How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes Inside my House and Yard

Mosquitoes can be one of the most annoying bugs out there, especially when you want to go outside with your family. Even more so, mosquitoes can actually be dangerous as many carry disease and can spread unwanted viruses. You may have noticed that you have an excess of mosquitoes in your yard, forcing you to use repellents or sprays.

How to get rid of mosquitoes inside your house and yard? The best way to cut down the number of mosquitoes in your yard or home is to find the root cause and take measures against them, like this:

Inside the House	Outside in the Yard
Fix Your Screens and Doors	Drain Any Areas with Standing Water
Natural Mosquito Solutions	Clean Up Yard Debris
Ultrasonic Pest Repellant	Clean Out Clogged Drains
Repelling Plants	Treat Water Features with BTI
Make Natural Repelling Sprays	Mow Your Yard
Mosquito Traps	Treat Yard with Repellant
Use a Zapper Near Your Doors	Add Cedar Mulch to Landscaping
Coffee Grounds	Change Up Your Outdoor Lights
Consult a Professional	Increase Your Bat Population
	Use Fans in Your Yard and Porch
	Add Mosquito Repelling Plants

 

Once the cause of the insects is found, homeowners can work to repel the bugs from their yard. There are several chemical and natural ways of repelling mosquitoes that are effective. Let’s take a look at each of these causes and the measures to rid your house and yard of mosquitoes.

 Getting Rid of Mosquitoes in Your Yard

The biggest reason you are finding mosquitoes in your home is that they are abundant outside of your home in your yard or landscaping. If you cannot go outside for longer than a few minutes without getting bit, you probably have an issue.

While you can use repellents, you may want to avoid subjecting yourself and your family to these sprays due to their chemicals or ingredients.

Instead of solely relying on repellents, you should find the key reason why mosquitoes are frequenting your yard. Removing the cause of the bugs is the best way to lower your bug count significantly. There are a few top reasons why mosquitoes are choosing your yard for their home.

Drain Any Areas with Standing Water

Mosquitoes love water, specifically standing water, which is their top choice for breeding sites to lay their eggs. While you may not have an abundance of water or you may not even know that you have any standing water at all.

However, these bugs can find even the smallest amount of water to lay their eggs, and the pupae can grow in something as small as a bottle cap.

You should look around your yard and drain any standing water you find. If you find objects that may be vessels for stagnant water, you should turn them over or dispose of them properly. Just some things that you should look for and check for water are:

• Wheelbarrows
• Tires
• Birdbaths
• Outdoor Pet Bowls
• Buckets
• Flowerpots
• Grill covers
• Trash Can Lids
• Pools
• Gutters
• Watering Cans
• Puddles Near Faucets
• Property Depressions

Since mosquitoes spend 75% of their life cycle in water, you should do your best to remove any water possible from your yard. If you have a pool or water source that you do not want to drain, you should keep a filtration system or chlorine in the water. Truly, any area with water can become a breeding site for mosquitoes.

Clean Up Yard Debris

As with water, yard debris is something that many have that mosquitoes will love. They seek shelter from the elements where they can, which can be practically anywhere with an insect so small. However, one area that they tend to frequent when they need shelter is yard debris.

Just some things you should look out for in your yards are:

• Grass Clippings
• Leave Piles
• Twigs, Branches, Sticks, or Wood Piles
• Compost
• Uncut Grass

Clean Out Clogged Drains

If you have not cleaned your drains and gutters for some time, this is the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Uncleaned gutters and drains have everything a mosquito loves: leaves, twigs, and debris along with trapped water. They are the perfect home and protection, while also having the breeding water needed.

Add BTI Treatments to Water

As mentioned, you should deal with any standing water in your yard appropriately. In many cases, this simply means cleaning up your yard and dumping out this water. However, if you have a pond or creek near your home, this is not nearly as simple and can be a big cause of the insect.

You can add a BTI or bacillus thuringiensis israelensis treatment for mosquitoes to your water. This is a small, solid, naturally occurring bacterial larvicide that can be added to standing water that is unable to be drained. These treatments are perfect for retention ponds, ditches, rain barrels, creeks, and more.

You can find these BTI treatments in a few different forms, but they are all safe for aquatic plants, animals, and humans. They simply kill the breeding mosquito larvae before they can wreak havoc on your yard and home.

 

Mow Your Yard

While you may keep your lawn fairly well-manicured, it is important that you keep this up all summer long. You should keep your yard mowed nicely, trees and shrubs trimmed, and clear out any low-lying brush. Any piles of leaves or branches should be removed from your yard, as well.

Treat Yard with Repellant

There are several types of insect and mosquito repellants out there that you can purchase to add to your yard. Many of these are sprayed on with a simple garden sprayer and can be added to your yard, shrubbery, etc. You should always check to see exactly how the repellant you chose should be applied and how long that it lasts for mosquitoes.

If you would rather not handle this on your own, you can hire a professional to do this work for you. Some companies offer stronger repellents that can be added to your yard or are more educated on where to spray. Of course, this can be more costly than doing this process on your own but can also be more effective.

Add Cedar Mulch to Landscaping

If you have areas of landscaping, you can add cedar mulch to these areas for added protection. This is perfect around most vegetation and garden areas because it keeps moisture in the soil. This mulch will also soak up any excess moisture, improve the appearance of your vegetation, and, most importantly repel mosquitoes.

Cedar is actually a common ingredient in many repellants, which means it is very effective. Adding this mulch will help keep mosquitoes clear from these areas and repel them from nesting there.

Change Up Your Outdoor Lights

This is something that many do not think of, but like most bugs, mosquitoes are attracted to lights. More specifically insects love incandescent lighting and changing this can lower the number of insects on your porch or near your home. You should change these lights to fluorescents, LED, yellow bug lights, or sodium lights.

Also, since these lights are usually near entryways, this can lower the number of insects entering your home. While we will further discuss indoor mosquito issues, entering through these doorways is a big issue.

Increase Your Bat Population

Bats hunt and eat most of the noctural pests we want to get rid of.

While having bats in your yard may seem intimidating, they are harmless to humans and can be a huge benefit when it comes to wiping out your bug issue. While bats eat a variety of insects each night, they can also eat thousands of mosquitoes each night (from 6 to 8 thousand each night per bat). To bring in more bats, you can purchase or build a bat house and attach it to a sunny, open area of your yard.

Use Fans in Your Yard and Porch

Mosquitoes are very small and lightweight insects, which means they can be blown away by even a slight breeze. Adding fans to your porch is a great way to lower the number of mosquitoes because they simply cannot enter the porch area with the breeze going. You can place a few fans in common areas of your porch to keep mosquitoes away from you or your guests.

Add Mosquito Repelling Plants

A great, natural way to repel mosquitoes from your yard and your porch are by using certain plants. These can easily be added to your landscaping or vegetation, and you will find the mosquitoes do their best to avoid these plants. You can also put these plants in pots around your porch to further repel the insects from this common area. Just some of the many great plants for repelling mosquitoes are:

• Citronella Grass
• Lavender
• Basil
• Catmint
• Rosemary
• Garlic
• Bee Balm’
• Cadaga Trees
• Cedars
• Lemon Scented Geraniums, Lemon Balm, Lemongrass, Lemon Verbena, Lemon Eucalyptus, Lemon Thyme
• Marigolds
• Pitcher Plants
• Mint

You probably noticed the abundance of lemon products, which is simply because lemon is a key scent of removing mosquitoes. If you live in an area where lemon trees can flourish, this is always an option for your yard as well. Also, many of the ingredients found in repellents come from plants, which can be added to your yard for repelling properties, like citronella.

Dealing with Mosquitoes Inside of Your Home

There is nothing more annoying than relaxing at home and feeling that painful bite of a mosquito. Mainly these pests are found outside of the home, but they tend to make their way inside during the summer months. While we have deeply discussed how to deal with mosquitoes in your yard, we have yet to discuss what you should do when these pests make their way inside.

As mentioned several times, I will say it once again, the best way to deal with mosquitoes inside the home is to find the root cause of them outside of the home. There is very rarely an excess of mosquitoes indoors if you do not have an abundance of the outdoors. Using the previously described methods and finding the cause of the bugs is the best way to lower the chance of them getting inside.

Of course, you may be questioning why mosquitoes in your home that are bad, aside from the annoyance of the insect. Just some reasons you must keep mosquitoes from becoming abundant in your home are:

• They can carry serious diseases.
• They can affect air quality
• They can affect your drinking water

How to Get Rid of Mosquitoes Indoors

While dealing with the yard is the first step, you may still have mosquitoes inside of your home. It can also take some time for your mosquito number to lower and the unwanted mosquitoes coming inside of your home to end. Some ways that you can lower the number of mosquitoes entering your home and keep them out are:

Fix Your Screens and Doors

As if we have not said it enough, mosquitoes usually come into your home from outdoors. You should always keep your doors shut when you are not going in or out, especially when mosquitoes have been an issue for your home. This is even more important in the evening times when mosquitoes become more prevalent.

If you have windows that you keep open regularly, you should have window screens on them. These screens need to have very small holes and no large tears or holes that mosquitoes can fit through. Doors that have screens should also be intact so that bugs cannot enter your home through these areas.

Natural Mosquito Solutions

If you have done your best to stop any outdoor issues and have stopped mosquitoes from entering your home. You should address the bugs that are in your home already and add some natural mosquito repellents. There are several safe, natural ways to repel mosquitoes in your home, such as:

Ultrasonic Bug or Pest Repellent

These are easy to use repellent that simply plugs into your normal outlet and helps lower the number of pests in your home. These ultrasonic bug repellents can easily be purchased online and added to your home to lower the number of mosquitoes. They also work well to remove other insects and mice.

Repelling Plants

There are many plants that you can plant outside of your home to repel the insects, but you can also bring many of these indoors. Tulsi is a great plant for killing mosquito larvae and keeping the bugs away, simply plant the shrub near your home. Basil is a great option for indoor planting that helps repel the bugs and can be used in your home. You can also make a basil spray using the essential oil around your home.

Make Natural Repelling Sprays

You can use a lot of essential oils to help repel the mosquitoes, and they can easily be sprayed around your home to lower the number of insects. Garlic can be boiled in water and then poured into a spray bottle, which can then be sprayed around the home for insect repellent. Tea tree oil is another great repellent that you can spray around your home or even apply diluted to the skin to help keep mosquitoes from biting you.

Mosquito Traps

You can find mosquito traps online or at many local supermarkets, and you can trap the mosquitoes that are in your home. You can even create your own trap by using a plastic bottle that has been cut in half, flipped, and then inserted into the bottom of the bottle like a funnel. Create a sugar and water mixture to pour into the bottom half of the bottle; mosquitoes will enter and cannot exit the trap.

Coffee Grounds

If you have stagnant water around your home from a storm or leak, this is a big reason that mosquitoes will frequent your home and can use the water as a breeding ground. If you have a basement that tends to get wet or even has water buildup, you should do your best to clean this area as often as possible. However, if you occasionally have standing water around the perimeter of your home after storms, you can simply throw coffee grounds inside because it will kill any eggs that mosquitoes may lay.

Use a Zapper Near Your Doors

Everyone has seen those classic bug zappers that are designed to attract bugs and zap them. These are primarily kept outdoors and used near porches. You can put a zapper near your doorways to help kill any mosquitoes that are trying to enter your home.

There are also zappers that can be used indoor your home, but these can be questionable. If you have small children, this is probably not a great option as they may mess with the light. Often, the best option is to put these zappers near entryways to help lower the number of bugs entering your home as you go in and out each day.

Consult a Professional

If you have tried everything inside and outside of your home to remove mosquitoes but are still struggling with this, you should consult an expert. There are many pest companies out there who can help with killing mosquitoes. You should find a reputable company in your area that can help you with handling this mosquito issue properly. While this is more costly than many of the other options mentioned, it can be the most effective option.