When certain pests enter a home, they can cause a variety of damage and discomfort. Mobile homes are just as vulnerable to pests as any other home. Keeping pests out of a mobile home can prove difficult since there is a lot of space for the tiny creatures to access the interior part of the home. Pest removal services can sometimes be costly, but they can be effective as a last resort if your initial attempts to remove the pests on your own don’t work. Homes without pests are certainly more pleasant environments.
Mothballs
Pest control begins when you attempt to cut off the entry points to the home. Mobile homes are challenging in this regard. One of the strategies you can use involves mothballs. Many animals and creatures hate the odors and particles that are given off by mothballs. Instead of trying to invade your home, they may turn in another direction. Bits of pepper also seem to deter pests. Hotter peppers like cayenne peppers are great to place under your home to keep pests at bay. These natural traps are great ideas when you first realize you have a pest problem.
Make Sure Your Home is Pest Proof
You must also make sure the skirting around the home has been installed properly and tightly. Since you don’t have a foundation for the home, the skirting acts as a barrier to keep ants out of the property. Snakes, cockroaches, scorpions, and even more tiny animals are also deterred by quality skirting. The skirting is usually made of plastic, but it can protect the home as long as there aren’t any cracks or holes in it. Once the pests find a way in, the bothersome critters will be difficult to contain. Proper skirting usually guards the home against invasions by pesky creatures you’d rather not see.
Pest Control Company
The final option for pest removal is to call a pest control company. If this becomes necessary, it’s likely that your house has become a larger target for bunches of critters. A company can help exterminate the pests that are present now, and they can also help you fix the weaknesses that allowed the pests to enter in the first place. Moving into a new mobile home should prompt a visit by a control specialist so that he or she can survey the vulnerabilities in your home as well as the possibilities of current infestations. It only takes a little effort, but mobile home pest control makes a home much cleaner and more comfortable.
Thanks for reading Mobile Home Living.
I agree 10000%! Snakes are my biggest fear! I am not a big fan of the foam sealant in bottles for large areas, but it’s not bad for small crevices. Just don’t use it around wiring or plumbing. For snakes, mothballs everywhere under the home is a great deterrent, too! Ideally, if you could use foam boards between the joists and then staple new belly wrap (the black plastic), oh, and make sure the subflooring is healthy with no holes you should have a good 3 layer protective barrier against those slithering nightmares.
Also, I know you probably don’t want to hear this but in my experience, it’s the siding that they love so much. Especially, the wavy metal siding. I had about 2-foot long tail hanging out of a single wide’s siding and, well, it was a bit unnerving. I still have nightmares 10 years later! (They also like vinyl siding – WV has a lot of snakes!)
Best of luck!
I know this is an old post, but I was wondering about using the foam sealant between the bottom of the doublewide and the foundation and if anyone has done this to snake-proof. I do NOT want snakes getting under the house…nor mice, but snakes are worse!
Yes roaches can be everywhere in your home even places you would never dream of. The best defense against these nasty bugs is a wonderful powder called Roach Kill. Roach Kill is a white powder{Boric Acid} that is spread around the perimeter of the inside of the home. The roaches crawl through it and carry it back to the nest where it kills all. Because it is boric acid and a powder there is no smell or mess but it is very dangerous to pets. Read directions very carefully. Oh and the price for roach kill is around $4.00-$6.00 a bottle. It really works. Good luck.
I also tried the mothballs under our doublewide. It’s working great! But..I kinda got carried away woth the mothballs! I got 4 bags(small) and romoved some of the skirting so I could toss them under the house. The problem was that the bag ripped open all the way and they flew under the house! Well, it’s been about 6 months now and we can still smell the mothballs! I’m up in Maine and it’s winter now. With all the snow and ice, it will be quite a while before I could remove them.
BUT… no bugs… no mice…no ants…no skunks no squirrels! Thanks for the info.
Hi June,
You would need to contact the manufacturer of the spray foam. I’ve seen a few different types (some expand a lot and some are a bit more dense and don’t expand quite as much).
Adding insulation to a manufactured home is always a good idea though! Sorry I can’t be more help.
We are purchasing a use double wide mobile home in the south. We are wondering if spay foam insulation under the floors would be bug proof? We are worried about them burrowing inside of it or above it? Thanks for the info.
Exhort you to try the following. Empty and clean out your cabinets, spray corners, underside, etc with EcoSmart Home Pest Control – this is safe for you and your pets, but do use gloves and a mask When completely dry dust every single nook and cranny of your cabinets with Diatomaceous earth . Once the dust settles put back your things. Re-do annually. Around base boards, windows, door entrances, door frames, etc and places that might get wet, just spray with EcoSmart, you will probably need to spray bi-monthly. Keep pest out of the house, spray with an outdoor product , be sure to spray around the windows, and doors,
I’m so glad they are coming soon! Whatever they use seems to work well. Hopefully, in 10 years you can look back on this time and laugh a bit but I know it’s a pain to have to deal with now.
Let me know how it goes and good luck!
Crystal,
You had me on the edge of my seat reading that!
This is a rental. I rent so it is their responsibility! The pest control is coming Monday and I am going to tell him and the landlady. See if they work something out. This is not my e\responsibility. I checked on that with all the laws.
Thanks and thank God for you it was 10yrs ago.
Hi Karen!
Roaches can be in darn near anything and they are a pain to get rid off.
Let me tell ya story: When I was pregnant with my daughter in 2003 we were living in FL. We only had a 1 bedroom house and needed a little more room for the new baby so we set out to find a nice little place to rent. We found a cute little house that was clean and had the prettiest real knotty-wood paneling in the bedroom. I loved it! We began moving in on a Monday and by Saturday evening was ready to spend our first night in the new place. We never saw any signs of a pest problem that whole week of moving. Now, we are from WV and were only in FL while my husband was working on a commercial construction project so we didn’t know much about the FL wild life.
That night we went to bed in our new home and around 3am I was awoken by a weird sound. I sat up and turned on my lamp. The horror before my eyes still gives me the chills! There were hundreds of palmetto roaches (those really big roaches with wings) all over our walls!! Hundreds of them! It took me a moment to process that the pretty knotty pine walls weren’t supposed to have moving parts. I started screaming and running! I ran out of the house and for some reason didn’t stop till I crossed the street. My husband still makes fun of my reaction and its been over 10 years since this happened!
We called the new landlord the nest morning and thankfully he hired an exterminator immediately. I believe they lived behind those pretty wood walls and only came out at night but whatever the exterminator did worked.
I don’t really know much about pest control – this article was written by someone else but I think you can buy some powerful roach killer and get rid of the ones you have. Once you do that you need to find where they are getting in and do whatever you need to close those openings up. They could be coming through your pipes, vents, crevices, etc.
I hope you the best of luck! I’ve been where you are and it wasn’t fun. Good luck!
The tip about moth balls is great. I am going to try that. I live in an older mobile home. I rent it and there is pest control once a month. The problem is roaches. I sweep and mop everyday. I have emptied all my kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets and put everything in plastic totes. I am spraying constantly. I do not even cook unless I put a TV dinner in the microwave. If I should cook, there are more roaches so I cannot cook because I hate the things!
Can roaches be in the walls? Can they crawl in thru little holes in the wall?