Insects are an essential part of your landscape and garden, but they can cause all sorts of complications if they are able to get into the interior of your home, including damaging structures and surfaces, getting into your food supplies, and even biting you and your pets. Further, it can be hard to remove insects once they manage to find a way inside, often requiring extensive and expensive pest removal services. Fortunately, there are a few preventative steps that you can take to ensure that insects do not have a clear path into your home.

Plant Trimming

One of the most important changes that you can make in your landscape to make it harder for insects to find their way into your home is to trim back plant growth near the sides of your home. This includes trees that may overhang your roof: plants provide a place for insects to congregate, and may make it easier for insects (and other pests, for that matter) to gain access to your roofing and siding materials.

Windows and Doors

Beyond plants providing highways into your home, you should also pay attention to potential openings. Cracks or broken weatherstripping around the edges of your doors and windows can provide gaps that are adequate for insects to work their way through. You can use a tube of caulking to seal small openings around your windows and doors by simply squeezing the caulking into place, smoothing it over, and allowing it to dry. However, for larger gaps caused by damaged weatherstripping, you'll want to replace the weatherstripping entirely. You can purchase replacement sections at most hardware stores, and simply cut them to size and press them into place by hand.

Remove Food and Organic Matter

Insects are attracted by potential food sources, so one of the best ways to reduce the likelihood that you'll find yourself with a pest population down the road is to regularly take steps to reduce the amount of exposed food there is in your home. This means that you should wash the dishes fairly regularly, and take out the garbage and compost on a regular schedule as well. Furthermore, you may want to also take steps to package up pet food and purchase sealable containers for food that you would otherwise leave out on the counter. In a very similar vein, you may also want to remove certain pieces of organic matter which can be potential food sources to insects, like old newspapers and magazines.

For more help, visit a website like http://www.paffyspestcontrol.com.

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