It’s a simple principle: you live inside and things you don’t like live outside. If the assorted bugs, pests, and critters would only keep their end of the bargain, none of this would be necessary.

Sadly, house bugs don’t abide by the Geneva Convention. Well, that lifts the barriers to your own tactics in combating these egregious, seasonal problems.

The hordes of bugs looking to enter your house are Legion. They come in a variety of shapes and tolerances, so you will need several tactics to fight them all.

Read on for some quick and dirty tips.

Preventing House Bugs

Check out this link for some general information on the most common house bugs in Virginia.

To keep it simple, think of bugs across four mixed categories: wet, dry, tiny, and small.

Sanitation

The first and best line of defense against tiny bugs in the house is sanitation. Keeping the floors, walls, and especially vents clean does the most to disincentivize insects entering the home.

Periodic cleaning is superior to occasional deep cleaning as limiting the spread of enticing odors is key.

Sightlines

In the same vein, keeping the sightlines around the home clean prevents insects from getting close enough to set up shop indoors.

Keep branches of trees trimmed and away from the house. Make clear walkways of at least three feet between foliage and the house.

For window boxes, routinely weed and treat the soil to keep the plants healthy and the insects away.

Clear sightlines will diminish the number of flying bugs in the house. They don’t like to fly long distances in uncomfortable temperatures so will stick to the trees and grasses.

Border Defenses

Next, you want to lay down ground cover that dissuades insects while not harming the landscape or harming pets and children.

Two main schools of thought exist here. The first is to use substances that kill smells, this makes it impossible for ground insects to locate food and/or return to a nest. Lavender extracts and neem oil work well for this, with neem also having its own pesticide properties.

Second, dehydrating insects kills without risk to humans and pets. Desiccant substances such as borax and diatomaceous earth strip insects of vital moisture. These substances also work slowly, increasing the chances that they will be carted into nests and hives to destroy breeding areas.

Internal Defenses

The best way to handle insects already in the house from becoming an issue is to seal them up. It’s nearly impossible to dig them out of the walls once they set up shop but you can starve them out by plugging enough holes.

Caulking gaps and plugging up seams between foundation and drywall with copper mesh limits their entrances.

An often-overlooked solution is to keep helpful species on hand. If you can tolerate it, leave spiders in the basement and under hard-to-reach areas to predate pest insects.

Live in Peace

The battle against house bugs is largely about defenses. Once you notice an infestation it’s better to call in a professional to reset the numbers.

A year or two of enhanced defenses will lead to diminished pest spottings.

Now get out there and fight the good fight, for more tips check out what we post next.