Tips to Keep Your Garage Pest-Free
Garages are home to many things: bikes, seasonal sporting equipment, the faithful lawnmower, power tools, and unfortunately, pests. Damp, dark, and easily accessible, pests make their way into garages as though their lives depend on it. It’s true—their lives do depend on the safety that your garage offers, but how do you keep these determined critters and bugs out?
Factors That Attract Pests
When trying to keep pests out, it’s crucial to understand why they want to get in your garage in the first place. There are several reasons:
Safety: As mentioned earlier, your garage provides protection, safety, and security, all natural instincts that bugs strive to satisfy. Your garage is the refuge they seek, harboring bugs and critters from the elements.
Smells: Never underestimate the power of scents. If you have food that you store in your garage that’s not stashed in an airtight container, then the smell could be attracting pests. Even things like plants, grains, and birdseed are enticing and can invite pests for a potential feast.
Sustainability: Bugs and critters flourish in a garage environment, especially if the garage satisfies basic needs, such as protection and food. Since garages tend to be dark and damp, the environment isn’t very different from the pests’ natural habitats. This moist, dark, damp, and warm place can sustain unwanted pests for a long time.
Getting Rid of Current Pests
Eliminating pests means tackling the factors that attract them in the first place, shutting down their ability to access the environment in the first place. However, the best place to start is by getting rid of any existing pests first.
Examine & Identify: If you already have pests, the hardest part about this process is getting rid of them. Fortunately, there are companies that specialize in just this. Start by searching your garage for signs of pest infestation. You’ll be looking for things that are chewed, nests, droppings, scratch marks, insect shells, or fur. Next, identify what kind of pest has made a home in your garage—bugs or animals? Finally, call a local professional pest removal company to eradicate them.
Keeping Your Garage Pest-Free
After ridding the garage of any unwanted roommates, it’s time to work through a checklist to keep the garage pest-free.
Securing: Your garage isn’t quite like your main house. For one, there might be cracks or openings around the perimeter that need to be secured. These cracks make your garage vulnerable to pests and if they aren’t addressed, you’ll sign yourself up for future infestations.
Check your foundation for damage, cracks, or holes. If the foundation has cracks, pests are bound to locate them and sneak inside. This may mean a new coat of sealant or a call for repairs. Next, check windows, walls, and doors. Use expansion foam, weather stripping kits, or putty to fix holes and cracks. Check your garage’s ceiling, using a ladder to carefully conduct a visual inspection.
Decluttering: Bugs, critters, and pests all love messes. If your garage is cluttered, it’ll make a great home for animals to hide and build nests and homes. When experiencing a pest invasion, take it as an opportunity to tackle the messy garage and get it organized.
Keeping your garage free and clear of clutter is the first step. It’s easier to take most of your storage out and move in onto the driveway if possible. Then, go through the contents by separating what you will and won’t need.
Next, it’s time to purge the garage of all nests, debris, and residue leftover from pests. Make sure you mop, spray, and wipe down the garage’s surfaces to limit future problems. Run fans to dry the area (pests love damp environments as much as they love clutter!), and reorganize the leftover contents, storing what you can in sealed containers.
Proper Storage: It makes perfect sense that bugs and pests will be attracted to your garage if you have open containers of food, so take action by getting as many sealed containers as possible. Animal feed, a garage fridge, trash cans, and other items that smell good to pests will attract them. Box up, throw away, and seal all food, drinks, and enticing items in your garage to keep it pest-free.
Active Prevention: It’s one thing to remove your current pest problem, but this purge will only serve you well if you actively prevent pests from setting up camp in the future. You can do this by keeping your garage decluttered, storing items in proper containers, securing the walls, windows, and doors, and other steps like ensuring the space is ventilated and dry. Make sure there’s good airflow by running window fans, cracking open one or two windows, and letting your garage dry out by opening the door for an afternoon.
No matter what you choose, you’ll want to go with professional garage builders who have the reputation and experience. That’s why Danley’s Garages is #1 in Chicagoland for detached garage construction. Speak to a specialist and get a free quote online today.
