Everyone has pests or bugs in their home at some point. This might mean having ants setting up home in your wall cavities or under the patio. For others, it might mean they seem to constantly get little black flies around the bathroom and drains.
The countryside and urban areas are prone to rats and mice, while restaurants have to be on their guard for pests such as cockroaches. While none of these things are particularly pleasant to have you may be unaware of how much damage they are actually doing to your home and your health.
Pests need to feed and sometimes that means destroying your home’s structure and causing billions of $s in damage to do so. Other times it might mean they feed on you or at least your food. The best way to control pests is to keep them out in the first place but that isn’t always easy.
What damage do pests do to homes?
Pests can get into your attic and the wall cavities when they invade a home. This means that if you end up with woodworms or termites then you can end up with actual structural damage to your home. Rats and mice like chewing through wires, while beetles can make a meal from anything wooden.
The worst pests for damaging your home are as follows:
- Termites
- Squirrels
- Honey bees
- Wasps
- Mice
- Crickets
- Cockroaches
- Silverfish
- Various types of beetles
All these pests and more can damage your home in different ways. What you may not realize is that many of them can also damage your health.
What are the health implications of household pests?
Many pests carry disease and bacteria with them. When they enter your home they bring health risks with them. Rats are one of the worst pests as they can not only be aggressive and bite but their urine and fecal matter carry diseases that can affect humans badly like leptospirosis.
Cockroaches often travel through the sewer system and then enter your home, moving over kitchen surfaces and food. They are a cause of allergic reactions including asthma and carry pathogens and bacteria around. They can be tough to get rid of and a real infestation may need a pest control company to clear them.
It isn’t just the physical health that is affected though. With some pests such as bed bugs, the homeowner can suffer from stress, anxiety and sleepless nights. These bugs can come out at any time but the night is their favorite time to come and feed and someone with bed bugs in their home can suffer not just from bites but from exhaustion at being unable to sleep properly.
Keeping the pests out of the home
What is a pest exactly? It is described as something that is harmful to humans and that can mean anything that damages the home too. It doesn’t matter what pests are around your home, they all need to find a way in so the best control is to make that difficult. These are some ways you can help yourself and protect your home:
- Seal gaps around doors, vents, and pipes
- Fill in cracks in walls
- Check for signs of pests under fridges and kitchen cupboards
- Clean regularly especially areas where food debris may fall
- Seal the food in containers and clear out any food that is going bad
- Clean drains
- Fix leaks and remove any damp areas
- Check the basement and attic for infestation and for holes that allow pests in
Basically, you want to make your home unattractive as possible to any pests or bugs. Different pests need different environments to thrive. Some like the damp and others want warmth. They all want food in different forms so sealing up cereals and biscuits will help put off mice and ants. Cleaning dishes and removing any food waste will help remove the incentive for flies and cockroaches to come and visit you.
Natural remedies for removing pests
There are some ways you can rid yourself of pests if you find you have some minor problems. Ants don’t like chili powder, chalk, or vinegar so washing down surfaces with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water can help to avoid these tiny invaders. Hemp oil is good for health and another natural way for pest control and can be used on moths, flies and mosquito larvae.
There are many other ideas such as using basil plants to ward off flies as they hate the smell, soap liquid solution on plants to keep off bugs, and borax to kill off cockroaches. Professional pest control companies will use the best natural termite control to help save your structure from damage. Pest controllers often use natural and organic ways to fight against pests.
Summary
Unfortunately, many creatures would love to turn your house or apartment into a banquet and some of them have their eyes on you too. Bed bugs love to bite and feed on people and termites want to eat your home from the inside out. Natural remedies, prevention, and pest control management are luckily very viable ways to rid homes of these nuisances and gain control of the home again.