Southern Home Indoc

[tbm5690]

Im relocating from North Dakota to Alabama at the end of the month. Big change from a climate standpoint, and I'm not at all familiar with certain aspects of southern living to include bug/pest prevention (very minimal spiders, beetles, snakes, etc. up here) and generally very different home construction.

I am under the impression that routine spraying around the exterior and/or interior of the home is going to be needed, and like all of us I prefer to DIY whatever I can. Any recommendations on product, frequency of application, or anything else? The new place is a 2024 build ranch on slab, so no crawlspace or anything if that matters.

On the build side, it has a gas tankless water heater mounted externally and a gas furnace in the attic. I was very surprised to see a gas furnace as I was fully expecting all places to have heat pumps with aux heat. For the tankless heater, do I need to be ready to do anything to protect it if it drops below freezing in the winter? With the air handler in the attic and a longer condensate drain line I imagine I'll have to flush that out once in a while...I'm used to furnaces in the basement with a 3' run to a floor drain for the line so I've never had to worry about it.

Thanks in advance for the sage advice

 

[oldcodger]

Welcome to the south.
You are probably right that you are going to see many insects. I live in the deep south and use "Ortho Home Defense" to control insects around and in my house. It is available at Ace Hardware. You will just have to get used to "Love Bugs". They swarm twice a year and are a real pain. They splatter on your windshield and the front of your car. There is no really good method to handle them. You will need to wash them off often. They are acidic and will damage the paint if left on.
Your HVAC will have a condensate drain that will need to be treated by pouring a cup of bleach in it. I do mine about every 60 days during the summer. There are probably other methods but I have used the bleach and it works OK.
Mosquitoes can be a problem in some areas.

 

[GON]

My Wife is OCD on bugs.

Wife uses a battery-operated retail product (see picture below) for pest management when I am out of town working.

I use a Milwaukee sprayer and a concentrated pest management product (see picture below). The difference in time, efficiencies, coverage, and cost, make the Milwaukee sprayer a more cost-effective solution over the long run. The Milwaukee sprayer makes pest management oh so easy.

 

[Capt W]

Another vote for the Ortho Home Defense. I use a 50-50 mix of concentrate & water in a simple pump sprayer and apply to my home's perimeter every two months while hitting the doors (front, rear, and garage) monthly. Once dried, it seems relatively unaffected by rain (although I usually re-apply after heavy rain).

Corpus Christi can be very buggy with a lot of cockroaches. The vast majority of my neighbors use commercial pest control services. We've had virtually no issues in over three years. If a random roach gets into the garage, it's usually on its back doing the funky chicken shortly thereafter as a result of the Home Defense. Good stuff.

 

[mrvmax]

Diatomaceous earth and boric acid powder are good for areas where it does not get wet. Bengal roach spray is great if you are in areas with roaches. Several times a year I have pest control places coming by wanting me to sign up for treatment plans. Those are expensive and unnecessary. If you keep your place clean and avoid leaving out food an water sources, that goes a long way to keep out bugs. I have also used Sawyer Permethrin that I use to keep ticks off me for hunting in areas where I have bug ingress. That works well too.

 

[55hambone]

All of the above, and you will need to deal with termites as well. You can choose from liquid barriers like Termidor, or bait stations. Do it yourself is possible, but labor intensive for the liquids. Liquids require a 6" deep trench around the perimeter of the house that you flood with the liquid. Bait stations just need holes bored every 10'-20' around the house. I had a local company install bait stations. Most termite companies offer a warranty that includes repair of any termite damage. Homeowners insurance doesn't cover termite damage.

 

[tbm5690]

Sounds like as long as I am using the proper frequency for application just an exterior spray will work then as opposed to hitting the interior side of exterior walls as well?

 

[KrisZ]

I would go straight to the pro stuff and skip the highly marked up stuff at the big box stores.

Get Bifen XTS. Best stuff I have ever used and works on pretty much everything, from wasps, spider to ants and beetle bugs. I bought a quart about 5 years ago and a still have 1/3 left. It’s highly concentrated and you use very little for each application. Lasts about a month to two months in the dry season.

I’ve never seen wasps come back to a sprayed nest. I had nests up high where I could not knock them down hang in there for years, but no wasp ever came back. With other products I’ve seen them coming back after few months.

Not sure about your state, but I had to order it from Walmart, as Amazon doesn’t deliver it to Texas for some odd reason.