Are you a DIYer who needs pest control tips for controlling the pest in and around your home? Despite what you have heard or what pest companies say, it’s not that difficult.

Below you can find some of the best do-it-yourself home pest control tips for DIYer’s.

BEST DIY Home Pest Control Tips

Install A Chimney Cap

Have you considered animals can enter your house through the chimney? Wildlife such as birds, bats, squirrels, raccoons, and rodents will from time to time hide in your chimney. They build nests, can spread diseases, and damage the structure of your home.

If they die they can really stick up the place. You don’t want them there.

There’s nothing stopping wildlife from sneaking in your home if you do not already have chimney caps installed. So get one install so you keep wildlife out of your chimney.

Store Firewood Away From The House

Firewood stored outside improperly is a magnet for pests such as termites, carpenter ants, roaches, and spiders. The most dangerous pest you want to protect against is termites because they can cause major structural damage. Termites are attracted to damp and dry woods.

These uninvited guests can cause the most damage of all. As such, you should store your firewood at least 20 feet away from your home’s foundation, other surrounding homes, and wood structures.

Other firewood storage considerations include:

• Termites and other pests attach themselves to firewood, so only bring in enough wood for the current fire
• Store your wood above ground on a raised platform or on-top of racks
• Store your wood above ground on a raised platform or on-top of racks
• Keep your wood covered at all times

Lastly never store firewood inside your house. Any firewood you bring in should be burned immediately.

Keep Your Yard Maintained

You should keep your yard well maintained to make your home less appealing to bugs, insects, and rodents. They especially like yards with an overabundance of standing water, grass, leaves, mulch, tree branches, and weeds. These types of conditions provide the perfect environment for pests to feed and breed outside your home.

It’s easy to make your yard less inviting to pests. Take the following actions to discourage pests from hanging around your yard and home.

• Store firewood at least 20 feet away from your house and five inches above the ground
• Keep shrubbery and tree branches trimmed and away from your house
• Keep the mulch at least 15 feet away from your house’s foundation
• Rack and pick up those leaves and keep your yard debris free
• Keep your gutter clean and free of water and debris
• Keep your grass cut low to an acceptable level
• Eliminate standing water

Install Dryer Vent Caps

Another point of entry animals can take to get into your home is through clothing dryer vents. What types of wild animals can get into your dryer vents?  Birds, bats, chipmunks, mice, squirrels, rats, and even baby raccoons and possums. They are all tiny enough to crawl right in there.

But why clothing dryer vents?

They provide warmth, shelter, and a means for animals to crawl & chew their way into your home. Animals in your dryer vent can cause a bunch of problems including:

• They could build a nest that clogs up your vents. This could lead to carbon monoxide backflow or overheating resulting in a fire
• They could get trapped and die, leaving your home smelling terribly
• They could leave behind waste droppings and debris that smell awful

The bottom line is you need to limit access so that outside animals can not get in. What’s the best device to prevent bugs, birds, and rodents from entering your house?

We recommend you install a dryer vent closure instead of covering the vent hole with wire meshing. Dryer vent closures are easy to install. They allow for proper heat exchange, ventilation and will keep out the cold during winter.

Pest Proof Your Food

Like all creatures pests need food to survive. If there is no food to eat you will not have any problems with pests trying to take over your home. Eliminate food, starve them out, and your pest problems will go away.

You should pest-proof your food.

The easiest and quickest way to go about doing this is to…

• Store boxed and loose foods in sealed containers. Plastic, glass, and metal containers work well. For example, store food items in coffee cans with lids
• Store bags of pet food in containers as well. Plastic, glass, or metal. Whatever you have on hand
• Store as much food as possible in the refrigerator. Food items such as flours, rice, and nuts can go in the fridge instead of the pantry

Don’t make your food containers easily accessible to bugs and rodents. Never sit them on the floor. Keep your food containers above ground in the pantry or kitchen racks.

Keep A Clean Kitchen

Your kitchen should be a gathering place for your family and not for roaches, ants, rodents, and other pests. These pests walk on your counters and appliances spreading disease that can contaminate your food making you sick.

So what attracts bugs, insects, and rodents to your kitchen? We know the like food, so let us start there. They are also attached to the following…

• Dirty Dishes
• Your pet’s food
• Open trash cans
• Improperly sealed and packaged food items
• Crumbs left on the floor, counters, and table

So how do you keep your kitchen clean and pest free? You’ll need to clean your kitchen more often.

Set aside a few minutes each day to sweep and mop your kitchen and dining room floors. Wipes down countertop and appliances you touch daily. Clean up any spills immediately. Wash dishes daily. Properly manage kitchen waste and garbage. Taking these few steps will reduce the likelihood of you having pest or prevent them altogether.

Vacuum More Often

Vacuuming is a great way to reduce and eliminate pests from your home. However, most people don’t vacuum enough for it to be effective against preventing pests.

When most people think of vacuuming it is limited to just the carpet. But they are so many other effective things you can use the vacuum for, to get rid of pests.

Check out these cool tips for vacuuming up pests!

You can remove unwanted pests by vacuuming in other places besides your carpet including:

• upholstered furniture
• in cracks and crevices
• along floor baseboards and walls
• pets bedding
• pillows and cushions
• tile and wood flooring

Overall vacuuming a great technique you can use to remove pests and their food source as well.

Install Screens On All Doors And Windows

Did you know one of the best ways to stop flying insects from entering your home is to install protective screens? If your home is not new, chances are your door and window screens could use a little TLC.

You should visually inspect all window and door screens for serviceability. Fix any screens that you can repair. Replace any screen that is not repairable. And buy a new screen that is missing from any door or window.

By taking this action you can prevent many flying insects from entering the inside of your house.

Keep Crawl Spaces Clear Of  All Pests

Do you have an open area between the ground and the underside of your house? If you do this is called a crawlspace. Crawl spaces are normally accessed from the outside of your house.

Is your crawl space home to pests and other wildlife animals?

Crawl spaces can be home to many of the pests you are trying to keep outside of your house. Pests living in your crawlspace can chew, gnaw, and squeeze their way into the inside of your house at any time.

You want to keep rats, cockroaches, mice, termites, and all other insects, bugs, and wildlife out of your crawl space.

Store Garbage Cans Away From House

You outside garbage cans will attract all kinds of pets including rats, cockroaches, ants, and flies. They could even attract a few raccoons and possums who are looking for food too.

So it’s important to store these cans a great distance away from the structure of your house if possible.

Keep you cans covered with a secure lid at all times.

Additionally, do not place loose food items in your outside trash cans. All food and waste items should be secured in a tightly sealed bag before place it into the can.

Related Questions

What scents keep bugs away? The scents we like most for repelling insects and bugs are essential oils like lemongrass, lavender, peppermint, tea tree, and eucalyptus. Depending on which essential oil you use you can repel fleas, moths, ants, mosquitoes, spiders, flies, aphids, mice, mites, earwigs and whiteflies.

Why is pest control necessary? Pest control is necessary to prevent bugs, insects, and rodents from taking over your home. If left untreated these pests will infest your kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and other areas of your home. They carry disease, can contaminate your home, and cause your asthma and allergies to flare up.