3 Materials Contributing to Your Home Pest Problem

Pest problems at home can be caused by a number of factors. Environmental factors like climate and season can impact residential pest problems. The condition inside your home and outdoors around your property also play a role in determining pest infestations. One variable that can contribute to the presence and accumulation of pests is the availability of materials that pests find attractive for one reason or another.

Many pests feed on certain common materials or use them to build nests. These pests may turn into permanent occupants if they find ample resources to sustain themselves. Often, these resources are common materials found in and around your house. Here are three common materials that could contribute to a home pest problem.

Wood

The presence of wood inside or outside of the house is nearly impossible to avoid, but for pests like termites, wood is gold. There are ways to protect wood from termite infestation, but if you live in a region where termites are a problem, you should be vigilant about wood around the house. This is especially relevant to wood piles outdoors since a number of pests, such as spiders, termites, and rodents, can feed on wood or use it for nesting. If you store wood outside, keep it away from the house. Wood on the exterior should be treated to repel termites if these are a problem in your area.

Paper

Another ubiquitous material around any house, paper is also a popular material for pests. Rodents, in particular, can be attracted to paper and use it for nesting. Paper found in garbage cans is particularly attractive for rodents and can be a source of annoyance, and a contributor to the worsening of an infestation. Be sure to pick up regularly, empty trash, and keep paper and other garbage from accumulating inside or out of the house. While paper in a wastebasket is not the ultimate catalyst in a rodent infestation over something like easy access to and presence of food, it can contribute to the larger problem.

Yard Debris

A common contributor of pest problems is excessive yard debris that becomes a habitat for spiders, ants, termites, and/or rodents. Yard debris can be anything like dead wood, decomposing leaves, grass, mulch, trash and some combination of all of the above. When pests have infested an area around the exterior of your home, the likelihood of pests getting into your home increases. Ant, rodents, and termites are especially likely to follow this course as they move on to better food sources. If your home has holes, gaps, and cracks in the foundation, ventilation, or elsewhere, entrance and infestation can be more likely if pests migrate from the outdoors.