by Caryl Teh
Most people prefer a pest-free workspace, whether that’s the office or their home. But controlling mice, ants, flies, and cockroaches can be expensive and sometimes involve sprays that not only kill the pests but are also bad for you (and your pets!). While most offices have regular scheduled professional pest control, this doesn’t guarantee that you won’t encounter unwelcomed creatures. Fortunately, there are some common household items that can help combat the occasional pest visitation, ensuring a more conducive work environment.
A few things to note before we begin:
- Not all species will respond the same way to these hacks. So try a few to figure out what works.
- If those “visits” become uncomfortably frequent, seek professional help. If it is happening in your office, let your building manager know – they might need to consider a more intensive type or frequency of pest control.
Steel wool
Unused drains and holes in walls and baseboards are entryways for mice, especially if you have dirty dishes, spilled food, or overripe fruit lying around. Steel wool is an effective blocker because mice can’t chew through it easily.
As for those ant-agonists
Depending on the type of ant, a trail of cayenne pepper, black pepper or salt might do the trick. But if you’re not keen on sprinkling seasonings all over the place, research has found that ants don’t like the soft touch of baby powder all over their bodies.
Herbs, spice & everything nice
Ants dislike the strong odours of certain herbs, so try placing pots or dried bunches of mint, pennyroyal, rue, or tansy near trouble spots. Frequently wiping down window sills with high concentrations of clove or cinnamon oil has also proven to work well. Your house will not only be pest-free, but also smell lovely.
Flies hate basil
According to Nicholas Martin, founder and editor-in-chief of Pest Control Hacks, flies HATE basil. If you don’t have the space to grow them (or the ability to keep them alive. Not everyone can), dried basil in cheesecloth pouches work too. Rub them a couple of times a day to make the scent stronger. A location suggestion: near your garbage bin.
Use an odourous substance
Essential oils are not only great for your skin & mind, they are also great pest repellents! Simply apply a few drops of peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree, or lemongrass essential oils to a cotton ball and place it in an area where pests are likely to enter.
Natural cockroach repellents
Scott Cam, founder of Blueprint Home, recommends this trick: chop up one onion, combine it with one teaspoon of baking soda and place the combo near any cockroach hot spots. Some other natural repellents you could try are vanilla beans and dried pyrethrum daisies.
Turn up the heat
We’ve all been there: you found a cockroach in the house or in the office toilet and frantically started chasing it with some rolled-up newspaper, hoping to smash it to death. But then it annoyingly ran under a cupboard or behind the fridge, Here’s a trick to flush them out: use a heat gun. And if you manage to keep it under the heat, it will die pretty quickly. Cockroaches are cold-blooded so they can’t survive in temperatures of around 50°C and above.
Steel wool, seasonings, herbs, essential oils, and heat probably weren’t what you had in mind when you started reading this article. But we hope you have fun and enjoy some relaxing aromas while experimenting to see what works to keep your workspace pest-free!
Source:
Reader’s Digest
The Indoor Haven
