4 Pest Control Lighting Tips
Pests in and around your home are always an unwelcome guest. And if you’re looking to prevent them from invading your Catlett residence this summer, you’ll want to follow some pest control lighting tips. After all, bugs and insects are commonly attracted to bright lights, making your home’s interior and exterior lighting a prime target for them.
But with your home relying on lighting for brightening pathways and increasing visibility, how exactly do you alter it without simply turning off all of your lighting and completely living in the dark?
The experts at Hickerson Brothers are here to answer! We’d like to discuss some of the pest control lighting tips you can practice for your Catlett home.
1. Keep Doors and Windows Closed and Covered
If pests can’t see any lighting, they’ll be less attracted to your home on a summer night. You’ll want to keep doors and windows closed as much as possible, especially if you have multiple lights on. This helps avoid flying pests from honing in your indoor lighting and coming inside. Additionally, we recommend purchasing darker curtains that shield your windows from producing too much exterior light.
2. Minimize Lighting Usage
Another way to keep pests from gathering is by reducing lighting use at night. Using less lighting (inside and out) will not only help with a bug problem, but it can also help you save on your energy bill. Below are a few tips for minimizing lighting usage to help reduce pests:
- Turn off all lighting/light-producing devices in empty rooms.
- Upgrade lighting to dimmers to adjust brightness levels more precisely.
- Use LED lights in table lamps instead of ceiling lights.
- Keep exterior lights off as much as possible (try using just the porch lights).
If you would like to upgrade your light switches to dimmers, contact Hickerson Brothers for our light switch services.
3. Upgrade Bulbs to LEDs
There are two things that make your home’s lighting so attractive to bugs: its brightness and warmth. And while we’ve already recommend some ways to reduce brightness, it’s also important to learn how to reduce warmth. One way this can be done by replacing your incandescent light bulbs with LEDs.
Incandescent bulbs rely on heat to produce light, making it a common bug attraction. Additionally, they use the most energy out of any other light bulb. LEDs don’t rely on warmth, instead using light emitting diodes to brighten the bulb. And while they may a more expensive type of bulb, this is coupled with them being the most energy-efficient.
4. Change Exterior Lighting Colors to Yellow
White light is a true magnet, but certain color ranges are almost invisible to a bug. And having the color of your lighting fall within this range can help prevent your home from being inundated by pests.
Most bugs can’t see lighting within the yellow color range very well. And often times they’ll just go to the more visible sources of light. We recommend having your current exterior lighting fall within this color range. But you can also install new bug-repellant lighting made specifically for use at night.
Protect your home from unwanted insects by following these pest control lighting tips. And contact Hickerson Brothers if you’re in need of upgrading your light switches to dimmers or want to install new exterior lighting. Contact us at 703-594-3913 for Catlett’s leading electrical professionals.
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