Fall invading pests are looking for ways to get inside now that the weather is getting cooler. Many pests, from cockroaches to crickets to mice, will enter buildings through any kind of opening that they can find. That often means under and around doorways. Pestproofing involves caulking, screening, and otherwise sealing openings where pests can enter. Doors are probably the most important site for pestproofing.

In addition to stopping pests, pestproofing doors also stops smells, light, and heat that emanate from the door, all of which attract pests. Pestproofing, in general, is a win/win situation because not only do you reduce the number of pests that can get inside, you also reduce or eliminate the amount of pesticide that needs to be used inside.

Another aspect of pestproofing doors is that you are also weatherproofing, soundproofing, and insulating – at the same time that you are stopping pests. Energy costs are lowered by maintaining the indoor temperature and keeping the weather and drafts out. Noise is reduced from outside to inside and room to room.

Pestproofing of doors involves sealing openings around doors by installing door sweeps, thresholds, and weatherstripping, sometimes combined with caulking. Door sweeps range from a simple nylon brush on a screw-on strip to more elaborate brushes that are enclosed in a metal threshold. Threshold strips seal the space under the door. Gasket weatherstripping seals along the frame of the door.

Door sealing kits come in a wide range of sizes depending on the door style and the size of the gap to be sealed. Full door sealing kits include a header seal, jamb seals, and door bottom seals. There are weatherseal door kits for every kind of door: vinyl thresholds designed to eliminate the gap at the bottom of garage doors (a prime entry point for pests), kits for sliding glass doors, even kits for overhead doors in commercial accounts, to name a few. And, don’t forget the attic access door.

You can do this kind of pestproofing work yourself, or you can contract out. Some pest control companies, like Colonial, also do pestproofing as part of a pest management program. The advantage in having a pest control company do this work rather than a general contractor is that we know pests, we know their habits, and we recognize the types of openings that let pests inside. It’s our job to keep them out. Give us a call today and ask about our pestproofing services.