Put Your Shields Up Against Stink Bugs

The shield shaped body of a brown marmorated stink bugs makes it look as though it is ready for combat.

It hides in the curtains. It low-crawls behind your computer monitor. And sometimes, across the screen as well. It's not afraid of you, because it has its armor on. Do you have yours on?

In fall, Stink bugs attack homes by the millions, with one goal: to escape the cold.

As temperatures drop, stink bugs begin to congregate on the sunny side of trees, rocks, and buildings.

But, eventually, that isn't enough to keep them warm, so they burrow under the bark of trees, hide in the cracks of rocks, or enter houses, through any hole they can find.

You would be amazed at how many holes your home has.

How to Protect Your Home From Stink Bugs

⭐ Defense against stink bugs starts with window screens. These bugs will crawl over every inch of your window and door screens, looking for the tiniest of holes to exploit. Make sure your screens are in perfect working order.

⭐ Check around the edges of your windows for tiny gaps that form when windows or screen frames don't fit properly. It doesn't take much of a gap for a stink bug to slip through.

⭐ Inspect your weather stripping, especially on sliding doors. Stink bugs are notorious for squeezing through damaged, or improperly installed weather stripping. Sometimes the problem can be easily fixed, by putting the screen door properly on its grooves. Look closely, and see if the weather stripping loses contact at the top of the door.

⭐ Inspect door sweeps. These can get damaged with age. If there are any gaps, have them replaced.

⭐ Use window grade screening to cover vents and the top of your chimney. This takes some effort, but it is worth it.

⭐ Keep your garage door closed. Stink bugs that get into your garage, can usually find easy access into the house.

⭐Soffits and rooflines are popular entry points for stink bugs. Have a professional examine for holes, gaps, and rotted areas. Getting these fixed or filled will also help your home hold more heat during the colder months.

⭐ If you can't get your roofline fixed, at least have it sprayed. Professionals have sprayers with long attachments that can reach your roof and third story windows.

⭐ Get your foundation cracks sealed with liquid cement.

⭐ Use a caulking gun to fill in around fixtures, pipes, outlets, air conditioning units and other objects that pass through your exterior walls.

⭐ To make your home 100% stink bug free, get a fall treatment or year round treatment for your exterior walls. This will deter stink bugs from crawling on your house, and poison the ones that do. This has two effects. It stops the unsightly speckle of bugs on your exterior walls, and reduces the stink bug population.

This fall, as you think about the shield shape of those brown marmorated stink bugs, remember that you have a shield too. Get armored up today, and start living without stink bugs inside your home.