You undoubtedly have a lot of things on your mind once hurricane season starts to make itself known. However, along with making sure you have put away your patio furniture for the season and taken the appropriate precautions to safeguard the glass on your home's exterior, you are also going to want to take steps to ensure that your home is going to be kept safe from pests. Just as how nothing else wants to be out in this extreme weather, neither will pests. Also, some pests will become displaced when the trees or other structures they called home become damaged. This can leave you dealing with huge pest problems while you are already going to be dealing with so many other things. The information below will help you to better protect your house from pest issues during hurricane season.
Don't even bother with sprays or granules
While you would normally spray pesticides around your home's perimeter, or sprinkle granules around it, you won't want to waste your time or money doing this when you are expecting hurricanes. The wind and rain will simply wash away all of your efforts and the money you spent on those items. Your efforts will be much better served doing the things that will really help.
Seal trouble spots
Take a look around both the inside and the outside of your home. Any cracks, gaps, holes or other small openings should be completely sealed with the use of a silicone caulking you can get at any hardware store. If the stores in your area are running out, act fast and order them online. Depending on how soon a hurricane is expected to touch land, you may find it worth it to pay for overnight shipping. However, it is best to make sure you are always armed with this stuff in your home, for occasions just as this.
Create a slope
Go around the whole exterior with a shovel and create a slope that will lead the water away from the foundation of your home. This will help your home keep its integrity and prevent more cracks or openings from being exposed.
Have your trash dumped
Have your trash emptied or dumped before the hurricane comes and clean the garbage can well. Also, make sure it is dry when you put it away. This way, you can keep it safe in the garage, so it doesn't blow away. Since it is clean and dry, it won't become a comfortable and obvious breeding ground for may types of pests, such as flies and mosquitoes, who are looking for a dry, dark and protected spot to lay eggs.
Tend to rotting wood
If you spot rotting wood during your inspection, do what you can now to temporarily repair it. Once the water rises and that wood is exposed, many pests will attempt to get inside of it for shelter. Also, rotting wood is always going to be a calling card for pests like termites and carpenter ants. Once the hurricane is past you, then you will want to have the rotting wood permanently repaired.
Hire a pest control company
Now that you have done all that you can, call out the real pest control professionals. They can help you spot any other weaknesses and deal with them to better protect your home. They can also spray the inside of your home with professional grade insecticide to kill any pests that are able to get inside regardless of your best efforts to keep them out.
After struggling for quite some time with pests inside of our home, I knew it had to stop. I was tired of going to bed everyday without knowing if the issue would be getting resolved, so I started investigating the matter. I realized that we had ants and spiders, so I spoked with a pest control professional about helping out. They were absolutely incredible to work with, and within a few weeks, the mess was sorted out. On this website, I began focusing on how to make things right, since you really never know which kinds of pests will impact your home.