Keep Critters Out of Your Home this Winter! | Pest Proof Pre-Travel Checklist   

“Mom! Look! I found a slug!” We expect to hear this exclamation from our kids on the hiking trail. However, it’s not exactly something that we want to hear called out in our home.

We all expect to deal with more bugs, critters, and other pests during the summer months. The windows are open more, the kids are coming in the out of the house, leaving doors open, and we are generally letting the outdoors in a lot more.

Winter is an important time to consider pest proofing your home as well though! Bugs are looking for extra warmth. They would rather overwinter in our cozy digs than battle cold temperatures, and other unpleasant conditions outside.

Along with maintaining our home in general, we do a number of things pre-travel to ensure that we don’t come home to an infestation (and a whole lot of stress) after a relaxing getaway. It helps to have a husband who is an insurance adjuster! Since Slaed handles property losses, and years ago focused on homes, he’s learned a lot over the years in what works, and what is necessary to keep our homes in tip-top shape.

I also turned our routine into a printable checklist so that in addition to your packing list, you can keep this list handy, and discourage pests from coming in while you are away!

We live in Washington State, so before I get to our pest proofing, check the Washington State Department of Health Pest page to find out the types of pests we deal with most in our state. Along with listing the common critters, bugs, and other nuisances we might encounter, there is helpful information on why we should be concerned, and what specifically we can do to deter their presence.

Pest Proof Pre-Travel Checklist

• Maintain a clean home. It sounds simple (or maybe like a lot of work!), but keeping up with the housework is a huge factor in keeping pests away. If you are doing regular cleaning, you often are able to catch a small problem before it gets worse.

• Keep up on regular home maintenance. Especially pay close attention to plumbing to make sure no leaks are occurring in sinks, faucets, or other water sources. Again, if you are checking all parts of your home on a regular basis, you are laying eyes on all the places pests could potentially set-up camp. If you are not doing this, you often won’t see the problem until it’s much bigger.

• Take the trash out regularly. We change out all the trash cans in our home the day before our trash pick-up. This ensures that trash doesn’t sit around in our house, and gives us a specific time for the chore. No matter when your trash pick-up occurs, make sure to remove all trash from the home before you leave for a trip! Ask a neighbor to help out on trash pick-up day if you will be away.

• Empty compost bins. We have a large yard waste bin, which can also be filled food scraps, that is collected by our city weekly. We also use a small compost bin outside of our backdoor (near the kitchen). When it fills up, that means it’s time to empty it into the larger bin, plus, it always, gets emptied before a trip (no matter how full)!

• Run your disposal regularly. You don’t want even the tiniest bit of food left down your sink to entice potential pests. Run the disposal whenever you are doing dishes, and before you head out the door to make sure everything is cleared out.

• Make sure pantry food is in sealed containers. Pests in the pantry can be a nightmare. Prevent this by being diligent with food storage. We use several types of airtight food storage bins, clips, and always always check the seal on those zip top bags! Do a good sweep of the pantry (with a broom & your eyes) before vacation to make sure all food is secure.

• Seal all potential openings in and around your home. Sinks, exterior doors, baseboards, all can have potential openings for critters, bugs, and other pests to make their way into the home. Do a full walk through of your home to assess any possible entry point for a pest.

• Check outside openings such as furnace, and dryer vents/exhaust. Openings like these that actually need to stay open can be covered in mesh or other material to still allow air to flow, but keep pests out.

• Keep firewood away from your home’s foundation. If you have fireplaces like we do, you likely have a wood pile. A lovely resource, but also a lovely habitat for bugs! Just make sure woodpiles are a good distance (at least 5 feet from the foundation is recommended) away from your home.

• Rake leaves away from the house. Just like wood, bugs love to make piles of leaves their home. Keep up with that leaf raking, especially in the fall, and make sure that piles of debris are not left close to the house.

• Clean out gutters, and regularly check for build-up and/or blockages. If gutters are filled with leaves, pine cones, moss, and other debris, pest will likely set up camp! We have many tall conifer trees around our home, so we pay extra close attention after blustery days.

• Trim trees away from the house. The neighbors in our old house used to call our kiwi tree the “rat highway”! If the branches and vines got too close to the house, that was just giving the pests an easy way to get in. Be vigilant with branches, and other foliage growing too close to the house (and your neighbors)!

• Make sure garage doors are fully closed. “Did I remember to close the garage door?” That seems to be a common “oh shoot” moment, especially when the garage is an extension of the home. But in addition to making sure you remember to close the garage door, take an extra second to make the sure it fully closes. The tiniest opening can invite an unwanted visitor while you are away.

• Prevention is key, but consider hiring a professional pest control company right away if something gets out of hand. We recommend searching local to your area such as “Tacoma Pest Control”, or “Seattle Area Pest Control”. A trusted company such as Bulwark, for example, can help mitigate a pest infestation or problem.

Grab our free “Pest Proof Pre-Vacation Checklist” printable!

Have you had a tricky situation with pests in your home? Do you follow any of these tips? Have any additional steps you take? Let’s chat in the comments!

[Disclaimer: We partnered with Bulwark to bring you this post. All content and opinions are our own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog.]

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