Prevention is always better — and cheaper — than treatment. These seven steps can be completed in a single weekend and will significantly reduce the attractiveness of your home to common household pests.
1. Seal Gaps Around Pipes and Cables
Mice can squeeze through a gap the size of a 20-cent coin. Check every location where pipes or cables enter your home and fill gaps with steel wool secured with caulk (rodents cannot chew through steel wool).
2. Fix Leaking Taps and Moisture Issues
Cockroaches, silverfish, and ants are all drawn to moisture. Fix dripping taps, repair leaky pipes under sinks, and ensure your bathroom exhaust fan is functioning properly.
3. Store Food in Airtight Containers
Pantry moths, cockroaches, and rodents are all attracted to accessible food. Transfer rice, flour, pasta, cereals, and pet food into sealed glass or hard plastic containers.
4. Trim Vegetation Away from Your House
Branches touching your roof give possums, rodents, and ants a highway into your home. Trim all branches so there is at least 50cm clearance from your roof and walls.
5. Clean Roof Gutters
Blocked gutters full of wet leaves are an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes and a nesting site for birds — which brings bird mites into proximity with your home.
6. Reduce Outdoor Lighting
Insects are attracted to light. Switching outdoor lights from white to yellow or amber significantly reduces the number of insects attracted to your home at night — which in turn reduces spider populations feeding on them.
7. Check Timber Structures for Termite Activity
At least twice a year, inspect timber retaining walls, fences, garden sleepers, and any timber touching the ground for signs of termite activity. Tap timber with a screwdriver — hollow sounds warrant immediate professional inspection.
