Home Maintenance: Protecting Your Home From Fall Pests

Keep Fall Pests Outside Where They Belong

The end of summer is upon us, and fall is around the corner. Our green landscapes will soon be awash in red, orange, and gold as the forests change with the seasons. The change also triggers insects to alter their daily routine and start looking for a place to spend the winter. You may see this search in action when large amounts of insects congregate on the sunny sides of your home .

When you start to see bugs searching for a place to overwinter, it’s a sign that you should be doing everything you can to make sure that the site is not your home. Here are some tips on how to protect your home from the fall invasion.

Doors are actually easy access points for pests to gain entry into your home. If you don’t have a rubber strip or door sweep along the bottom of your door, it’s probably not sealing correctly. Get down on your hands and knees and check if you can see daylight under your door.



Screens are another common point of entry for pests. Over time screens can get weak and brittle, allowing pests to push or chew their way in. So make sure your screens are up to date and free of rips or holes.

Check the caulking around your doors and windows. When caulk gets old, it cracks, making an easy route for pests to enter. Remove the old caulk and replace it with new caulk. Do not caulk over old caulk. 

Other common places insects like to overwinter in are piles of leaf litter, grass clippings, and firewood. You want to make sure none of these things are within twenty feet of your home. As for the firewood, don’t bring it inside unless you plan to toss it directly into the fire. Setting it near the fire will only warm up the insects inside and set them free in your home.



Insects usually find a spot in nature to overwinter, but your home is much more attractive than a rotten log. If your home is not fully protected, you could be spending the winter with these fall pests .

Stink Bug

When you think of fall pests, the stink bug is probably one of the first that comes to mind. Images of discovering dozens of stinkbugs under your pumpkins and squashes might be all too familiar. When they are killed, they emit a foul odor. To avoid that, use a vacuum to suck them up and then dispose of the bag outside. s 

Boxelder Bugs

These long, skinny, black bugs with red racing stripes are another sign of fall. That’s because you hardly, if ever, see them during the summer. That’s because they spend the summer living in box elder trees. They only come down when fall temperatures prompt them to look for a warm place to overwinter. Though they appear dangerous and look like they bite, they are harmless and are only looking for a warm place to spend the winter.

Cluster Flies

Sometimes it seems like flies are coming right out of the walls. How else are there so many of them in your home? Well, these could be cluster flies, which are slightly bigger and slower than the common housefly. They find their way into your home to overwinter but are woken up by the warm temperatures in your home.

At Custom Personalized, we can protect your home this fall with our perimeter pest control program designed to keep pests like earwigs, spiders, and beetle outside. 

 Call (800) 570-3313   today and ask about our or leave a message on our site. Follow our blog for more helpful lawn care tips.