Appendices

Appendix 3—Pest Prevention

Exterior Design

Remove lights on or near building that may attract night-flying insects.

Maintain a plant-free zone of about 12 inches around buildings to discourage insects from entering.

Design weep-holes in window frames to prevent access by paper wasps. Design windows to prevent harborage and access for pests, without clear passageways to inside.

Correct structural features that provide opportunities for bird roosting and nesting. Avoid locating decorative lattices over entrances to food services facilities that may inadvertently serve as bird roosts.

Install bird-proof barriers that are designed to prevent both pigeon and sparrow access to preferred nesting sites.

Design exterior light fixtures so that birds cannot roost or nest on or in them. Fit eave roof tiles with bird stops (that will also exclude bats, bees and wasps).

Correct structural features that provide opportunities for rodent harborage and burrowing.

Screen or otherwise eliminate animal access under decks, porches, stairways. Seal porches and ramps to the building foundation with ¼inch hardware cloth screen mesh to form a barrier to digging pests such as rats and skunks. This screen must extend 12 inches into the ground and must have a right-angled, 6 inches wide, outward extending shelf to prevent burrowing under the screen.

Screen ventilation louvers with ¼inch hardware cloth screen mesh to exclude birds, rodents, cats, etc., (coordinate with mechanical requirements).

Maintain a 2-foot pea gravel strip around buildings to prevent rodent burrowing. Use a 3" layer of sand barrier underneath slab construction. Use 1–3 mm particle size in place of unsifted sand to provide a permanent sand barrier to termites (both western subterranean and Formosan termites). This will prevent termites from penetrating cracks in slab construction.

For wood not in contact with the ground or concrete, use wood pre-soaked in disodium octoborate tetrahydrate.

Refuse and Recycling Areas

Place outdoor garbage containers, dumpsters, and compactors on hard, cleanable surfaces and away from building entrances (at least 50 feet from doorways). Design site with properly graded concrete or asphalt pads to help prevent rats from establishing burrows beneath them.

Design site with solid enclosure that extends all the way to the ground. Use metal or synthetic materials, as opposed to chain-link, wood, etc. to prevent rodents from gnawing and climbing the enclosure.

Design trash storage areas that can be closed off from the rest of the building.

Locate storage areas for boxes, paper supplies, and other materials in areas separate from where food or trash is stored. When stored together, these materials put food and shelter together, attracting pests.

Landscaped Areas

Choose proven performers, plants known to do well in the intended planting area. Avoid plants with history of pest problems. Use resistant plant species and cultivars when available. Check with your university or cooperative extension service for recommendations.

Give preference to plants that shed a minimum of seeds and fruits, that may attract and support insects, rodents, and undesired birds.

Design with diversity. Include a wide variety of plants in the landscape to reduce the pest damage potential.

Provide a properly prepared site. Site selection is critical; the site must be compatible with the plants' requirements.

Design landscaped areas with flexibility to allow for campus additions, which may change drainage, exposure to sunlight, ventilation, or other plant requirements.

Avoid crowding of landscape plantings.

Group plantings with similar cultural requirements.

Install or retrofit fence lines and other turf or landscape borders with concrete mowing strips.

Avoid planting vegetation directly against buildings as this provides shelter and sheltered runways for rodents. For the same reason, avoid planting dense vegetation that completely covers the ground.

Do not plant vines which climb building walls, as these create runways for rodents and harborage for undesired bird species.

Plant trees away from buildings to prevent easy access to buildings for insects and rodents.

Give careful consideration to placement of deciduous trees. Leaves which accumulate along foundations provide harborage and sheltered runways for rodents.

Interior

Food Preparation and Serving Areas (main kitchen, dining room, teachers' lounge, snack area, vending machines, and food storage rooms):

Ensure that new kitchen appliances and fixtures are of pest-resistant design, i.e., open design, few or no hiding places for roaches, freestanding and on casters for easy, thorough cleaning.
Provide space under and around appliances and equipment in kitchen areas to allow maximum ventilation and ease of (steam) cleaning.
Use coving at floor-to-wall junctures to minimize build-up of debris and to facilitate cleaning.
Slope floors in kitchen areas to provide good drainage after cleaning.
Do not install pegboard in kitchens, animal rooms, or laboratories.
Insure that all pipe insulation has a smooth surface and that there are no gaps between pieces.
Refrigerate trash/recycling storage rooms.

Classrooms and Offices

Ensure that new office and classroom furniture that is rarely moved (e.g., staff desks, bookcases, filing cabinets) is designed to permit complete cleaning under and around the furniture, or to allow ready movement for cleaning purposes.

Design or retrofit construction to provide adequate ventilation, preventing trapped moisture and condensation.

Storage Areas

Equip area with self-closing doors.

Building Perimeter

Seal all plumbing and electrical service entrances.

Keep doors closed tightly; equip doors with self-closures and door sweeps.

BACK

Table of Contents