Pests quickly become difficult to manage when they continue to make their way into your home despite your best efforts. A routine inspection plan, some house and yard maintenance, and regular upkeep with your pest control treatments can help you find sources of entry, remove infestations, and keep annoying pests outside much more reliably.

Find Out From Where They're Coming In

Finding out just how pests keep getting into your house can be a challenge, but it's worth taking the extra time to do so. Pests won't always take a direct line in from the outside to the inside; they can travel through walls, under floors, and even through pipes and vents to get where they want to go, so it helps to have a list of places to inspect before you get going.

• Check the frames and weather stripping of every door and window in your house to make sure there's a tight seal, and look for any signs that creatures may have chewed on the frame to make a larger opening.
• Look in crawlspaces, attics, and ventilation systems. These include your HVAC ducts, plumbing vents, and dryer vents.
• Look for cracks near your foundation to see if pests are crawling in and out of any. Foundation cracks can let pests move under the cracks to find ways inside your home.
• Check the siding of your house; if it's not properly sealed, pests can get in behind it even if it looks to be in good shape at a glance.

If you've sealed and patched up everything you can and still see no obvious entry point for pests, a specialist can help determine where they're coming from and how to keep them out.

Remove "Bridges"

Pests can occasionally bypass preventative measures by finding alternative paths into your home. Along with sprays, powders, traps, and other ways of keeping pests away, the best way to prevent them from getting inside is to limit how many ways they can actually reach your house.

For example, if any trees or bushes touch your walls or roof, pests can easily climb over them to your home, completely ignoring any sprays you may use around your foundation. The same is true for any tools propped up against the outside walls, barbecues, bikes, trash cans, gates, and anything else that touches your house and the ground. Even if you use pest treatment, these "bridges" can make them much less effective.

Keep Up With Pest Control Measures

When it comes to effective pest control treatment, upkeep is the best way to keep them at peak effectiveness. This means getting regular inspections, applying new treatments on schedule, and following up with suggestions based on what your pest control specialist recommends. This is especially important if the specialist found that any pests started to make homes inside yours. Regular applications of preventative treatments will keep pests outside and also keep them from potentially damaging your home by moving in. If treatments are stopped too early, these pests may simply start coming back inside as soon as they've faded.

Contact a company like Skeeter Beater to learn more.