One of the many practices used for preventive pest control is exclusion. Exclusion is the practice of keeping the pests out by physically blocking their path of entry.

The pictures below will help to illustrate:

The first picture is of a separation between a door frame, and the brick siding of the home. This opening was large enough to allow many types of pests to enter. Blocking such entries will drastically lower the chances of having pests come inside your home. You may not find all the holes and cracks on the first try, but each one you seal, will be one less entry, and help you to discover others.

The next photograph shows the caulking process at the beginning.

The final picture in this series is the finished product. It will prevent pests, and keep cold air out. It can be painted to match the brick, or the door trim if needed.

"Why hasn't anyone told me about this before?" Our readers ask us this a lot. The fact is that pest prevention gets forgotten. People are more apt to wait until a situation becomes a problem and then treat the symptoms of the problem. Why has this bad behavior become normal behavior? To answer that, just follow the money!

No one but you will profit if you learn to use pest prevention as your first line of defense against pests. The pest control companies will not be able to charge you for extermination if you have nothing to exterminate. The chemical companies will not be able to sell their products if you are successful at preventing pests. The green pest control companies can't even charge for natural or botanical pest control services if you have nothing for them to control. None of these folks have an interest in preventing pests, only in treating the pests that are the symptoms of your pest problem.

That is not to say that they are being dishonest, they are not. They know that pest prevention works, they will even give you pest prevention tips along the way, but they will not give you all of the information you need. Even then, they are not deliberately omitting information, they are just giving you the information they can at the time. Some of them may, in fact, not be fully aware of some of the methods that can be used to control pests by using preventive pest control methods.

We have information available on this website which will take you through every step of pest prevention from beyond your property to the inside of your home, written in a step by step sequence which is easy to follow. We have separate, but related articles on specific pest control topics to further assist you in your pest prevention program, and it is all free!

We are not saying that following this program will always eliminate all your pest problems, but we are saying that this will work against the majority of your insects and weeds, if followed correctly, and will greatly reduce the amount of insecticide and herbicide needed, which will save you money, and improve your home environment.