Innovative Ideas To Light Up Your Home Without Inviting Pests
How can your home’s exterior lighting really make a difference for a bug-free home?
18/12/2018
Christmas is a time when neon lights burn with glee. Cold dark nights are warmed by seasonal images illuminating from most buildings around the country. But your home’s regular exterior lighting can act as a call-card for bugs. This is an issue throughout most the year and requires better planning than many give to their seasonal festivities.
Pest management is not a new problem in household design. Ever since humans began constructing houses, other animals have wanted to share this space with them. Therefore, preventative measures are essential to maintaining a bug-free home. But how can your home’s exterior lighting really make a difference?
Guarding Against Intruders
The most effective way to prevent pests entering your home is in using retrofit structures. These designs around openings and crevices will stop birds and bugs alike finding entry. They will also prevent the creation of convenient places for them to live. If you are fitting external fittings onto your house, consider how any new spaces could be used by unwelcome guests.
Main Attractions
Everyone is all-too-aware of how insects swarm around light sources during the summer months. This is a natural response from insects but there are several ways in which to limit this problem. Using timers and motion sensors is a simple and cost-effective way to ensure lights are not overly used. This will prevent exceptional numbers of insects turning up on your doorstep unannounced. It will also work to reduce your energy bills which is itself no bad thing.
Maximizing Positioning
Where you place your lights can have a dramatic effect on how much of a problem you suffer. Using direct lighting only in essential locations on and around your home is a good start. Placing the light fittings away from areas you stand or use will also help. It’s also wise not to put them near openings in the building which lead into your home. If this is unavoidable, using insect screens is a good secondary measure to blockading their entry. Like any outdoor structure, ensure you use durable material for long-lasting solutions.
Avoid Direct Lighting
If insects are drawn to direct lighting, it makes sense not to use direct light where possible. The best solution to this is illuminating outside areas by way of reflecting light. LED lights are the preferred source for this technique while diffusers are also important. You’ll also need to consider the surface you’re reflecting light onto for optimum results. Done correctly, this method will add huge amounts of character and atmosphere to your home.
Coloured Lighting
If there’s one tip we can take away from this Christmas season, it’s that coloured lighting works. More than looking aesthetically pleasing to humans, it also proves less appealing to insects. Yellow (sodium) light bulbs are a common and inexpensive way to achieve this. Now, however, there are many light designs on the market to choose from. These can deliver stunning effects on your walls and in your gardens. But most importantly of all, they don’t advertise your location to bugs nearly as much as conventional lighting options.