They’re not just for squeezing out between the walls of your house anymore. Crawlspaces serve many important functions, from acting as a buffer between your home and the rest of the world (keeping outside critters and pests out but allowing some air to flow in) to acting as an extension of your heating system during those chilly winter months. Unfortunately, these same crawlspaces can also become infested with pests like spiders and cockroaches that you don’t want being both inside and outside your home simultaneously. Here are ways to manage pests in your crawlspace.
Deep Cleaning and Removing Pest Attractors
You have to get the place cleaned up before you can even think about managing pests in your crawlspace. Deep clean your crawlspace by going through and pulling everything out of it. All magazines and boxes must be removed, including spider webs, dirt, and debris. Be sure to seal any gaps in your house that lead into the crawlspace by sealing off vents, cracks, or holes with caulk or noncorrosive mesh wire.
Create an Insulated and Ventilated Crawlspace
It’s not just vents that are important in controlling pests in your crawlspace; it’s insulation and ventilation. Your crawlspace needs to have a decent amount of insulation around it to keep pests out. For example, if you have a crawlspace that measures just 5 inches deep, a layer of insulation around 8″ inches should do the trick to keep those pests out. Crawlspace Depot offers crawlspace insulation and can help you determine the best type of insulation to buy.
Install a Crawlspace Heat Pump
Crawlspace heat pumps are great because they will keep the pests out of your crawlspace and help your heating system work more efficiently by enabling it to stay warmer. For a crawlspace heat pump to work well, it will need to have a way of draining off the excess air produced by the heat pump, usually through vents in your home. These vents must be made of a noncorrosive material.
Use Pesticides to Control Pests in Your Crawlspace
Now that all the pest attractors in your crawlspace have been removed, it’s time to address the pests themselves. Several different pesticides can control pests in your crawlspace, from conventional pesticide products like insecticides and roach spray to organic and biodegradable solutions like pesticide blocks. The best control method that you use will be determined by the type of pests you have and what they’re attracted to.
Keep Food Off the Floor in Your Crawlspace
One of the top problems in crawlspaces is people leaving food on the floor. Although there may not be a problem with food on your floor, there is still a problem when it starts to get dried out and starts attracting bugs. These bugs will inevitably crawl into your home, where they can start to reproduce. This leads to an unpleasant situation that can be avoided if you properly dispose of all your food or keep it in an area where pests and insects can’t get to it.
Crawlspace pests can be annoying, but they’re not dangerous or serious. It’s important to keep your crawlspace clean and sanitary, but you can also take preventative measures to keep the pests out of your crawlspace in the first place. By cleaning up your crawlspace and controlling the conditions that attract pests, you can enjoy a cleaner and more pest-free crawlspace and a more comfortable home.
