The warm summer breeze is just right around the corner, and it's finally almost time to hit the beach. With that in mind, Virginia Beach has one of the most stunning beach-lined ocean fronts, making it the perfect location for a summer home. Who doesn't want to live in a place steps away from the shore, especially during warm seasons?
However, the summer season is also when many pests begin to surface, and beach houses are often at risk of being infested. What's more, many vacation homes are rental properties, which means that you are at the mercy of how well others take care of the space.
Why Pests Are a Problem in Summer Homes
When a house is closed or unoccupied for the majority of the year, pests can quickly multiply and make themselves at home, undisturbed. Once they've taken root, you are doomed to spend the rest of your well-planned summer escapade dealing with a massive pest infestation. Nobody wants that.
There are adequate precautions that people can take to keep a vacation home pest-free. These steps mainly include strategies to keep the house clean and sealed for the portion of the year when it's unoccupied.
Other pest problems worsen in summer because bugs are born in spring as the weather warms. It is also worth noting that beach houses can attract more pests due to the humid salt air from the sea. With these factors in mind, it is vital to know how to combat the pests you might deal with at your Virginia beach home so that you can enjoy your summer vacation.
Virginia Beach's Top Pests—And How to Deal With Them
- Rodents
Most mice can fit through a hole no bigger than a dime, so it is essential to keep your home sealed. Check your foundation, door and window frames for cracks, screen chimney, vents, and any other openings.
Some Virginia Beach homes particularly close to the water won't have basements for coastal flooding reasons, but if yours does, be sure mice can't enter through storm doors.
- Cockroaches
Clean thoroughly before you leave your property, especially food crumbs and scraps. Do not leave leftovers, fruits, food wrappers, used packages, or biodegradable trash. These items can easily attract roaches and can have them creeping in faster than you thought.
Empty your cabinets and fridge, as cockroaches can squeeze even into coolers around the seal. You can also lay traps and poison—your house will be empty anyway, so there's no reason to worry about pets or kids.
- Ants
Clean up all crumbs—check under the fridge and oven, as well as other hard-to-reach places. Use a vacuum cleaner to ensure that there are no tiny food pieces left. Ants are small, and it is not that easy to notice them when they are starting to infest your residence.
Ant infestations can also be one of the hardest to avoid because they're so small and can survive for such a long time off even the smallest amount of food. If they have already infested your home and have built their nests within your summer home, professional help may be the best solution. You can reach out to a Virginia Beach ant exterminator to resolve the situation.
- Wasps
The Journal of Pest Management Science published research saying that certain essential oils repel wasps (including clove, geranium, and lemongrass). They suggest that you apply these oils to window frames, areas where wasps are likely to build nests. You can use or create a concoction of oils and apply it to your house before leaving.
If you hire anyone to do the regular maintenance of your house while you're away, see if they can reapply this mixture as the weather warms.
- Spiders
Be sure no tree branches touch your house—they give spiders a path right into your home. Give trees around your summer home some regular trimming services to prevent spiders from building their fortresses near, around, and inside your house.
Like other pests, spiders can slip through small cracks, so make sure they're all sealed—a hole too small for a mouse could still fit a spider. Spiders are often carried into homes just by hitching a ride on items or people. If you have outdoor furniture that you store inside while you're away, inspect it thoroughly before bringing it into the house for the winter.
Enjoy a Pest-Free Summer Vacation
Virginia Beach is a truly magnificent summer destination, so don't let any pests stop you from enjoying its beauty. With proper care and maintenance for your summer home, you don't have to spend a single minute dealing with pests. Use preventive measures or call for expert help so you and your family can focus on dealing with nothing but the summer sun, the sand, and the sea.
