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Pest damage is a common source of confusion for homeowners and buyers because it sits at the intersection of maintenance, sudden loss, and structural deterioration. For insurance and home warranty purposes, “pests” generally refers to organisms such as termites, carpenter ants, wood-boring beetles, rodents, and sometimes insects like cockroaches or bed bugs. What matters to…

Few household problems feel as invasive and unnerving as the discovery of rodents in your home: chewed wiring, ruined food stores, droppings in the pantry, and the unsettling knowledge that mice and rats can carry disease. No wonder so many people turn to quick, inexpensive homemade repellents—spritzes of peppermint oil, bags of mothballs, cotton balls…

Few garden pests are as frustratingly persistent as the mole. From the surface you see the raised ridges, the upheaved lawns and the occasional conical molehill, but the animal responsible spends almost all of its life out of sight in a three-dimensional world of tunnels. What makes moles so hard to get rid of is…

Pests are a perennial nuisance — chewing through gardens, invading pantries, and threatening property and health — but the conventional response of broad-spectrum chemical sprays comes with real costs: harm to pollinators and beneficial insects, contamination of soil and water, risks to pets and children, and growing insect resistance. For homeowners, gardeners and property managers…

If you find tiny specks crawling across a windowsill, dust and itch more than usual, or notice stippled, webbed foliage on a houseplant, you may be dealing with mites — but which kind? Dust mites, spider mites, and clover mites are all small arthropods often encountered around homes and gardens, yet they differ markedly in…

Mites are an enormous and varied group of tiny arthropods that live in homes, on people and pets, and on plants. Because many species are nearly invisible to the naked eye, the phrase “mite infestation” can mean very different things depending on which mite you’re dealing with. Some infestations are primarily an allergy problem (dust…

Mites are tiny arthropods—often microscopic—that are common in and around homes. The most familiar are dust mites, which feed on dead skin and thrive in warm, humid, dusty environments, and cause problems mainly through allergens rather than visible bites. Other types you might encounter include clover mites (small red mites that invade in large numbers…

Many common household pests have natural enemies — and in many cases those enemies can be put to work for you. Biological control, the practice of using predators, parasites or pathogens to reduce pest populations, is a cornerstone of sustainable pest management. For homeowners and indoor gardeners it offers a low-toxicity alternative to chemical sprays:…

Keeping children safe from pests and from the chemicals used to control them requires more than picking whatever product is on sale. Pesticides and pest-control products range widely in toxicity, formulation, and recommended use — and the product label is your legally required instruction manual and the best single source of information about how to…

A pest control risk assessment is the first and most important step in protecting your property, health and investments from the damage and nuisance that rodents, insects and other pests can cause. Whether you own a single-family home, manage an apartment complex, run a restaurant or oversee a warehouse, a structured assessment helps you move…