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It doesn’t matter where you live, it’s generally impractical to shop every day and keep no food in your home. That’s why most homes have well-stocked pantries, allowing you to create the meals you want when you want them.
Unfortunately, storing food comes with a risk. While damp can cause mold, the bigger risk is that pests can enter your pantry and eat the food you’re stockpiling.
It doesn’t matter whether you need to get a rat problem sorted, or find out more about your local pest control experts. The important thing is to eliminate any issue and then take steps to make your pantry pest proof.
Check out the following tips to ensure your pantry is pest-proof!
Seal It Up
Pests need to get into your pantry to cause issues. The first thing you need to do when remodeling or creating a pantry is to ensure all the interior walls are sealed. This eliminates entry points for pests. Of course, pantries generally need ventilation, any vent you build into the pantry needs to have a fine mesh, small enough to keep all pests out but still allow air in. The higher the vent the better.
It’s a good idea to put the brush strip on the bottom of your pantry door, this prevents the pests from walking under it.
Don’t forget to regularly inspect the pantry to ensure the walls remain sealed, even a crack as small as a pencil can allow a mouse in!
Clean It
Pests are attracted to pantries because they smell the food. To eliminate this issue you need to eliminate the available food. Cleaning the pantry every day will help to ensure there are no crumbs or other traces of food.
Read: 5 Tips on How to Improve Your Kitchen Without Spending a Small Fortune
However, you’ll probably find it more effective to store all food items in sealable containers. Never open a container inside the pantry. Remove the container, place it in your kitchen, and use the contents. Reseal and wipe the edges of the container before putting it away, you’ll eliminate the smell of food to pests.
Containers
Keeping food in plastic or metal containers doesn’t just stop the aroma attracting pests, it also makes it difficult for them to get to your food, even if they manage to get into your pantry.
Empty The Trash
Your trash bin is full of things that will attract an array of different pests. It’s important to empty the bins regularly and take the trash bags outside, as far away as possible from your home. Of course, the bags should be sealed to avoid creating an invite for the neighbor pests.
Moisture
Don’t forget that pests need moisture as well as food. To ensure you’re not providing a free hotel to pests take a look at all your water appliances. You need to make sure none of them are leaking.
To verify you can shut off all appliances and then take a water meter reading; Take another reading 1hr later and verify the meter hasn’t changed. If it has you leak somewhere. You’ll need to find it and fix it, if you don’t you’ll simply be attracting the pests.
Keep Pests Away
It pays to think about pests now, especially if you’re planning on redesigning or building a new pantry. Pests can do more than destroy your food supplies, they can also carry diseases, some of which you really don’t want to catch.
Read: How To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient?
Designing a pest-proof pantry isn’t difficult. It simply means taking the opportunity to seal the space properly and incorporate the best methods of preventing pests from attacking.
As always, prevention is better than cure, spending a few moments now to design your pantry will pay off in the long term. Don’t forget, to be certain that your pantry design is pest-proof, it’s always worth calling your local pest exterminators firm.
They’ll be happy to assess your design and check your home, eliminating any existing issues and helping to ensure you’re protected against future ones.
