SEALING WINDOWS & DOORS FROM BUGS NEWTOWN, PA
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RODENT PROOFING EXTERIOR DOORS
Rats and mice are among the most dangerous and destructive of pests. While they may come indoors through tiny cracks and fissures, one of the most commonly used entrance points is an exterior door. Unfortunately, any door that does not have a sweep and a threshold installed on the bottom is likely to admit rodents. Additionally, if the rest of the door is not safeguarded along the top and sides with weather stripping or weather seals, other pests can enter the building as well.
To determine whether or not a sweep is required on a certain door, check to see if the distance between the threshold and the door's bottom is greater than one quarter inch. If it is, a mouse can easily squeeze through the opening.
Door sweeps are available in a wide range of materials. The simplest are strips made of rubber or vinyl. Others are mounted with a screw-on strip and consist of a nylon brush that spans the width of the door. More elaborate door sweeps are available too. These may include a brush encased in a metal threshold. Some door sweeps are automatic. When the door is closed, the sweep drops down to seal the door.
Rodents also use garage doors to get inside buildings. The rubber door gasket on a garage door deteriorates over time, leaving vulnerable openings, especially at the bottom corners. Installing new door strips and compression seals can address this problem.
BUT NOT JUST FOR RODENTS
While rodents might be among the most hazardous of pests, pest-proofing doors also keeps out all sorts of smaller creatures. Millipedes, cockroaches and crickets find it easy to get through doors that don't have sweeps or weather stripping. Accordingly, when weather stripping is added to the top and sides and a door sweep is installed along the door's bottom, the building is better protected against every pest that might be interested in coming inside.
While rodents might be among the most hazardous of pests, pest-proofing doors also keeps out all sorts of smaller creatures. Millipedes, cockroaches and crickets find it easy to get through doors that don't have sweeps or weather stripping. Accordingly, when weather stripping is added to the top and sides and a door sweep is installed along the door's bottom, the building is better protected against every pest that might be interested in coming inside.
These pesky insects can carry diseases like Lyme and E coli that are harmful for humans when inhaled or touched. They also cause a lot of damage inside the home by chewing on wood and other materials - which will be costly.
One of the best ways to keep bugs out of your home is to seal the openings they use to enter. This can be done by sealing cracks, gaps and holes that are anywhere in the house's exterior. When sealing windows and doors from bugs, it's also important to consider where insects can enter. Insects get inside through tiny gaps around windows and doors, as well as through any opening or crack in the foundation or walls. To keep them out, you'll need to seal these areas as well as those mentioned above.
CLEAN AROUND THE HOME
The first step to sealing the home against these bugs is to clean the area surrounding it. You need to eliminate any food that could be attracting them, such as pet food left out on the porch, and seal up any openings that would allow insects in.
Next, remove excess vegetation near your home's foundation. If you have a garden, for example, pull up any weeds or tall grasses so that there are no hiding places for these pests.
Finally, one of the most important steps to preventing rodents and bugs from entering the home or is to keep areas clean. Keeping your house clean will help cut down on the number of insects that are around to come inside. That also means that you should make sure that any food in your home is sealed up tightly so it doesn't attract bugs. It goes without saying, but if you have standing water near your home - such as a leaky pipe or a pool cover - make sure you dry it up as soon as possible to prevent mosquitoes from breeding there.
OTHER BENEFITS OF ADDING WEATHER STRIPPING & SEALS
Keeping pests out might be the main reason for installing door sweeps and weather stripping, but this is not the only reason for improving all of the exterior doors on the property. Sealing up the doors also makes the interior spaces more soundproof. If you are bothered by outside noises on a regular basis, then installing door sweeps and weather stripping will help to muffle those sounds.
Additionally, a well-sealed door improves energy efficiency. Without gaps around the doors, it is easier to keep the building heated in the winter and cooler in the summer. Energy bills are virtually certain to drop as soon as doors are properly sealed.
It also is worth considering that when the doors are properly sealed and pests cannot get inside, there will be less need to apply pesticides indoors.
WHY CHOOSE A PEST CONTROL COMPANY?
It is possible for property owners to install weather stripping and door sweeps, but this can be a time-consuming task, and it is not always as easy to get this equipment correctly installed as it appears.
That is just one of the reasons why we provide installation of door sweeps, weather stripping and weather seals as part of our Integrated Pest Management services. Often referred to as IPM, this approach involves all phases of pest control. That includes preventing pests from coming indoors in the first place, which is the primary reason for installing door sweeps and weather seals.
Our weather stripping and door sweeps are specially designed to keep out bugs and prevent rodents from chewing through.
Among our other services, we eliminate pests of all descriptions, ranging from the tiniest ants to the largest rodents, but we don't believe that our work ends there. We also ensure that all nests and pest waste products are removed from the building. If necessary, we will repair or replace materials that were damaged by pests and seal up other cracks and openings in the building's exterior to prevent pests from entering.
We take the job of keeping pests out of homes and businesses seriously. Contact us today to learn more about how to pest-proof your doors.
