How do tons of insects get in the house when the screens are on and the doors are almost always closed? Do they come come through the electrical outlets, the plumbing, or the dryer vents?
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How do tons of insects get in the house when the screens are on and the doors are almost always closed? Do they come come through the electrical outlets, the plumbing, or the dryer vents?
Thank you
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Replies
Crawlies or flyies?
Dave
Insect intrusion can be likened to water and a ship's hull and if there is a place for them to get in they will.
Merciless and relentless in their continued pressure on the shell of a house, the best one can do is limit the intrusion by systematic sprayings and tightening up the shell the best one can,
which means caulking cracks and seams in the exterior, perhaps tighter screening, removal of plant growth to close to the house and overhanging tree limbs where the critters practice their various parachuting techniques.
Housing location can play a role in respect of closeness to bodies of water or a moist environment.
Building materials and the treatment of can play a part of how inviting the house appears to them.
A bee can literally bounce alongside housing member in search of the elusive crack or hole till it finds something suitable enough to climb into.
The idea is to make it so rough that they desire to seek other areas down the road a piece.
Spiders and ants can be notorious in their family laying habits once entrenched in the crevices without sprays.
be making a friend of the caulking gun.
"Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps."
-Thoreau
Edited 7/17/2007 12:24 pm ET by rez
Mostly through various cracks in the walls. (That is, those that don't simply crawl over the door threshold or whatever.) The mud sill area in a house with basement is a very likely point of entry. A house over a crawl has opportunities where very wire or pipe goes up from below. Plus any chink in the siding/sheathing is an opportunity -- once the bugs are in the walls they can crawl through outlets or under bottom of drywall.
I don't think that many come in through dryer vents in most cases, but you can pretty much eliminate that as a problem (and save heating/cooling costs as well) by using a dryer vent outlet that closes tightly. (Though most of these are ugly as sin.) Same for bathroom vent fan outlets, etc.
At my house, they start circling as soon as I get out of the ride. Then, they follow me in as I open the storm door, and just keep on trucking while both the storm and entry door are open.
But, it's rained about 25 of the last 35 days, too--way more bugs than July normally has.
That's the fliers. Crawlers? My house was built in 1951--there are perforations every where. Keeps the cat occupied, bug chasing does.
Ever notice how moths and other flying insects cannot fly in a straight line -- that is until you open the door. Then, ZOOM, straight as a jet to the far wall to hide in the highest point of the window treatments.
I am just glad they don't play poker.
notice how moths and other flying insects cannot fly in a straight line
It's that catch-a-ride-on-your-shoulder-with-no-weight-at-all, but as soon as they are "trapped" in the house, it's-bash-into-everything that does me wrong <g> . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Mt former SO and her son were transplants from Alaska. Never saw a moth before...
Man, it was funny as hell when they'd try to enter the house at night...( the SO and son, not the muths) they'd flap thier arms like there were pteradactyls after them...." AHHHHGGGHHH, Big furry things with wings..ahhhghhh!"
I'd have tears in my eyes laughing.
Listen to this. Four days ago, DW cut some Swiss chard; lay it briefly and unknowing on a fire-ant bed.
Brought it in, put it in the crisper in the fridge.
Today, she pulls it out to cook and finds they're running around, moving eggs, etc.
IN THE FRIDGE! IN GEORGIA (ants aren't used to cold weather)
we must be breeding tougher insects.
Forrest
Had an old can of Penta sealer I put on some exterior wood trim I was placing under an eave.
Within a minute I look over and see three little tiny whitehaired catapillars crawling on the trim!
Where'd the come from I don't know as there were none others around but they sure liked that sealer.
"Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost. One may almost doubt if the wisest man has learned anything of absolute value by living." -Thoreau
I think they use forged Canadian passports
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Ayyyeeee!!! TALIBAN ANTS!!! Call Homeland Security right away!! Red Alert! Red (ant) Alert!
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All it takes is a few studs just sightly wider than the bottom plate and the sheathing will not be tight at the bottom. This is a common point of entry.
when you have a house on slab, they alway run a pvc 4 inch pipe in the slab for the freon lines to outside unit. That is a direct highway into the house.
Good luck...when you find out, let me know.
Just built a house using SIPs. I was here during the course of construction and made sure all cracks were caulked and filled. Once in a while, I'll find one or two cockroaches, flies, wasps, spiders, crickets.
The tightness of the house is reflected in the low energy cost of heating and cooling. But I have no idea how else I could keep these critters out.