When we think about possible bug and pest infestations in our homes, we typically think about dusty corners of unused rooms, on the floor of our attic or basement, or near doors and windows where the pests have made their way into our houses.
But did you know that bugs can even live in the insulation of your home?
What kind of bugs live in insulation?
A number of different bugs may be found in the insulation in your attic or elsewhere in your home, including cluster flies, termites, moths and silverfish.
Moreover, if mice and rats have entered your attic fleas and ticks may burrow into the insulation and if the rodents are carrying these little critters in their fur.
Another critter commonly carried up to the attic is bed bugs, which typically travel from another part of your house, such as the bed or clothes in your bedroom or the upholstery from your lounge.
Often boxes of old clothes and bedding will be taken upstairs to the attic when they’re not being used, and these can harbour bed bugs which can burrow into the insulation, since they like comfortable, dark places that provide protection from their environment.
Does insulation attract bugs?
Insulation doesn’t attract most bugs, in the sense that most bugs aren’t drawn to it as a food source, but once the pests come across the material, they find it makes an unexpectedly ideal place for them to hunker down and shelter.
Providing shelter from the elements, such as cold and drafts – after all, attic insulation insulates and provides a warm safe place for bugs and insects to nest and hide from predators – insulation can become the home, and breeding ground, of various insects, making pest control a necessity in your home.
However, there are a few notable pests that do make a meal out of your insulation, making it all the more likely you’ll find them there in your attic, destroying the insulation piece by piece. One of the pests that does this is the cockroach, which will eat pretty much anything making them a high risk bug to find in your home.
Aside from cockroaches, many people ask: do silverfish eat attic insulation?
Like cockroaches, silverfish are able to get nutrition from insulation, and especially from the paper backing sometimes found on attic insulation, making them another high risk bug to find in your attic.
Do bugs like fiberglass insulation?
Though this might be surprising – after all, we wouldn’t want to sleep in a material imbued with tiny pieces of glass – compared to other types of attic insulation, fiberglass insulation is preferable to bugs.
Unlike us, pests such as cockroaches and silverfish are able to eat fiberglass insulation without sustaining damage to their digestive system, meaning that this type of insulation won’t keep your attic pests away.
So, how do you get rid of bugs from insulation?
Obviously, it’s quite difficult to keep bugs and other pests out of your attic, since it’s typically dark, cluttered and has close access to the outside, allowing bugs to more easily enter the space.
However, once they’ve made their way into their home there are a few things you can do to stop them from infesting your insulation, damaging it and forcing you to replace it altogether, in order to keep your home insulated and your monthly heating bills down.
One common way to keep bugs off your insulation is to choose bug-repellent insulation, such as spray foam, cellulose or polyurethane, which also happen to be better insulators than fiberglass insulation so they can help to keep your bills down, too.
If you’ve already sustained an infestation of pests in your attic, however, and you’ve got creepy crawlies using your insulation as a place to camp out or as a source of food, then you should get professional pest control to come over and treat the problem.
The professionals will carry out a pest control treatment depending on the kind of pest problem you have, such as silverfish pest control, bed bug control or flea and tick control.
Certain types of pest control will be applied to more than just your insulation if the pest control professionals see that the problem has spread. This is particularly important as certain pests like termites, which are very common, can begin to destroy the structure of your home if left to their own devices.
So, if you think you might have a bug or insect problem in your attic – and particularly infesting your insulation – then you should call professional pest control to check out the situation and treat the problem, to save your insulation and stop bugs from getting into the rest of your house.
