Fall and cold fronts

As we move into the fall of 2008, we are blessed with the recent cooler temperatures. A sure break from the summer heat and a welcome change, fall brings with it rain in most cases, but so far not this season. As weather changes, pests that once enjoyed the great outdoors are now acting from their strong instinct to head for shelter. Rodents as well as bugs are looking for warm homes to occupy to survive the impending cold and freezing weather.

If you are under a pest control contract, you’ll likely have another quarterly service this year. Because pests are on the move now, most people are experiencing a more active bug problem than in recent weeks. Again, if you are using pesticides, consider closing up the gaps in your home to prevent pest access instead of toxic pesticides. See Pest Lock for more information. Make sure to check your garage for critters as well. They tend to sneak in around the bottom garage door seal or the open corners. Rodents will sneak into your garage and attic to hang out. They get into your attic through damaged screening or open roof lines. Rodents only need an opening large enough to fit their skull into and their whole fat body will follow. They can squeeze into a hole not much larger than 1/4″.

In addition to pest being on the move with intent to infest our homes, the cooler weather brings with it drops in atmospheric pressures. When a front moves in, the pressure changes which effects double pane windows sometimes by breaking the seal and fogging between the panes. If you notice this fog effect, the pane is ruined and will need to be replaced. You might also notice in the colder months accumulation of moisture inside the window and on the frames. This moisture will often pool on the sill so make sure the sill is painted and sealed to prevent damage. The moisture comes from the very cold aluminum window frame condensing like the outside of a soda can. Hot on one side and cold on the other side attracts the moisture.

If you house was built before 2002, your double pane windows are probably lacking high efficient low E (E=emission) large dark solar screens. Now is a good time to remove these screens to allow the extra heat load from sunlight to warm the house over the cold winter months. Store your screens away in the garage or attic in a safe location to avoid damage. If your screens are screwed on, make sure to mark their location since they will only fit that particular window. When spring arrives, you can pull them out, clean the up and put them back on the windows till next fall.

Now is also a good time to check your door weather stripping for leaks and seal the outlets and switches on all your exterior walls. Doing this will help reduce air loss and lower your heating bills over the winter. however, remember that Pest Lock does all this for you.

Enjoy the nice weather and remember to conserve energy.

Pest Lock is simply logical.

The methodology behind Pest Lock is to mechanically control structural invading pests from entering a house or building. This is done through the installation of the Pest Lock exclusion system. A properly installed Pest Lock system physically prevents pests from accessing to the structure. With Pest Lock installed, exterior control of pests becomes easier and requires dramatically less pesticide application. Pest Lock will accomplish the same goal as conventional pest control but in a much safer way.

Structural pest control has historically been accomplished by the application of toxic pesticides. Generally, these pesticides are broadcast over large areas around the exterior as well as target areas of the interior of a home. In some cases, broad application of pesticides are done on the interior of the home. Ultimately, toxic pesticides are being continually applied where we sleep, eat and raise our families increasing health concerns by increasing the frequency of exposure.

Pesticides work as toxins. As pests come in contact with the applied products, they die. However, due to products designed to rapidly degrade, newly hatched eggs may not be effected by products applied on the last quarterly application. Ongoing application of pesticides is usually required to kill the young larva as well as adult insects that live & breed in the walls or find there way into the structure from the outside. At best, pesticides can be used to control infestations by limiting colony sizes in a structure but an ongoing application schedule is necessary. The problem with ongoing application is the potential for pests to become resistance to products. More importantly, there is a growing concern regarding the overall environmental impact that pesticides have on our home, neighborhood and our world.

Over the history of pest control, few solutions have been developed to control pests from entering a structure. Unfortunately, homes are build with openings and gaps. Some of these openings are on purpose but most are not. Construction practices do not focus on preventing pest access. When a Pest Lock system is properly evaluated and installed on new or older houses, openings in the building perimeter envelope are narrowed down no larger than 1/8th inch. The primary concern is to create obstructions where systems of the house must breath and seal areas that do not require ventilation. Weep holes, or the gaps between the bricks that sit on the slab, are a good example of a system that should not be sealed and must ventilate.

See pest lock for more details.