National Homeownership Month: Tips to Protect Your Home and a Twitter Q&A

To celebrate National Homeownership Month, Arrow kicked off June with a Twitter poll asking homeowners about their least favorite pests. The results are in, and many of you said termites were the stuff of nightmares (we don’t blame you!), but carpenter bees and wildlife were close behind.

Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to prevent these unwanted guests from crashing your summer barbecues. 

Protect Your Property

Here at Arrow Exterminators, we know prevention is key when it comes to annoying pests. We have a number of tips to help you pest-proof your entire home for everything from roaches to silverfish, but termites, wildlife and carpenter bees come with their own preventative measures.

Termites

When it comes to termite infestations, it’s all about moisture and food supply:

• Termites are attracted to moisture, so eliminate any moisture around your foundation and divert water away from the house. You can do this by checking that downspouts and gutters are clear and functioning, and installing splash blocks to move draining water away from your home.
• Reduce humidity in crawl spaces with proper ventilation.
• Termites eat wood of any type, so remove their food supply as much as possible — keep tree branches and shrubs trimmed and away from your house, remove any firewood stacks to a different area of your yard (preferably not touching the ground), and eliminate contact areas between wood and the ground wherever possible.
• Seal all cracks and holes around your home, including where pipes and utilities enter. Termites only need 1/32 of an inch to gain access — that’s the size of three grains of salt!

 

Carpenter Bees

Although carpenter bees don’t have stingers, they are incredibly aggressive and can cause significant structural damage to your deck or home. Try to prevent them by taking these steps:

• Keep an eye on your deck, fences, shingles and wooden lawn furniture. This is where they like to make their nests!
• Be sure to paint and stain these wood areas if possible — this helps keep the wood from decaying and prevents the bees from drilling holes in it.
• Replace wooden lawn furniture with plastic or metal options that won’t attract these pests.

 

Wildlife

You certainly don’t want to give rats, squirrels and bats an open invitation to move into your home. When it comes to these furry pests, sealing openings and choosing better storage options are a must.

• Your first step is to seal all cracks, crevices and holes that lead from your home to the outdoors — don’t give these guys a chance to get inside!
• Use plastic boxes and store items off the ground if possible to prevent rats from finding an undisturbed place to nest.
• Tighten up window screens and gutters.
• Use thick plastic or metal garbage cans, and keep bags and lids locked up tight.
• Remove all animal food from outside your home — including food for house pets and birds — so there isn’t a food source for these destructive pests.

Homeownership is a tough job — between decorating, repairs and upkeep, it can feel like your work is never done. Once you take a few preventative steps around your home, call Arrow Exterminators to finish the job. Our pest experts will lock-down your property and keep you pest free, so you can spend your summer playing with the kids and relaxing by the pool.

 Still unsure about how to protect your home, or have a question we haven’t answered here? Join our Twitter party for all the answers you need!

#PestProofYourHome

This coming Wednesday, June 22, Arrow Exterminators will be hosting a Twitter party to help homeowners tackle all their pest problems. We’ll have some of our best pest professionals online answering any question you’ve ever had, whether it’s about squirrels and birdfeeders or why you keep seeing those pesky roaches dart across the room (even after deep-cleaning your home).

The live Twitter chat will last one hour from 8–9 p.m. EST.  You can join in by going to Twitter and searching the hashtag #PestProofYourHome to keep up with the conversation and see what questions other people are asking. If you have a question of your own, feel free to send it in by tweeting us @ArrowExt, or just use the event hashtag in your message (or you can use both!). For example:

“Hey @ArrowExt, do pennies in bags of water really stop flies?”

or

“How can I tell if I have termite damage? #PestProofYourHome”

Simple as that! We look forward to tweeting you there, and can’t wait to start answering all your pest questions!