Your garage performs important functions in the life of your home. It’s a safe harbor for your vehicles, provides storage space for seasonal items and can be used as extra workspace and/or recreational space. Unfortunately, pests often hold the opinion that your garage is a great place to establish a home.
In this article, we discuss how to remove pests from your garage and discourage them from returning. Read on to learn more about our pest control ideas.
What Kinds Of Pests Might You Find In Your Garage?
Insects are everywhere, and your garage is no exception. Good hiding places attract them. If you also leave out food and water sources (e.g. pet food and water dishes, stored food, open trash) you are very likely to have a large population of insects in your garage, including:
Many of these insects are excellent food sources for other fauna, so if you have a lot of insects in your garage, you are likely to also have lizards (e.g. skinks and geckos), snakes and spiders.
If you have a lot of junk jumbled about in your garage, you are likely to have largish, cozy hiding places that are very attractive to mammals such as squirrels, chipmunks, rats and mice.
If your garage is very seldom occupied, and you’ve got lots of treasures piled up, day sleepers such as skunks and possums may decide to set up residence and raise families. This is especially true if you store animal feed in the garage.
Flying critters such as birds and bats also need a place to live. A garage with holes in the roof or gaps in the walls provides an open invitation to these critters to come in and make a home in your garage rafters.
If you live in an area that has lots of night-flying insects (especially mosquitoes) you are more likely to have a bat population in need of a roost because bats eat mosquitoes. Lots of birds do, too! For this reason, setting up alternate, appropriate living space for birds and bats is a good idea.
Take Care Of Your Garage If You Don’t Want Critters To Live In It
Interesting and beneficial as some wild animals may be, you don’t necessarily want them living in your garage. Luckily, one of the easiest ways to keep wild things from moving in is to establish your own presence in your own space.
Take good care of your garage; make timely repairs; clean up regularly; spend time in the garage, and set up timers to turn lights and radios on and off to create a less animal-friendly environment.
Here are a few steps you can take to effectively discourage wildlife from moving into your garage:
- Install weather stripping around doors and windows to eliminate gaps where intruders might slip in. This is not a one-off project. You’ll need to inspect your weather stripping seasonally and replace it as needed when it becomes worn, torn or dried out and stiff.
- Install thresholds on all doors. This is a good way to keep scurrying ground animals, such as mice, rats, chipmunks, lizards and snakes from slipping into your garage. As a bonus, a threshold can also help keep water from entering your garage during heavy rain.
- Make sure your garage door closes securely. If your garage door gets knocked askew or some part of its components stops working properly, you may find that a gap develops. Be sure that your garage door is always in good condition, working as intended and seals tightly.
- Patch holes in your walls and roof promptly. It doesn’t take much of an opening to allow wasps, bees, birds and bats to slip in. Inspect your walls and roof regularly and take care of problems as soon as you see them.
- Don’t leave the doors hanging open. Always shut the garage doors (both drive-in and walk-in every time you pass through. An open door is an open invitation. If you tend to be forgetful about this, you may wish to install timers and mechanisms to shut the doors after a predetermined amount of time has passed.
- Keep your garage dry. Even a small amount of water can be considered a water source by wildlife. Be sure to block any small holes and gaps where water may pour, leak or seep into your garage. Ventilate areas where moisture may condense.
- Store all types of food in metal bins with tight lids. Whether it’s pet food or extra dry goods, such as rice, flour, etc., or boxes of cereal, cookies or crackers, keep it safe from critters of all sorts with tightly sealing metal bins.
Occupy Your Garage So Pests Won’t
Whether you are in your garage to maintain it, to pursue your hobby, to do odd jobs or simply relax, if you are there, wild creatures will avoid being there. Spend time in your garage and you’ll be fairly sure to keep it pest free.