Bugs are the largest species based on the number, and some love to come and dwell in our homes. While some of these bugs are harmless, others can cause serious damage to the furniture, or even the entire structure of the house. That is why it is in your best interest to eradicate all bugs and make your home bugproof.

But since there are basically thousands of different types of bugs, there is no one concrete step to make your home bugproof. What you need to do is have a plan containing multiple steps that includes using a few tools and keeping your house clean so that it does not attract any sort of pests.

Invasive Bug Species You Need to Know About

Before you start taking measures for bug-proofing your home, you need to know some common bugs that are likely to come live and mess up your home.

  1. Termites: They eat any wooden components of your house such as furniture and wall interior and damage things here and there.
  2. Fruit Fly: They carry a lot of harmful bacteria, and they love to sit on your food. These bacteria then drop into the food and if you eat the food, you become severely sick.
  3. Bed Bugs: These attach themselves to the bed and suck blood from your skin, but usually do not spread disease. These bugs are small in general but baby bed bugs are even harder to spot.
  4. Cockroaches: They also love to eat your food. They release a substance that spoils food, creates a bad odor, and can leave stains on the floor.
  5. Spiders: Although most of these spiders are absolutely harmless, their webs can catch dirt and make your room, especially the ceiling, appear dirty.
  6. Ants: Although they are not true bugs per se, they are classified as Hymenoptera bugs. They are also one of the most common bugs you will see in your house.

How to Bug Proof Your Home

We only listed some of the most common bugs that will come and dwell in your house under different circumstances. But there are thousands of more bugs out in the open, waiting to creep into your living space. 

To make sure that does not happen, here is a list of steps that you can follow to bug-proof your home.

1. Use Screens

To ensure wind flows through your room properly, you need to keep your windows and doors open. This is even more tempting during those hot summer days where even a slight breeze can cool your body. But unfortunately, bugs love to fly around and look for a cold place.

And what better place than your house? They will fly in without you realizing and settle under the ceiling, or in any corner.

To make sure this does not happen, you can attach net-like metal screens to the windows and doors. The holes in these nets are large enough to allow proper wind flow but small enough to stop any bug right in its tracks.

2. Seal Door Gaps

Your door – whether it is the main door to your house or the door to different rooms – they do not completely touch the floor. You will see a fine gap between the door and the floor. Even though you might think this gap is nothing much, this is perfect for small crawlers to creep in.

To solve this issue, simply seal the gaps. You can do it in two ways. One, you can use a sturdy aluminum threshold under the door. This will block the gap easily.

Second, you can attach a door sweep to the door. This sweep is attached to the bottom of the door and it blocks the entire gap. This method is cheaper, yet provides better protection, although not as long-lasting as an aluminum threshold.

3. Keep Firewood Outside

Stagnant wood is heaven for a lot of bugs and critters. They love living in chopped-out wood, especially if it is a damp piece of wood. You can simply keep a piece of firewood in your backyard and within a few hours, you will see a whole nest of bugs around it.

To make sure these bugs do not enter your house, you need to keep these firewood pieces outside, and for the best result, a bit far away from the house. Carrying the wood from the stored place to the inside of the house may be a bit of trouble but it will surely keep bugs outside as well.

4. Keep Your House Clean

Bugs love to rest in wet, damp, and messy environments. So, if your house is in this condition, it is high time that you clean your house.

There are plenty of ways to keep your house clean and hygienic. First of all, try to remove all sorts of water and liquid spills immediately from the floor. Second, ensure that you are brushing off dust and dirt from your house floor, and from other furniture.

Third, you can use a mix of warm water, soap, and vinegar. Vinegar is excellent in keeping bugs away. Bugs that rely on scents such as ants and flies will completely disappear once you start using vinegar to clean your home.

5. Reduce Moisture

As mentioned before, bugs love to live in wet and damp areas. This is why it is of utmost importance that you reduce the moisture of your house every now and then. Buying a dehumidifier can certainly help with this issue, but it is not the only solution.

You also need to ensure that your pipes are not leaking. Check your basement and other pipelines for leaks and holes. If you find any, fix them immediately lest you want a whole bug invasion.

6. Maintain Your Pets 

Pets are great to have and fun to keep around. But they also have some downsides. First and foremost, they may carry dirt from outside into your house. If this dirt goes unnoticed by you, chances are insects will start coming into your house.

Pets also carry bugs in their body as well. Fleas and lice are very common in pets, especially furry animals. So, give your pets a bath every now and then to keep them clean. If you keep them clean, they will keep your house clean as well. You also have to have some knowledge on what do fleas hate because it’ll probably keep the fleas away.

7. Keep Your Yard and Backyard Clean

Your yard and backyard are the most vulnerable areas for a bug invasion, at least if you do not clean them regularly. Dead leaves, dead grass, wet soil, and garden debris – all of these can attract bugs as these are natural residents of many bugs.

So keep your yard clean of these litters. Remove dead leaves and pick up dead grass. You can even use insecticides to keep the soil clear of any bugs. But this may kill some beneficial bugs such as earthworms. So be cautious while using chemicals.

8. Repair Any Cracks on Walls

If you have cracks on your walls, it is just basically inviting bugs and critters to come to live in it. They are dark, and well hidden from human sight, a perfect place for bugs to live and reproduce.

So if you see cracks on your wall, you need to seal them immediately. The longer you keep them open, the more bugs will start to nest in these cracks.

You can use caulk to seal the cracks, this is the best and most effective solution. If you find any larger cracks, try to use cement to fix the crack. If you have damaged bricks, especially in the exterior of the house, then replace the entire brick and use a new one.

9. Do Not Leave Food Or Trash in the Open

The smell of fresh food or even spoiled food that you throw in the trash can attract a wide variety of bugs and insects. Bugs that feast on these foods and trash will soon start to swarm in your house if you leave them open.

Remember, if you can smell your food or your trash, so can insects. In fact, they have better smelling power than you. So try to keep a lid on your food so they do not spread their fragrance around. In the kitchen, tightly shut your cabinets, seal any visible cracks, and conduct pest control on a routine basis to keep your kitchen bug free.

It is also a good idea to keep your trash in a tightly sealed garbage bag.

10. Use Birds as Natural Pest Killers

Although this will not reduce every single bug outside of your house, it will surely reduce their number, and the rest you can terminate by yourself.

Plant large trees and keep small water fountains near these trees. Clean the water every now and then and soon you will see birds building nests in your house. These birds love to pick off insects that reside in your yard, or on the outskirts of your house. They are the natural predators of insects after all.

Final Thoughts

Bugs can be a real annoyance from time to time. While some may not harm you directly and only live in your house alongside you, others will surely cause you a lot of trouble such as spreading diseases, damaging structures, and even making your residence unlivable.

So it is crucial that you eradicate all bugs from your house. We hope that the lessons you just learned from this article will help you in keeping your house bug-proof.