How to Keep Ants and Insects Away from your home this Fall

I do not know about your part of the world, but every season change, it’s the same thing; unwanted crawling critters invade my kitchen. I am mostly talking about poor little ants, who I have nothing against, but I just do not want them all over my bananas. There are some great articles in Ehow showing you just how to kill these little pests. Well, you can kill some of them, but not all. Usually some little left over family member, whether it is a teen-ager, baby, adult, or whatever, will wander in somewhere since you did not drown or poison him. When I say poison, I mean it in the natural way. Hmm. These steps will also help with your utilities as well.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Broom. wire-brush
• caulking gun (cordless preferred)
• Tubes of caulk
• Weather stripping
• rubber gloves

1. First, after you have used ant traps, or whatever, next you must put a secure barrier between you and the culprits. I see mostly ants, but this pertains to spiders, mice, water bugs, and many more. I am not going to include the most resilient of all, THE COCK ROACH. When any creature can live without its head for a week, I give up.

2. 
   Matches Ryobi 18v

   To prepare for this barrier, you first must clean around the perimeter of your house. Start where the foundation meets the ground; go all around your house. It is best to do this in sections, if you clean all around the house and then come back to seal everything, you will have to sweep out all the debris again. Use a stiff broom to move all debris away from the seam of your house. If there is foliage, or anything growing where it should not be, dig, pull, or cut it away. You want to be sure you are able to see any cracks, or seams around the house. Make sure you get all the dirt, and dust away from you work area as well. Prepping is very important, if you do not do a proper job of preparing for your work, all your time and energy, as well as costs can be useless. If possible try to use a cordless caulking gun, especially using concrete caulk.

3. 

   You will need the proper sealant to apply around the cracks of your house. I have a brick house, and concrete around the entrances. Therefore, I am using a concrete caulking to adhere to any openings I may have. If your house is wooden, you can use a caulking suited for your needs. There are all types of caulking these days. Your Hardware merchant can suggest the proper type of sealant to use, just let them know what you will be applying it to as well as the substance.

4. 

   After you have gone around the whole house and filled in all cracks, holes and openings now check your weather stripping around your entrances. This will also help with you utilities. Make sure the rubber is not extremely worn out. In addition, the threshold(s) underneath your door(s) can detour critters as well. It too should be tight meeting the door, although make sure it is not dragging or putting too much tension on the bottom of the door.

5. Look around the windows in your home, same thing here. Just make sure no cracks or openings are visible. If there is, you can, after prepping the area, put a bead of caulk around the windows as well. This very valuable DIY project will pay off in many ways.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use gloves, eyeware
• I is handy to have a little cup of water for smoothing out the caulk.
• Try to get all the cracks, if not insects are prone more to get in.

Resources

• Lowes

[FrazzledNanny]

on 9/24/2009 Thanks for the tips on keeping ants and bugs away this fall. I don't like to find any bug (or ant) in my house. 5*