While house hunting, there are many factors to consider. Most just focus on costs, livability, and functionality. But another major issue that can be a nuisance to your living style is pest infestation. You can search the house for the best infestations and invest in eradicating them or go house hunting elsewhere. Agencies like real estate agents Albany CA, will provide you with options and assist you in better housing options, so you do not have to be hopeless when the house has pests.
But how can you tell if the house you’re planning to rent is infested with pests? Prominent signs and clear pests exposure may have been concealed by owners, but that does not mean you can’t look for other ways. Here are seven signs of pest infestation in a home.
1. Holes
Try to see whether you can spot holes in the walls or floors. If yes, there’s a good chance the home may be infested. Small holes tend to occur due to pests that drill on the floor and walls. Beetles, wood wasps, and termites are responsible for creating small holes and drilling. While the holes are not conspicuous enough, looking carefully at the walls will help you spot some in case of a pest infestation. Small holes in the wall may seem harmless at first, but they compromise the strength of the walls. Termites can also eat your furniture and further destroy your walls over time.
2. Nests
All pests have nests or even a colony. Therefore, a pest-infested house would positively mean that there is a nest somewhere. Pests do not create nests out in the open specifically to avoid predators, so finding one requires you to look around at the right places. Right places include the hollow parts in the walls, garages, behind broken walls, or floorboards. Using a torch will be helpful when looking through dark hollow areas. If in the chance that you cannot achieve a full house inspection because of access limitations, hiring a professional will help in this regard.
3. Former occupants
A good, straightforward plan is to simply contact and get advice from the people that rented the house before you. You can easily acquire their contacts from the person you’re renting from. You can ask if they had to deal with pests and other related questions. Also question if it has been a considerable amount of time since they have stayed because it is still likely pest problems could have developed over a certain period. Similarly, you can head over to the neighbor’s house and ask for their input on the pest situation in the area or the home you plan on renting. If they tell you they had some issues, there is a chance you may have a pest infestation on your hands.
4. Noisy ceilings
If you walk into the home and hear tiny disturbing noises, there’s a good chance it may not just be the wind. Constant noises from the roof or ceiling are a sign of rodents or bats living on the roof. Rodents and bats retrieve to the roof area of houses since they find it safer. At first, the noises seem like they can be ignored, but over time, they will become a nuisance. Therefore, getting rid of them from the beginning is a good idea through a reliable pest control agency.
5. Bad odor
An infested house will smell terrible. You can immediately detect if there are pests around when you smell a foul odor from a distance. The smell mainly comes from the pests peeing. Other than that, rats, bedbugs, mites, and cockroaches release a scent from their body which also could be the reason for the unpleasant scent lurking in the air. Furthermore, foul-smelling garbage near your house can attract pests toward your home. This is because rodents and insects like to dwell in heaps of waste, so that’s another good reason to watch out for the smell.
6. Termite activity
If termites are present in the house, you’ll find a lot of evidence of termite activities. These are the worst kind of pests for a home because of how they cause structural damage. They have the potential to weaken your home’s walls and gradually destroy them. Search around the house and keep an eye out for hollow sounds, sagging wood, fine sawdust accumulation, fecal pellets, shredded wings, or windows that are stuck. If you know what to look for, signs of termite infestations will be hard to miss since they tend to take up a lot of space and cause destruction in an obvious manner.
7. External check
Head outside the home and search the area for hints of any pests dwelling there. Take a stroll outside and check sideways as well as the yard for anything that might be pest damage. Also, look around for places that are easy access for pests and breeding grounds for them.
Look out for open anthills, trees for termite nests, window frames for wasps nests, and trees and sheds for possum nests. Also, look out for other evidence that pests may be dwelling there, like droppings under trees or eaten off the skin of lemons on trees. Noting how the garden and greenery look is another way to detect them, like checking if there are damaged plants.
To sum up
There are various things to consider when you are buying a home, which includes pest infestations. You can discover if there is one by noting certain signs. If you look carefully, you might be able to spot holes that indicate the existence of pests. Another way to determine if the home is infested is if you look out for noises coming from the roof or ceilings. A foul smell is also a sign that there may be pests. Look around and check if you see any nests. You might need a professional for a thorough search behind walls and floorboards to properly determine the existence of pests. Termites are the biggest nuisance and can damage a home’s infrastructure, so be on the lookout for signs of termites as well. Finally, you can always ask former tenants about the pest situation or even neighbors may have a good idea about the pest situation in your home or the area.
We hope this article proves insightful and enables you to clear out any infestation in your home. Thank you for reading!
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