’ll find a checklist to keep track of which of our essential pest prevention tasks you’ve taken care of so far this winter. In our professional opinion, these tasks are essential for winter pest prevention:
Indoor
Many pests, like rodents, are looking for dry, warm shelter during the winter. The following three tasks ensure that they won’t crawl into your home nor mistake it as their cozy new hideout.
Tidy the Attic
All kinds of pests, especially bats, are known to hide out alone or in groups in the attics of homes. Dust and sweep away any mess, and declutter and organize whatever you’re storing so you know there are no spots for pests to hide.
Update Weather Sealing
Over time, it is normal for the weather stripping on windows and entryways to become worn down and leave tiny gaps or cracks that insects and small rodents can squeeze through to enter your home. When it’s near wintertime, ensure that your weatherstripping is making a gap-free seal, and if it isn’t, replace it.
Outdoor
Include these additional outdoor improvement tasks steps to your winter pest control agenda to ensure your whole property is pest-free:
Store Firewood Safely
You should always store firewood as far as you can from your home in case a termite colony gets to it. If you bring your firewood close to your house not knowing there are termites in it, then you make it easy for termites to crawl to your home and quickly populate it.
Clear Debris from Gutters
When there are a lot of leaves, small twigs, acorns, or any other debris in the gutters and drain pipes along the roof and outer walls of your home, it offers small critters a moist, dark hiding spot. Discourage this pest behavior by unclogging your gutters and drainpipes regularly, especially after storms and rainy periods.
Prune the Hedges
Insects like wasps and mosquitoes are less likely to survive the winter in torpor if you don’t give them a decent place to nest! One way you can take away their overwintering spots is to liberally trim back the leaves on your hedges, bushes, and short trees. Don’t worry, they’ll grow back in the spring!
Maintain Your Lawn
Rake out all the leaves, pinecones, acorns, twigs, branches, and other debris from your yard so tiny, unwanted guests don’t take up residence.
Install Vent Screens
Any vent ports along the exterior of your home can allow pests to enter your A/C ducts and travel through them. Block pests by installing screens over your outdoor vents.
Final Winter Pest Control Checklist
- Tidy the attic
- Update weather sealing
- Store firewood safely
- Clear debris from gutters
- Prune the hedges
- Maintain your lawn
- Install vent screens
If you check off most of these tasks—but still see the same pests around your property, that could mean you have a pest infestation, which is hard to control and mitigate on your own. You need to call on a professional pest control agent in these cases.
At Vulcan Termite and Pest Control, we have proudly served families in Alabama since 1965, and we would love to help yours, too! Call us at 205-663-4200 or contact us online to learn more about our affordable, effective pest control solutions.
Thanks for reading! To learn more about the pests and other creatures found here in Alabama, check out our pest blog.