Note – this post was originally published in Financial Chronicle, Delhi in 2012 by the creative director of Ansa Interiors – top interior designing firm in Delhi.
How do you get rid of pests, especially in this season? The answer is simple!
- Get rid of dark dingy places.
- Clean your homes.
How would that help?
At Ansa, we believe that the ways to get rid of pests is to take preventive measures rather than use of harmful chemicals.
The pest are usually attracted to food, water and dark dingy places so, lets start by making your home less entertaining for your pests.
Here are the steps to get rid of pests!
- Start by cleaning your house. Throw away the entire dump that will never be used. Clean all stores, dead storages, under the bed and over the fridge.
- Take out bio-degradable garbage daily; see to it that the dustbins are washed daily.
- Clean your floor daily and add soap to your water used to mop floors, occasionally.
- Check your fridge and food storage, twice a week to check any staling. Anything rotting, throw immediately.
- Buy sealable containers for dry storage, and dry them properly before putting any food item.
- Keep your home and surroundings as dry as possible. No water stagnation in kitchens, bathrooms, verandahs, balconies or coolers.
- Vacuum your carpets regularly. It blows in a lot of pests with dust.
- Seal the gateways to pests. That is sealing all potential entry points. Put jalli in the back side of exhausts, and seal any cracks in pipes, walls, cupboards, windows, and floorings. Use cockroach trap floor traps, they not only prevent cockroaches but also rats.
- Use dehumidifiers in the home to keep the air dry this also helps in lesser pests as they cannot breed in dry air.
- Use of neem leaves or camphor in cupboard, bed and kitchen will prevent a lot of pests.
- Try non-chemical methods of pest control. Fly traps, sticky tapes, light traps, bait boxes and oil diffusers are a great help. Clove oil in a diffuser can prevent a lot of pest infections. Dry mint leaves and bitter cucumber can prevent entry to ants.
There you have them! The preventive, nature-friendly way of getting rid of pests.
Pests can be a big problem especially when you spent lakhs of rupees on building your dream abode. It’s easy to get rid of them, well, prevent them from happening at all. We hope these tips help you out!
