Q. These stink bugs are driving me nuts! I must be finding 20 or 30 a day inside my home. Isn’t there something I can do to keep them from getting inside?

A. Fortunately, there is something you can do. Like stink bugs, nearly all pests inside a home are invaders from outdoors, finding their way inside through doors and windows, under the siding, through crawlspaces, or through unseen cracks and crevices common to every home. An outside perimeter treatment can protect you from these outdoor pests invading your home. An exterior perimeter treatment works as a first line of defense around your house , a barrier to prevent pests from entering.

A professionally-applied exterior perimeter treatment creates a long-lasting barrier around the entire perimeter of your home, blocking the entry of crickets, carpenter ants, cockroaches, clover mites, spiders, millipedes, and other outdoor pests. Perimeter treatments are especially valuable during periods of peak pest activity in spring, and again in late summer or early fall when certain outside pests, such as stink bugs, try to move inside for the winter.

There are several advantages to exterior perimeter treatments:

• By stopping the pests before they get in, exterior treatments minimize the need for pesticide application inside your home.
• Because the pesticide application is outside, there are no odors or pesticide residues inside your home.
• There is little or no disturbance for you and your family during treatment. You do not even need to be home for a technician to apply an outside perimeter treatment.
• Exterior perimeter treatments are more effective because they are targeted for the times when pests are most actively trying to move inside.
• Exterior treatments are the best defense against migrating outdoor pests that like to spend the winter in our homes like stink bugs and lady beetles. These pests are very difficult to control once they’re inside.

Colonial offers a Home Pest Control Plan which includes two low-impact, targeted exterior pest control applications per year. We combine this semi-annual pest maintenance program with our pest exclusion methods such as caulking and sealing to keep outside pests out. Give us a call today and ask about our exterior treatment plan to eliminate stink bugs from your future.