How To Bug Proof Your Home: Guide to Pest Control in Northeast Ohio

Bugs are pretty annoying. 

In fact, one of the reasons they get on our nerves so much is because they are everywhere. They can be outside in your yard and you can find them in your home. 

But just because pests first evolved more than 480 million years ago doesn’t mean they have the right to keep invading your personal space. Sure, you may share some space with insects, but the second they invade your home, they become a big problem. 

Let’s talk about how you can effectively bug-proof your home using comprehensive pest control strategies, including perimeter pest control and even some do-it-yourself pest prevention methods. 

The ultimate goal: To ensure a pest-free living environment with the benefits of professional perimeter pest control services so you can take back your personal space from the bugs that get in your way. 

Table of Contents

Common Pests in Northeast Ohio and Regional Challenges
What is Perimeter Pest Control?
DIY Pest-Proofing Tips: Indoor and Outdoor Strategies
Safety Considerations for Pest Control
When to Call the Pros: Signs You Need Professional Pest Control
Benefits of Professional Perimeter Pest Control Services
How to Choose the Right Pest Control Company

Common Pests in Northeast Ohio and Regional Challenges

Northeast Ohio has a pretty diverse climate. Unfortunately, this can create a bug-friendly environment. 

How? According to AccuWeather, cooler temperatures and extreme dry weather can cause bugs to invade homes. Extreme rains can also cause some pests like spiders, ants, and cockroaches to enter homes looking for shelter. 

Like us, bugs seek warmth and protection from the elements during the cooler months. They want to feel safe and cozy; we can all certainly relate to that.  

Take a look at your home. It’s got some prize amenities that these pests rank as pretty important: warmth, water, shelter, and food. If you have a dank, damp basement, this is also a big draw. Moisture is like leaving the bar tab open for bugs. 

Of all the pests that can bother us, there are certainly some that are more of an issue here in Northeast Ohio. Here are some of the more common household bugs in Northeast Ohio so you can better identify, prevent, and control these insects and take back your personal space.

Ants

Ants are typically attracted to sugars, crumbs, and uncovered foods. If you don’t have food in sealed containers, for instance, that’s an ant magnet. Once ants find your food, they send a message to their worker ant friends, letting them know they found the jackpot. That’s when you can find swarms of ants coming into your home to grab some dinner for the rest of their colony.

Exterior barrier treatments can help when it comes to how to get rid of ants in the house because the product includes a smell or taste that ants don’t like so as they come in contact with the barrier treatment near your home, they immediately go in another direction. 

Spiders

The wolf spider is a common pest you might see coming inside when temperatures drop. Some common spiders you can find in your home include wolf spiders, yellow house spiders, orb-weaver spiders, and jumping spiders. Wolf spiders are larger spiders that are especially active in the fall when they seek shelter. Yellow house spiders with quarter-inch length, yellow-green bodies are fast crawlers. orb-weaver spiders are pretty small; they are known for their intricate webs and tend to be common near Lake Erie. Jumping spiders are hairy and black – you’ll find them on ceilings and moving in short, fast jumps. All of these spiders like to move indoors when it becomes cooler outside. 

Spiders come inside through webs they create right outside your entrances and near lights. 

A professional perimeter pest control company will look at your home and figure out where spiders are coming in. Once they do that, they will knock down webs and seal doorways and windows to ensure they stay out. This involves filling in any holes or gaps around seals and any other entry points into your home with caulk to deter spiders from coming inside in the first place. 

Millipedes and Centipedes

The many-legged creepy pests like millipedes and centipedes may be the worst common household bugs in Northeast Ohio … it’s all those legs! 

Full-grown centipedes can be more than an inch in length. They like your dark, damp basement because it also brings food in the form of other pests like spiders. That means if you see centipedes and millipedes, it could be a sign that you also have other bugs. 

These bugs are active during the evening hours, and they enjoy spaces like floor drains, cardboard boxes, and cool crawl spaces. 

Ladybugs and Stink Bugs

Sure, ladybugs and stink bugs are pretty harmless pests. These common household bugs in Northeast Ohio don’t cause much damage to structures or eat through all your crumbs and sneak into your food supply. 

But they can become a nuisance. And when the weather cools, they can enter your home in decent numbers, making them tough to control once they get in. 

In addition to keeping food stored, the house clean, and keeping plants around your home trimmed, reducing moisture buildup around your home and keeping lights down when these bugs are trying to enter can also help keep them away. 

Additionally, sealing cracks in attics or eaves can help prevent these pests from sneaking indoors. 

What is Perimeter Pest Control?

As you consider options for limiting pests in your home, you might be considering professional perimeter pest control. The goal, after all, is to stop pests before they have a chance to get inside and become harder to exterminate.

But as you hear about this service, you might be wondering how it works to limit pest invasions in Northeast Ohio homes.

Do perimeter pest control treatments work? Yes. Exterior insect control is a way to block a bug’s entrance into your home by applying a product around the foundation to discourage entry. Refreshing this barrier approximately five times a year ensures it doesn’t break down, keeping pests out. The reason pests don’t like to cross the exterior insect control barrier is because it’s a product they don’t like the smell or taste of, so they stay away. 

A big benefit of perimeter pest control is having an experienced technician outside of your home regularly to look for problems. In securing your pest barrier, they keep their eyes out for any problems they see, alerting you of issues and providing instant solutions. When you have technicians who have years of knowledge on how to find pests, bugs don’t stand a chance of getting into your property. 

DIY Pest-Proofing Tips: Indoor and Outdoor Strategies

These days, it’s not uncommon for homeowners to attempt some DIY pest prevention methods. Various products are advertised as being easy and safe to use. You may even wonder why you would spend money on a professional perimeter pest control company to take care of bugs if you can just do it yourself. 

Whether you’ve attempted DIY pest control or not, you’re probably trying to understand what’s involved to get the best results. 

While DIY pest control can be quite complex and you should leave actual exterior treatments to professionals, there are some things you can do yourself to limit pest invasions. 

1. Reduce Conditions That Encourage Pest Infestations. To insects or mice, imagine how good your home smells and feels. Fresh food, water, and crumbs – it’s like a smorgasbord. In fact, this is made worse if food is continually left out or spills aren’t cleaned up. So, one way to keep pests out of your house is to keep it clean. Clean crumbs and spills off of floors; store all food in sealed, plastic containers, including pet or bird food; and take trash out regularly, keeping it in a container with a sealed lid.
                 Outside, make sure to limit debris by cleaning up leaf, branch, and twig piles, as well as trimming overgrown plants. Also move any firewood stacks to areas at least 20 feet from your home.
2. Eliminate Entry Points. One more thing you can do when it comes to how to keep bugs out of the house is to make sure bug superhighways into your home aren’t left wide open. Sealing any cracks or crevices around your foundations, windows, basement, siding, and insulation can keep bugs outdoors where they belong.
3. Create a Barrier of Defense. A professional perimeter pest control treatment outdoors can help stop pests from entering your home. These applications last approximately 5 to 6 weeks and ensure nothing gets through, particularly as temperatures drop and pests are seeking shelter, and also when temperatures rise again in spring and pest activity increases. 

Safety Considerations for Pest Control

Professional pest control companies employ trained technicians who have the expertise to safely and effectively bug proof your home. 

These professionals undergo rigorous training to understand the behavior and biology of various pests, enabling them to devise targeted treatment plans. Unlike DIY solutions, professional pest control methods utilize industry-approved products that are applied with precision to minimize risks to human health, pet health, and the environment.

Professional pest control in Northeast Ohio has multiple benefits that make it safe. 

• Tailored Solutions. Professional pest control companies conduct inspections to help identify the root cause of infestations. They then develop perimeter treatment plans tailored to address your pest problems, ensuring long-term results.
• Expertise and Experience. Trained technicians possess the knowledge and experience to tackle challenging pest infestations. They stay updated on the latest industry developments and best practices, ensuring that they employ the most effective and safest methods available.
• Safety Protocols. Professional pest control companies prioritize safety at every step of the process as a part of their best practices. From the selection of products to their application, they follow strict safety protocols to protect both occupants, their pets, and the environment.
• Long-term Solutions. Unlike DIY methods that may provide only temporary relief, professional perimeter pest control offers long-term solutions. By targeting pests at the source and implementing preventive measures, professionals help prevent future infestations, saving you time, money, and stress in the long run.
• Peace Of Mind. Entrusting perimeter pest control to professionals provides peace of mind knowing that your home is in capable hands. Rather than dealing with the uncertainties of DIY methods, you can relax knowing that trained experts are handling the situation.

When to Call the Pros: Signs You Need Professional Pest Control

The very idea of pests poking around your home can make you feel much less safe and secure. No one likes thinking about bugs in cupboards or spiders in basements.

But the reality is that even the most conscientious person cannot always avoid an occasional pest infestation.

This means you could share your home with some unwanted visitors – from cockroaches to spiders to centipedes.

Fortunately, there are some signs you can look for if you suspect you have an infestation by a common household bug in Northeast Ohio. 

1. Messes You Didn’t Make. One sign of common household pests might be random, strange, small piles of messes that you don’t remember making yourself. For instance, mice leave little caches of food behind appliances. You might even find random pieces of paper, cotton balls, and twine in somewhat hidden places. These things are showing you that pests or rodents are sneaking food or crumbs and attempting to gather materials for building nests.
2. Strange Noises. Some pests can be pretty noisy. You might hear cockroaches scampering about along a floor or counter. And mice tend to be noisy as they move in walls or attics.
3. Actual Pest Sightings. An obvious sign of common household bugs in Northeast Ohio is actually spotting them. You might see ants crawling around kitchen floors or near entryways. You might see spiders and their webs in corners of windows or in basement nooks. You might see centipedes on your basement floor. Other pests like cockroaches are usually most active between dawn and dusk, so you might spot them scurrying away when you flick on a light as you enter your kitchen. 

Benefits of Professional Perimeter Pest Control Services

Like us, bugs and critters seek warmth and protection from the elements, especially during the winter months. They want to feel safe and cozy. We can all relate.  

Take a look at your home. It’s got some prize amenities that these pests rank as pretty important. 

There are four key justifications for professional perimeter pest control services in Northeast Ohio. 

Northeast Ohio Temperatures Are Unpredictable 

Have you noticed how Northeast Ohio temperatures can fluctuate, especially between seasons? One week, you’re bundling up in layers because temperatures have dropped and winter feels like it’s set in. But by the weekend, you could be shedding those layers and basking in a warmer 50-degree to 60-degree day. 

Just as the little bouts of warmer temperatures are a great feeling for you, guess who else really likes them? You guessed it: bugs. Most insects become active at 50 degrees Fahrenheit -- even ants. So when we have a spike in temperatures for even just one day, pests can decide to move around and change up their location. And your home looks pretty inviting, making pest control in Northeast Ohio an important next step.

Your Home is Safe and Warm

Once pests become active and start moving about, they are hunting for a few key things: shelter and warmth. And especially if you have overgrown shrubbery near your home and piles of firewood, pests are already hanging out nearby. 

While you’re basking in that one warmer day, pests already know that the colder weather is coming back, so they are focusing on finding their next refuge. It’s only a matter of time before they trade in their outdoor digs for a rent-free room in your home. Pests feel the warmth from your heated home and notice some great hiding places to sneak into. Now they’re quietly building a nest and making your home their home, which is why you might need professional perimeter pest control. 

You Supply Free Water and Food

Pests don’t want to work for their food. 

Do you have any bags of food open and unsealed? Or maybe you leave out pet food or even bird seed? They can smell those delicious morsels a mile away. And if your basement is damp and dark, this is also a big draw. 

These could be reasons you need pest control in Northeast Ohio.

You Don’t Have a Secure Perimeter

There are some fairly easy tasks you can do to prevent pests from entering your home. 

First, keep food stored in plastic or metal, sealed containers and clean your home often. 

Next, reduce moisture buildup around your home and in storage areas. Store firewood at least 20 feet away from your house and regularly prune shrubs and trees near your home. 

Then, seal any cracks and crevices that lead into your home. You can find openings near basement entry points, foundations, window wells, insulation areas, and even around siding. If you notice some common pest spots like spiderwebs, be sure to knock down the ones around your windows and doors or siding to prevent them coming inside. 

These steps can take you most of the way there. But professional perimeter pest control services can seal the deal. At Turf Pride, we do five treatments throughout the season that are timed about five to six weeks apart. Our outdoor sprays are targeted around the home perimeter. Once that barrier is broken or weakened, it opens your home up to reentry during any season, which is why the regular treatment intervals are important year-round pest control solutions. 

How to Choose the Right Pest Control Company

Each and every time you make a decision, especially when it comes to spending your hard-earned dollars, you want to be confident in your choice. 

As you think about when to hire a pest control company in Northeast Ohio, it can seem almost impossible to figure out what separates a great service from a poor one. You might even be asking yourself if there’s any difference between one compared to another. 

But just like any other service business, there will be some pest control companies that are better than others. Maybe it’s their experience or treatment quality, or products they rely on. Many of these things and others can impact final results. 

Talking to each company you’re interested in hiring can certainly help you weed out the good ones from the bad, but you may not know exactly what to ask as you’re reviewing their merits. There are some specific questions that can help you as you try to quickly find a pest control pro to tackle your bug situation. 

What Are the Current Pests and Problems That You See?

There are many different signs of bugs in Northeast Ohio, and you want to be sure the technician you hire is able to identify them. 

Why does this matter? Your pest control technician should be able to show you evidence of current or previous pest activity and suggest a long-lasting approach to rid your home of pests and keep them away. They should also have enough experience to be able to tell you a little bit about how pests operate. 

What Is Your Plan For My Pest Problems and What Kind of Products and Equipment Do You Use? 

Pests are quite adaptable. Reliable pest control in Northeast Ohio will be able to identify the specific issues you have, explain the details to you, and then have the latest information on what products are the safest and most effective for keeping bugs away. 

The application equipment they use will also be highly targeted with specialized nozzles that direct applications exactly to their targets. These practices ensure the safety of everyone around your home. 

An experienced technician should be able to easily explain what type of products and equipment they are using and how they are using them. 

What is the Expertise/Tenure of Your Team, Particularly My Technician?

The professional perimeter pest control service you hire should employ experienced technicians. Companies who hire and train employees and treat them well know they will turn around and treat you well. 

This ensures he or she will be able to recognize your pest problems, quickly address them, and answer all of your relevant questions. 

What Do Your Clients Have to Say and Where Can I Find Those Comments?

Customer reviews say a lot about a company’s quality of service. You should be able to easily find a company’s Google rating and read the reviews. In fact, the businesses you’re interviewing should be able to provide you with a link to this information to make it even easier for you to find. 

These verbal and written reviews should give you a glimpse into what working with that professional perimeter pest control company is like. 

What Can I Do Better to Keep Pests Out of My Home?

Remember, a service business is ultimately about you, the customer. In addition to identifying your pest problems and sharing a plan with you, your professional perimeter pest control technician should be able to talk to you about what you can do better on your own to keep pests at bay. 

For instance, ants and cockroaches might be drawn to specific areas of your home that you can tidy up to stop luring them in. While a pro won’t make money offering you these tips, this education is invaluable for you to have. Afterall, hiring pest control in Northeast Ohio should be a partnership where they are informing you and taking care of your problems, as well as providing you with helpful tips, insight and suggestions so you can live pest-free. 

And if you have outdoor pests, such as mosquitoes, fleas, or ticks, your pest control pro should also be able to give you some solutions or service options to handle those problems.

Conclusion

We hope this guide helps you better understand the different types of pests you have to deal with in this area. 

And you deserve affordable, value-based professional perimeter pest control services to manage them. 

When you’re searching for the best pest control for homes in Northeast Ohio, Turf Pride wants to be at the top of your list. We offer a professional perimeter pest control, as well as a complete list of lawn care services. This means you don’t have to deal with two companies for these services; you can have one contact to call and one company to handle these issues for you. 

Ready to learn why Turf Pride could be your choice for the best pest control in Northeast Ohio? We’d love to learn more about you. Get started today with a free quote. Together, we can prepare a customized plan that is perfect for you and your home.  

Image Source: Ants, Lady bugs