While your garage is the perfect space for your vehicle, bikes, and tools, it’s also an ideal shelter for pests looking for protection from the outdoors. If you’re wondering how to keep insects out of your garage, you’ve found the right resource. The best way to keep bugs away is to keep your garage clean and free of temptations such as food, water, and nesting spaces.
How to Keep Bugs Out of Your Garage
Declutter: Keeping your garage organized and clean is the best way to avoid and spot pest infestations. Use plastic storage bins or other weather-tight containers, rather than cardboard, to keep critters and bugs from nesting in your belongings. Make sure you check your items and storage containers for pests before putting them away.
Reduce water and humidity: Most bugs are attracted to water lingering around your garage. Make sure you don’t have any leaky pipes, standing water, or condensation. Get a dehumidifier for your space, if necessary.
Remove food: Cleaning out any loose food removes a major temptation for bugs in the garage. Sweep up crumbs immediately after they’re dropped, tightly tie your garbage bags, and use sealed containers for pet food and birdseed.
Weatherproof: Seal up cracks around your windows, doors, and garage door to prevent pests from making their way into your garage, especially during seasonal transitions when bugs seek a warmer or cooler place to live. You may use silicone caulk, weatherstrips, and rubber seals for this project. The local professionals at Mr. Handyman® can help you weather strip your garage door to not only keep the bugs out but also keep the temperature of your space comfortable all year long.
Contact the professionals: Our Mosquito Joe® professionals can help you find and remove existing pests, as well as identify conditions that may be attracting pests to your space. We offer perimeter pest control services, applying a specialized spray around the garage to keep insects away. Contact a Mosquito Joe near you today to get a quote, or call us.
Related Topic: Preparing for Winter Pests
Common Garage Pests to Look Out For
Pests in your garage can range from a few buzzing flies to a complete rodent infestation. Some of the most common garage dwelling pests include:
Deer mice: These small rodents are notorious for nesting in boxes and wall gaps during cold months. This can pose a threat to your property, as the mice may also find their way to your vehicle and chew through wires while attempting to find the perfect space.
Spiders: The garage is ideal spider habitat, as other bugs become confined to the space, and spiders feast on them. Keeping your garage free of other pests is the best way to avoid spiders, as their food source is diminished. Frequently sweep along baseboards, doors, and windows to remove spiderwebs.
Flies: These bugs are attracted to strong odors. The best way to avoid a fly infestation is to keep your garage free of pungent smells and food.
Crickets: In warmer and dry months, these loud bugs are often drawn to a cool and shaded garage. Their jumping abilities allow them to make their way to even your highest storage containers.
Silverfish: These small bugs easily make their way under doors and through small cracks. Food temptations and loose clutter will easily attract these pests, as they feed on anything from meat to cloth. Garage insect repellent can help deter these pests.
Sowbugs: Sowbugs are crustaceans more closely related to shrimp and lobsters than to insects. They’re attracted to cool, damp, and wet spaces because they’re unable to retain moisture in their bodies.
Related Content: Mosquito Control—Even in the Winter?
When to Clean Your Garage to Deter Pests
Keeping your garage clean and sealed throughout the year is the best way to keep pests away, no matter the season. However, in colder months, bugs are especially attracted to your garage because they want an escape from the cold. Cleaning your garage in the fall will prevent pests from finding small and hidden spaces to hunker down in throughout the season. It’s also a good idea to clean your garage in the spring as the new year can bring on more pests.
