What if your home was being destroyed by an invisible menace?
It may sound like something from a sci-fi blockbuster. But we’re not talking about alien invaders: we’re talking about termites!
Sometimes, the only way to deal with this particular invader is to fumigate your home. Unfortunately, many people don’t know the best ways to prepare a home for termite fumigation.
Wondering what the best fumigation preparation tips are? Keep reading to learn how to protect the value of your home!
1. Unlock Everything
Typically, homeowner instinct is to lock everything behind you. We lock doors, lock drawers, and generally try to make sure everything is fully secure.
However, before fumigation, you need to ignore that instinct and unlock everything. This includes obvious things like doors and less obvious things like cabinets and attics.
As you can imagine, this is to make everything easier to access for the household fumigation experts that are coming by. The easier you make their job, the quicker you’ll be able to get back into your own home!
2. Shut Off the Gas
We’ll keep this nice and simple: if your home relies on gas energy, then you’ll need to shut that off.
If you use propane gas, then this is really easy to do. You will be able to shut the gas off yourself shortly before fumigation service begins.
If you use some other form of gas, you will need to call ahead to have it shut off. Fortunately, you can schedule a temporary shutoff and give the gas company the exact range of dates that the fumigation is likely to last.
Don’t forget this crucial step. Remember, it’s not the fumigation experts’ job to shut off utilities like this.
3. Check the Fine Print
Speaking of what is and is not their job, ask yourself: do you actually know all the details about the fumigation process?
This is the perfect time to check the fine print of the contract. For example, what kinds of chemicals will they be using? Will these chemicals affect those with asthma or respiratory issues?
You’ll also want to check the policy on missing items. It’s very likely that the company will not be responsible for any items that are missing after fumigation.
Translation? You should probably play it safe and take your valuables with you!
4. Seal Up or Take Out
Of course, valuable items aren’t the only things you should consider taking out of the house. Your fumigation preparation checklist should have “food and medicine” near the very top.
This is a pretty simple equation: your home is going to be filled with termite-killing chemicals. And you want to make sure you don’t accidentally ingest anything that has come in contact with those chemicals.
The easiest way to fix this is to simply remove all of the food and medicine in your house. This shouldn’t take up much room, especially if you’ve been stretching out supplies (more on this soon).
If you must leave any food or medicine in the house, consider specially sealing it to keep it secure from chemicals.
5. Don’t Leave the Linens
Sure, you don’t want to accidentally eat any of those chemicals. We’re also willing to bet you don’t want to sleep in any of those chemicals, either.
To play it completely safe, you’ll need to take care of all bedding. That means taking linens, pillows, sleeping pads, and even mattresses out of the house before fumigation.
We won’t lie: it will be annoying having to take mattresses out and then back into the house. But you will quite literally sleep a lot better if you do so!
6. Plant and Animal Duty
We like to think this next step is obvious. But, just in case, here it is: make sure all plants and animals are out of the house before fumigation begins.
Most people aren’t likely to forget their pets. But it’s easy to overlook something like a plant that you have in a window sill or on a corner dresser.
Plants and animals also factor into the next step on this fumigation preparation checklist: getting a place to stay.
7. Get a Place to Stay
You’re obviously going to need a place to stay while your own home is in a tent. However, getting a place to stay can actually be more complex than you think.
For example, it’s easy enough to grab a hotel room. But the size of your family may mean getting multiple rooms, and you may need to find someplace that is pet-friendly.
You can also try to stay with a friend or family member. However, make sure they know up front just how much room you and your family will take up.
Speaking of room, don’t forget that you will also need to find a place for all of your stuff. And it’s possible that there won’t be room for everything in a single hotel room.
In that case, you may want to explore some temporary storage options that are close to your home.
8. Stretch Out Supplies
We’ve focused a lot on removing things like food from your home. But what if you could make this step a whole lot easier on yourself?
Once you know the fumigation date, you should avoid picking up any new groceries. Treat this like an upcoming vacation and try to cook down as much of your fridge and pantry as you can.
The goal is to minimize the amount of food that you must remove during the termite tenting process. When it’s done, you can stock back up on fresh groceries (which will taste doubly good after living on takeout food for a few days).
Fumigation Preparation: The Bottom Line
Now you know what to do as part of your fumigation preparation. But do you know who can help with the actual fumigation?
Here at Brantley Termite and Pest Control, we specialize in making your home safe and critter-free. We do the hard work so you can kick back and relax!
To see what we can do about your pests, just contact us today!