Chester's Clean House: Bugs

Showing posts with label Bugs. Show all posts

Keeping House bugs Out of Your House

Over the years, we at Chester’s Clean House have given you many different tips to keep your home free of bugs. Using these simple tricks, you can keep the house bugs, out of your house!

Homemade Garden Pest Control

To create an effective insecticide spray for your garden, finely chop 2 garlic cloves and combine with 2 teaspoons of mineral oil. Let the mixture soak for at least 24 hours. Add a quick squirt of liquid soap to 1 pint of water and combine with the garlic mixture. Stir thoroughly and strain with a coffee filter into a glass jar for storage. Combine 1 tablespoon of the solution mixture to a spray bottle full of water. Test the solution on a single leaf of any delicate plants.

Home Remedies To Get Rid of Ants For Good

Some Great tricks for getting rid of ants:

Salted cucumber peelings are said to repel ants. Just place them where you see them. I would do this outside as not to attract other things into your house.
White pepper, red pepper, or sage are said to repel ants also. Mothballs may also work. Apples will kill an ant colony.
Cut up an apple or leave the peels or the leftover core near the entry to the colony. The ants will take it back killing the queen.
Mixing borax with honey, maple syrup, butter, or lard will also kill an ant colony. You'll have to test each as some ants like sweets and others like greasy foods. You can leave the mixture in a bowl or on the ground.

Cockroaches May Live Through A Nuclear War, But Boric Acid Will Kill Them

After you have cleaned your home thoroughly, try sprinkling Borax inside all of your cupboards, except where you store food. Brush it all over the bottom of the cupboards and be sure to get the Borax into all of the cracks. Where you store your food you can leave an open container of Borax to keep the cockroaches out. Boric acid will take some time to kill the cockroaches, but it and cleaning well are your best defences. Also be sure not to step on cockroaches as you can get their eggs on your shoes, enabling them to spread.

Create a Barrier For Crawling Bugs

You can create a barrier to repel crawling bugs by painting your baseboards, walls and cracks with the following solution. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil then add 2 tablespoons of alum(aluminum sulfate). Once the alum has dissolved and the water has cooled, use a paint brush to paint your baseboards or anywhere you would like to create a barrier.

Get Rid Of Spiders, And Keep Them Away

Spiders hate American Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides). This herb can be found in two major forms American Pennyroyal plants and Oil of Pennyroyal. You can buy the plant at most nurseries. To repel spiders with the plant dry some leaves and place crumbled up leaves where the spiders congregate. Oil of pennyroyal can be found at most heath food stores and can be placed on cotton balls where the spiders live. Once you place the pennyroyal to spiders will leave, in a hurry!

How to Maintain Your Carport

When you don’t have any extra room in your garage, a carport is a great way to protect your assets from the weather. A sturdy carport can extend the life of any vehicle and can make it a lot nicer to get into in the winter months. However, once your carport starts to show its age, they can become eyesores very quickly.

There are multiple types of structures that you can use as a carport. Many steel, aluminum, and plastic pre-formed kits exist to help you construct one quickly and cheaply. If you live in a home with an older carport, it most likely constructed of wood or wood and metal. A wood constructed carport requires more maintenance than a metal one, but can easily be maintained with minimal effort.

To really keep your carport looking its best, I recommend getting a power washer.

If you have a wooden carport, the power washer is great for quick cleanups even in the tallest parts of your carport. They can blast away grime and loose paint, which comes in very handy when you plan on repainting. It is very important to keep up the paint on your carport. Without the paint, the wooden structure will be susceptible to bugs and rot. A power washer is also a great investment for metal carport owners as well. They are also great at removing the startup bird nests that are always showing up in the rafters or the roofing of your carport. If you cannot afford a power washer for your carport, a bucket of soapy water and a good, long-handled brush will do a great job.

If you have trees around your carport, you may begin to see mold and mildew building up on the roof. Put on some clothes that you care nothing about and get the sturdiest ladder that you own. If you can safely set up scaffolding alongside your carport, this will save you some time. Now mix one part bleach to ten parts of water in a large bucket. Scrub the roof of your carport with the mixture and a stiff brush. Rinse with a lot of water.

It you get oil stains on the concrete floor in your carport; use our tip for Removing Oil Stains from your Driveway.

How to Deal With Ground Bees

Ground bees are very different from honey bees. Honey bees are quickly going extinct, and their hives should never be tampered with except by a beekeeper. Beekeepers will gladly remove honey bee nests and will sometimes do it for free. Ground bees are longer than honey bees and are much, much more aggressive. It you are attacked by ground bees, which are often referred to as Yellow Jackets, they do not usually give up. Running and flailing your arms will only make them even angrier. A groundskeeper friend told me that it was best to just stand still and take the hits, as he called it. He claimed that you will get stung a few times and that they will then leave you alone. Personally, I don’t want to get stung at all!

Ground bees burrow hives into soft soil or into wood or other places that they can find a safe sanctuary. This, unfortunately, means that they will go wherever they can. It may be your yard or your home. Since they are extremely aggressive, this means that you have to be extremely careful once you have discovered their nests.

I have read a ton of horrible ideas on how to deal with their hives. Ideas from pouring gasoline into their nest to sticking road flairs into the hive may work, but are completely dangerous and foolish. When I found the nest in our side yard, I first tried a powder that I got from my local hardware store. You are supposed to dust it around the nest at night, and during the day, they track the poison back in and kill off the entire hive. I added more every night for a week and there was no change. I then tried a spray foam insecticide. This worked, but only as long as the bees dove into the foam. Once the foam was gone, they were back to work as usual. A few more cans later, I was looking for a better and cheaper idea. So, I listened to the advice of an old friend of mine and covered the hive a 6 foot by 6 foot clear plastic drop cloth. I weighted down the sides with a few scrap 2 by 4s and waited. The next day, they were trapped, and ticked off! But a few days later, they were dead. Just to be safe, I waited an entire week before removing the drop cloth. I haven’t seen a bee in that area again!

Some quick tips: Only approach the hive at night when they are dormant. During the day, you can mark the nest with a brightly colored object (like a Frisbee). Anything that you can toss from a safe distance that will help you locate the nest again at night. And, if you are allergic to bee stings, get someone else to do the dirty work!

Get The Bugs Off Your Car

I do a lot of country driving and I swear that the bugs are attracted to my car like some strange suicide pack. My hood and bumper are always covered. A simple way to remove them without hurting your paint is to soak a clean rag with WD-40 and scrub the bugs off. Removing them before they get burned on by the sun will make your job easier. Also, make sure that you wash and wax your car after you remove them, this will make them come off even easier next time you clean them.

Refreshing Your Cedar Closets

Cedar chases off moths and invigorates your clothing with a wonderful scent. Over time, your cedar chests and closets will begin to loose their effectiveness. Not to worry, rub down your cedar with a high quality cedar essential oil. You can find this at aromatherapy stores or any place that sells essential oils. Make sure that your essential oil is not diluted as this reduces the effectiveness.

Bug Home Remedy Weekly Recap

Here is a quick recap of the bug home remedies we posted this week:

Draw Flying Bugs Out Of Your House

Many flying bugs are attracted to light. You can get many of these out of your house by turning on an oudside light, turning off all inside lights, and leaving the door open.

Keep Bugs Out Of Your Flour and Pasta

Many bugs like to munch on your flour and pasta. Place mint leaves in the top of your flour and pasta containers to repel these bugs. Replace the leaves once they start to loose their aroma. If you don't have any mint leaves you can try mint chewing gum.

Dryer Sheets in your Sock Drawer?

Placing a few unused dryer sheets in any clothing drawer improves odor control and reduces the moisture level in the drawer. Clothes left with dryer sheets smell better longer and will last in the drawer longer without getting that "left in a drawer too long scent." Dryer sheets are cheap and one or two per drawer will do the trick. If you are storing summer or winter clothes for any period of time, dryer sheets are a must! Dryer sheets are also known as a deterrent to many types of bugs, which makes me like them even more.