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.

Pest prevention is a combination of botany, entomology, lawn, garden, and landscape maintenance, and craftsmanship. If you can handle these basic tasks, you can do it for yourself. The botany and entomology part is not that complex. Note that bugs and weeds like to have certain things in their environment. They need water and food and protection.

Insects like cover and food, and water to survive, and if you deprive them of the things they like to eat, places to hide, and the water they need to live, they will go away and look for more hospitable accommodations. Spiders like bugs to eat, if the bugs go away, the spiders go away. June bugs like certain types of light, deprive them of the light, and they will go away, without laying the eggs which would become the grubs that eat your lawns root system, and attract moles, skunks and armadillos. Eliminate standing water, and mosquitoes have no reason to stick around.

Exclude weed seed from your property, mow frequently, and most of the weeds that are there, will die out without being able to reproduce themselves with seed. Others may require manual removal, or other forms of treatment to get rid of them, and avoiding the practices that reintroduce them will prevent them from coming back.

In other words, the science you need for pest prevention is simply knowing what the bugs and weeds need to survive.Changing the habitats and habits that provide them with what they need to survive is a function of good lawn, garden and landscape practices.

If you do the work that needs to be done to the outside of your property, you will solve most of your homes pest control problems, which will reduce the number of insects trying to get into your home.

If your home becomes the source of food, water and cover for insects and arachnids, the same rules apply. don’t leave anything for them to eat, don’t leave anything for them to drink, and stop them from coming inside, and the battle is won. To stop them from coming inside, you need to practice the art of exclusion. Exclusion is where the craftsmanship part of the equation comes into play. It involves plugging holes, repairing screens, sealing cracks, and repairing weather stripping. It is really as simple as that!

If you want more details on the specifics of what needs to be done to be bug and weed free, start with: Prevention Starts Outdoors