It’s been said that love knows no bounds, and that’s certainly true when it comes to the love pests have for breaking into your home. From cockroaches to raccoons, you’ll find no shortage of creatures continually looking for ways to enter your living space in search of warmth and food.

When too many of them succeed, you may have to call in professionals to deal with them. Luckily, you can take measures on your own to prevent those animals from getting in to start with.

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Most Common Pest Home Entry Points

Many places around your home can become entry points for pests. But different points will play host to different types of pests and will require different treatments to be adequately sealed up. Here are some of the most common entry points you might find, and how to address them.

Foundation Cracks

Pests that love this point of entry: Insects, Rodents

Foundation cracks appear at the base of your home’s exterior. These will often show up underneath the house, or under decks.

The most common pests to enter through these openings are insects, and occasionally mice when the cracks are large enough. While exceptionally large cracks may require professional treatment, you can deal with smaller ones on your own.

How to Seal Foundation from Pests: To seal foundation cracks, use a vinyl concrete patch, which you can find at most home improvement stores. Applying the patch will require you to clean out the crack, mix the vinyl paste with latex and fill the crack with it.

Roof

Pests that love this point of entry: Insects, Squirrels, Bats, Rodents

A common concern with roofs is keeping them sealed against water to prevent leaks. But a good rule of thumb is that anywhere water can get in through your roof, pests probably can too. Insects can squeeze through cracks, and larger holes often serve as entrances for squirrels, bats and mice.

On the bright side, this similarity also means you can keep out pests the same way you keep out water.

How to Seal Roof from Pests: Apply roof sealant around any cracks, such as where the roofing connects to the side of the house or the chimney. Also check for any loose or missing shingles, and replace them as needed.

Doorways

Pests that love this point of entry: Insects

You don’t have to open your door to pests for them to use it as an entrance. Closed doors often have gaps around the sides that leave plenty of room for insects to get through.

Some easy solutions exist for this problem, though.

How to Seal Door Gaps from Pests: To keep anything from coming underneath the door, install a door sweep. Then take a look at where the door meets the door frame, and look for any cracks between them when the door is closed. If you find any, open the door again and apply a thin layer of caulk — not enough to keep the door from shutting, but enough to seal the gap.

Utility Lines and Vents

Pests that love this point of entry: Insects, Rodents

If you’ve ever watched any old cartoons, you’re familiar with the image of the mouse hole in the wall. Those holes do happen, but not in random spots like in the cartoons. Instead, both mice and insects like to use the holes already cut in the wall for pipes and cords.

How to Seal Utility Lines & Vents from Pests: To address this point of entry, look for any places in your home where pipes or cables go into the wall. Then use caulk to seal up the gaps around the pipes. For holes with cords going through them, pad most of the hole with steel wool, and keep it in place by applying caulk around the edges.

Garage

Pests that love this point of entry: Rodents, Raccoons, Birds, Squirrels

In many houses, people treat the garage as a sort of medium between indoors and outdoors — the home’s airlock, you could say. This mentality can lead to it not being as heavily guarded against pests, making it a major entry point for mice, raccoons, birds and squirrels.

How to Seal Garage from Pests: To prevent your garage from being taken over by these creatures, the main thing you’ll want to address is the garage door.

Most garage doors have a gasket running along the bottom, and weather seals down the sides. Mice will frequently chew through weather seals, however. Start by double-checking your gasket and weather seals, and then get some rodent guards to add to the bottom of the seals. They’re metal, so mice can’t chew through them.

Siding

Pests that love this point of entry: Termites, Ants, Rodents

If you have wooden siding on the outside of your house, it presents a prime target for pest infiltration.

Brick has to crack to give creatures a way in, but wood can be chewed through and burrowed into, as it often is.

Termites and ants tend to be the main exploiters of this entry point, essentially eating their way inside.

How to Seal Siding from Pests: While the best solution to this problem is to get termite prevention treatment from a professional, you can also look for any holes in your siding and fill them in with wood filler. For larger holes, like those caused by woodpeckers drilling for food, plug the hole with a piece of foam and apply caulk over it, which you can then paint on top of. Consider adding visual woodpecker repellants as well.

Chimney

Pests that love this point of entry: Raccoons, Squirrels, Birds

Cracks in your roof aren’t the only way pests can enter from overhead. Some creatures opt for a more direct route — right down the chimney. Raccoons, squirrels and birds are the most common intruders through this entrance.

How to Seal Chimney from Pests: The simplest way to address this issue is to cover the top of the chimney with either a chimney cap or some fine wire mesh. This covering will allow smoke to exit the fireplace, but without letting any pests in.

People

A final entry point for pests, which many people don’t consider, isn’t even attached to the house. It’s you!

Pests like lice, ticks and bedbugs can hitch a ride on your body or clothes, and allow you to ferry them into the house.

The best prevention here is to check yourself every so often before going inside. If you’ve just been to the woods, inspect yourself for ticks; and if you have kids, check their hair for lice. You can accomplish much of this prevention through basic personal hygiene, so keep yourself clean.

Get Pest Control Service Today

Implementing these preventative measures can do a great deal to keep pests out of your home. But sometimes pests still find a way past it all, and end up causing problems for you all the same. Whatever kind of pest it is, it’s more than likely that you won’t have any desire to deal with it personally.

No worries — we’re here to help. Pestech offers residential service all across New York including Orange County, Dutchess County, and Northern Pennsylvania. Our 100% guarantee promises that we’ll provide you with effective pest control, no matter how difficult.

Get in touch with us to schedule an inspection today!

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