DIY Solutions to Keep Ants Out of Your Home

During the spring and summer months, it's common to find ants in and around your home. During rain storms, ants like to find shelter, and that is usually inside your house. They are always looking for food, so you will typically find them in your kitchen carrying away crumbs. The best pest control at the Lake of the Ozarks has a handful of tips to help you keep these guys from taking over your home:


Discourage these Unwelcome Guests
Take a few simple preventative measures in your house to discourage unwelcome guests like ants.
  • Promptly clean up food spills before ants discover them
  • Store ripe fruit in the fridge and all other food in airtight containers
  • Clean out trash cans (inside and outside)
  • Keep pet bowls clean and wipe up any spilled food/water around them
  • Inspect indoor potted plants for any insect activity on a frequent basis
Natural DIY Solutions
If you've got kids or pets at home, you probably don't like spraying chemical ant repellent all over your house. Here are a few natural DIY solutions you can try:

Clean with Vinegar. 
Cleaning surfaces in your home with a vinegar and water mixture is not only natural, it also can help deter ants. Ants supposedly do not like the smell of vinegar, and it removes the scent trails they use to get around.

Use Citrus Peels & Cucumbers. 
Place either cucumbers or citrus peels in certain areas of your home, if you see lots of activity. These items are toxic to the type of fungi that ants feed on, so they will stay clear.

Use Coffee Grounds. 
Coffee grounds can be used around the outside of your house, as well as in your garden. If you know where they are getting in, be sure to sprinkle some in that area.

Try Bay Leaves. 
Are you seeing ants in your pantry? Get rid of them by placing bay leaves in the drawers, cabinets and containers where there are ants. There are other spices and herbs that you can use around the outside of your house, similar to the coffee ground method. Try sprinkling black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili pepper, cinnamon, mint or garlic around the foundation of your home.

Use Peppermint Oil. 
Seeing ants on the counter? Clean it well, and then wipe them down with a clean damp cloth that has a few drops of essential peppermint oil on it. Just like the vinegar method, the ants do not like the smell of peppermint and will hopefully stay clear.

Spray Lemon Juice. 
Another method that is similar to the use of vinegar, is spraying lemon juice around the places that the ants are entering. Lemon juice can cover the scent trails that ants use to get around.

Protect Your Home's Exterior
Try these outdoor preventative measures to keep ants away from your home:
  • Use crushed stone or rock around your house rather than mulch or pine straw — ants love to nest under garden bed mulch — and keep a mulch-free zone under the perimeter of the house
  • Fix leaking water pipes and maintain proper drainage of water away from your home (clean gutters and landscape drainage systems)
  • Seal cracks and crevices around your house with a silicone-based caulk
  • Replace weather-stripping and repair loose mortar around basement foundation and windows
  • Keep trees and shrubbery trimmed away from the exterior of your house
  • Keep firewood stacked at least 20 feet away from the house — ants and other pests love it!
  • Routinely check under sinks for areas of moisture and repair any leaky pipes

Let Best Pest Control Get Rid of Ants and Other Pests in Your Home
If the DIY methods aren't working to your satisfaction and you're tired of fighting the ants that are coming into your home, call Lake of the Ozarks’ best pest control company. Best Pest Control can help you get rid of pesky insects, like ants, and keep them from coming back. If you have an infestation, let us help you by calling 573-348-1600 today!


THE LAKE'S MOST TRUSTED PEST CONTROL COMPANY

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573-348-1600 in Lake Ozark
573-873-1118 in Sunrise Beach
Location: Osage Beach, MO, USA

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