It’s a very unpleasant surprise to pull out your favorite shirt, only to discover that it’s full of holes made by pests. Unfortunately, bugs and rodents can wreak havoc on your wardrobe if you don’t take a few precautions to protect your clothing.
The five tips below can help repel some of the most common clothes-destroying pests and help keep your outfits intact.
1. Launder seasonal clothes before storing them.
If you store clothes before laundering them, the organic oils and material left on the fabric will make it more attractive to pests like beetles and moths. Just be sure to launder without using fabric softener or starch, as those products could potentially attract more bugs.
2. Opt for rigid, plastic storage containers over cardboard.
Cardboard offers little protection against destructive pests like rodents and silverfish. Because cardboard is a paper product, it contains cellulose, which is a food source for silverfish. Once they’ve chewed through the box, they’ll happily move on to the clothes inside. While cardboard isn’t on the menu for rats and mice, their sharp incisors can easily chew through the material.
3. Use products with cedar wood.
Cedar wood releases a strong scent that repels a variety of insects, including clothes-damaging bugs like carpet beetles, moths, and silverfish. You can place cedar wood products with your stored seasonal clothes but also with your everyday clothes in your drawers and closets. Some popular items include cedar wood blocks, balls, shavings (which are kept in sachets), and rings that you can place over the hook of a clothes hanger.
4. Store your clothes with sachets of herbs.
Take your herbs beyond the kitchen, and use them to make all-natural, insect-repelling sachets. Depending on your pest problem and scent preferences, you can mix certain herbs together to create the ideal blend. To repel moths, silverfish, and carpet beetles, we recommend a mixture of lavender, cloves, mint, and cedar shavings. This pest-repelling scent is equal parts woodsy, spicy, and refreshing.
5. Pest-proof other areas of your home.
The best way to keep pests out of your clothes is to make sure they never enter your home in the first place. You also want to avoid creating an environment that will attract pests.
Keep the following tips in mind:
- Avoid excess humidity in your home. Moths and silverfish love muggy rooms.
- Take care of plumbing leaks in and around your property. Dripping water and damp environments attract all kinds of bugs and rodents.
- Trim back your trees and landscaping. Rodents use overgrown landscaping for cover and will climb trees like ladders to access your home.
- Weather-seal your windows and external doors, including the garage door. This will prevent bugs from crawling through the gaps and rodents from squeezing underneath your doors.
- Seal gaps in your home’s external walls and around the foundation. These are easy entry points for a multitude of pests.
For help controlling an infestation in your Charlotte home and preventing future pest issues, count on our experts at Sage Pest Control. Contact us onlineor call us today at (704) 413-3398.