| OK, so maybe that fly got in when a door was opened, or it was resting on your sleeve when you entered the house. And lord knows why there’s a miniscule ant crawling on that piece of paper you’re reading. You try to ignore these tiny creatures, and do everything you can to avoid thinking you might have to do something about them, right? But sooner or later these pests might cross a line. They’re flying up into your nostrils, buzzing around your head, leaving small bites that make you itch, or marching single file across your kitchen counter headed straight for that cookie. So you’re ready to do something. But what? It’s true there are aerosol products in spray cans called “bug bombs” or “total release foggers.” You shut your windows, set them off, run like hell out of your house, and let them run for a few hours before you can return. I don’t know about you but, to your humble correspondent, it doesn’t seem real appealing to turn my house into a temporary hazmat site that magically becomes safe again just before I return. And I can only imagine the scowl on RFK Jr’s face if I were forced to testify on what I had just done. So your first step should be to play detective or “forensic specialist.” See if YOU can figure out if there’s a specific border crossing where they’re entering the house. Are the bugs concentrated in a specific room? Better yet, can you find a spot against an outside wall where you can see light shining through? Or maybe you can see something from the outside. Window, Porch, and Door Screens Holes and tears in window, porch, and door screens are an obvious entry point for insects. What you may not know is there are many different types of screen mesh available. There are those that are extra-strength and those specifically made to resist damage by pets. Some are less visible, coming in a charcoal gray color. And some are fiberglass instead of aluminum, so resist denting and punctures. Fix St Louis can handle pretty much any screen replacement, even if your screens are built into wood trim. Gaps Around Doors and Windows From the inside of your house, during the day, see if you can see light coming through around the outside edges of your doors and windows. Fix St Louis can plug holes, replace worn-out weatherstripping around doors, swap out door sweeps and thresholds under doors, and caulk thoroughly. If your windows are not closing all the way, leaving gaps at the top or bottom, we can fix that, too. Holes in Framing A favorite entry point for bugs is a home’s lowest lumber framing, close to the soil where they hang-out. While they can’t do much to get through a concrete or stone foundation, they like to reach up to the lumber just above it, especially sill plates that rest on the foundation and rim joists (aka “band boards”) that stand-up on their edges and run along the perimeter of the house. If you have a basement that doesn’t have ceilings in some areas, look for light shining through at the ceiling level, just above your concrete or stone foundation wall. Fix St Louis can replace this lumber, and also add “sister boards” to reinforce the structure if bugs or water have taken a toll on this framing. Exterior Walls and Trim It’s possible you can actually see how bugs are getting in by taking a close look at the outside of your home. You might see holes made by woodpeckers, which are often surprisingly perfect circles or ovals between 2 to 4 inches in diameter. You might see white trim boards that are rotted, cracked, or displaced. And you might see rotted sections caused by some combination of sun, temperatures, and water. Fix St Louis can repair or replace pretty much any of these. Special Cases: Ants, Termites, Bats, and Carpenter Bees Maybe I should’ve mentioned this earlier, but Fix St Louis is not a pest company. Yes, we can do a lot of useful things to keep pests out and repair damage they’ve created, in many cases better than pest companies can. But we’re not experts at identifying them or finding where they’re entering your home. And we don’t know much more about how to kill or rehabilitate them than you do. So, if you’ve got an ant problem, call a pest company. It’s usually not easy to figure out where they’re coming from, and these companies have developed clever ways to kill them that would make Israel’s IDF blush. Ditto for termites. Whereas ants can be a nuisance, termites can cause serious and expensive damage to your home. It takes a specialist to understand the extent of the damage and to treat your home. On the other hand, these companies cannot repair termite damage, but Fix St Louis can. Bats are kinda creepy things to have in your house, and it takes an expert to figure out how they’re getting in, and how to get them out. But I can’t think of a case where we’ve had to fix damage that bats have caused, and where the pest company couldn’t close the gaps themselves. Yet, I’m sure Fix St Louis could perform those repairs if the pest company directed us what to do. Most of the damage we’ve seen from carpenter bees have not been something to get all excited about, so we usually suggest not doing anything about them. Usually they are holes in deck boards that may have been elongated into slots or ovals by woodpeckers, who are following the track of the nests inside the boards. These holes might look kinda ugly, but they do not meaningfully weaken the deck’s structure. On the other hand, if carpenter bees are attacking the bottom framing of your house as discussed above (sill plates, rim joists, band boards), those same repair issues apply and Fix St Louis can handle it. Yeah, I know talking about bugs in your home is not as exciting as thinking about building that beautiful new kitchen. But as we’ve been trying to tell you, we at Fix St Louis are not the glamor guys in this industry. Mostly, we are often the only folks who will do small home repairs like those above. In fact, we are so unique that we are now in the process of franchising throughout the midwest. That’s sure to bug the other midwest contractors, but it’s a feature, not a bug for you. We’re not wishing you bug problems, but if you’ve got ‘em Fix St Louis can help. Dr Steve Fix St Louis |
