Home Pest Prevention Basics

By Bayer Advanced

Indoor pest problems often begin outside. Ants, roaches and other pests wander indoors looking for food, water or a better environment. Protect your home against pests by creating a preventive barrier in and around your house – Bayer Advanced™ offers a number of products for this purpose.

There also are many things you can do on your own to help stop problems from even beginning. The following list provides some simple tips to help prevent pests from ever becoming a problem in your home.

Outdoors and in the basement:

1. Seal cracks around molding surrounding exteriors doors, windows and openings in areas where utilities enter the house or basement.
2. Stack firewood away from the house and off the ground on an elevated base of pressure-treated 2 × 4 lumber.
3. Inspect basement floors and exposed wood in the basement for moisture, especially boards close to the ground.
4. Do not pile mulch next to your house foundation.
5. Avoid standing water in your garden by using a fountain or circulating pump to water.
6. Avoid placing pet bowls with food or water near the house, or remove them at night.

Indoors:

1. Clean up often, especially in the kitchen and bathrooms. Wipe counters, wash dishes and sweep the kitchen floor daily.
2. Keep cupboards and storage areas clean.
3. Avoid leaving wet mops and rags lying in utility areas.
4. Seal food tightly, and make sure insects can’t get into packages of cereal, sugar, cookies, etc. Keep bread, crackers and other items in sealed containers when possible.
5. Inspect your pantry and spice cabinet regularly for meal moths and flour beetles that can enter the house in boxed grain products from the store.
6. Store pet food in sealed containers and clean up after pets have eaten.
7. Keep kitchen trash in a sealed container and store it in an area that is easy to clean.
8. Regularly discard old newspapers and other items saved for recycling.
9. Vacuum carpets and furniture regularly, especially if you have cats or dogs that can pick up fleas outdoors.
10. Dry clean woolens and store in sweater boxes or other tightly sealed containers.

For more information, go to bayeradvanced.com.

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