Bug Proofing Apartment

psychbabe314

Or at least, making it harder for them to get in. We had the surprise last week of a huntsman spider in the bathroom. Roughly as big as my hand. Yikes! They are stupid fast and I kept the bathroom locked all day until FI came home from work.

So, now I am determined to do some "bug proofing". I would like to start with the windows. The screen window in the bathroom has gaps around the edges and buying a better fitting one is not an option. Any ideas on how to seal the gaps? I thought about silicone caulk, but am wondering if it would make it difficult to remove the screen in the future if if needs to be fixed.

Thoughts?

jenjen047

yeesh! that sounds awful. id call a professional, STAT. they can either treat your apartment or provide tips for things like the screen. 

psychbabe314

jenjen047 said:

yeesh! that sounds awful. id call a professional, STAT. they can either treat your apartment or provide tips for things like the screen. 

Yah, translation is the issue. I live in Japan and neither myself nor my FI could even set up an appointment because phone + japanese = headaches + translation errors

edited: not missing box

bethsmiles

In my lease I pay a small fee each month for bug proofing. I just have to contact my leasing office and tell them I want a professional to come by my apartment and do whatever it is they do to get rid of/prevent bugs. Maybe you could ask if your apartment has something like that? They don't want bugs in your apartment either.

psychbabe314

@bethsmiles I may be able to ask one of the teachers in the building. He speaks just enough English that maybe with pictures and google translate I could find out. But, the last time we had the maintenance come to do something, it turned into a huge deal and I ended up doing it myself (replacing broken screen on screen door after maintenance returned it twice not repaired because they could not understand what we wanted done).

I will ask my FI to check with him tomorrow to see if he knows.

But just in case, still looking for DIY ideas

speakeasy14

Peppermint and Lavender work to keep spiders away.  I add 10 drops of each to a spray bottle and add water then spray all entryways.  We haven't had any spiders since.  I also use it on my dogs to keeps ticks off. 

speakeasy14

@twodimes I use essential oils. I got mine through DoTerra. 

psychbabe314

@speakeasy14 I will definitely try the oils. I think that I saw some at the pharmacy here in town, so I will swing by tomorrow and double check.