The Farm House

Renovating the 1972 Farm House

Pest & Rodents

When we acquired the property and moved in, the property was infested with pest and rodents. This was do to the fact of all the dump sites on the property, the lack of hygiene from the previous owners, deplorable condition of the house and surrounding structures.

The first step was to clean out the house of all the garbage and junk that was left behind, carpet, appliances, wall paneling, and all the insulation both the batt insulation in the walls and the blown-in insulation in the attic, removed thrash and debris in the crawl space, and cleared a 8' perimeter around the house.

The second step was to set up pet friendly bait station, we used two sizes, small and large, we used Tomcat Brand bait blocks.

Rodents

Once we got the rodent infestation under control we took the following steps to prevent another infestation.

The first was to control the perimeter using the Bait Stations and using a rodent repellent.

Second we used expending foam and pest sealant silicon to seal any openings and around utility penetrations.

Third we make sure any food source is on a shelf in a tightly sealed container, we also use mint scented thrash bags.

We haven't seen any rodents or any evidence for a year now, even the bait stations haven't touched.

Insects

Initially we used an insecticide that we got from Tractor Supply, it is a off brand but was highly recommended by several sources, when comparing label with the major brand it contained the same percentage of the key chemicals, literally for a fraction of the cost.

Around the house we now use a more pet and environmentally friendly product from the same maker has the Rodent Repellent with excellent results.

Carpenter Bees

To deal with Carpenter Bees we initially tried two different method, both traps, one was a sticky trap which did not work, the second was a trap that almost looks like a bird house that we got from Tractor Supply which was highly recommended but was on the very pricey side, it was highly effective, but expensive.

With the price so high, I decided to build my own using information on found online and using scrap material and used jars, not has pretty as the one I bought, but effective.

Store Bought

Home Built