Garage Cabinets and bug proofing?

[bholmsten]

Where I live we have a bad problem with Stink bugs. They get into about everything.  I want to build some plywood cabinets but want to keep insects from getting in. I want to keep Motorcycle gear helmets jackets etc. and don't want bugs in them when I go to use them.
I was thinking of some type of 100% overlay doors with some type of weather stripping and maybe some type of latch that would compress the weather stripping to make a tight fit.
Any ideas? would Inset design be better? What type of hinges? What type of Latches? What type of weather stripping?
Thanks

 

[Peter_C]

Another option is to build the cabinets to fit bins inside, then keep everything in bins. Just a thought.

Could also build the cabinets up off the floor if the stink bugs are not excellent climbers.

Wouldn't be hard to stick some weather strip adhesive onto the doors and see if it keeps them out.

Stink bugs that I have seen are usually pretty big, and should easily be kept out of a regular cabinet door. Although there are many types of bugs...yours may be far smaller.

 

[Dogberryjr]

More likely the OP is referring to the  brown marmorated stink bug, which is both an excellent climber and flyer. I was considering building cabinets for my grill and using these for latches:https://www.amazon.com/CL316SS-Stainless-Steel-Compression-Latch/dp/B014VAWCP0 . I don't think you'd even need a seal as long as your doors are fairly true.

 

[sancho57]

I think full length slab ply doors with euro hinges should be able to keep the pest out.

 

[Bill Chang]

I spray the garage w broad spectrum insecticide and IGR w long residual and never have problems.  Where I am in the Hill Country we have all kinds of critters including scorpions. 

Been doing this twice a year for over a decade never have problems even w open cabinets.

 

[Packard]

Ted, Tim, welcome to the site.

When I moved to my current home in 1999, I purchased about 10 aerosol cans of insect foggers.  I set off one in each room (with the closet doors open) and two in the basement and garage.

I left for the week and moved in.  Was vacuuming dead insects for a week or so. 

Didn’t last, though. They keep coming.

The worst was a bat managed to get in the basement.  I didn’t know what to do.  The bat didn’t know what to do.

Luckily the bat and I agreed on the desired outcome.

Opened the back door, and the bat radar detected it immediately.  He was out the door in about 10 seconds.

I said, “Whew!”

I’m pretty sure I heard the bat say, “Whew!” Also [big grin].

 

[sancho57]

since my last post I have moved from Calif to Az on a acre & 1/4 on county land.

so sort of in the sticks.

We do have bug issues.

What i started to do is store what I can in totes. I got a Cheap Label machine to label the totes to know whats in them.
I bought tote racks that were made for 27 gal totes (totes are on sale at costco now for about $7.99 ea ). I know I could build the racks cheaper but Its what i wanted to do.

Things I dont want bugs to get to go in the totes.

Im also building garage cabinets going to use melamine.

Im thinking since melamine is plastic and pretty slick bugs will have a difficult time getting into the cabinets.
We do have stink bugs which i think are disgusting but its the scorpions I am concerned about.

Not 100% sure that the melamine will keep them out but the totes sure will.

 

[Packard]

The plastic totes will not protect the contents from rodents, squirrels or raccoons.  They will gnaw through the plastic in seconds.  And good luck keeping them out. 

I had a raccoon doing B & E on very cold nights.  He ended up sleeping in the attic. 

I hired a pest control company to escort him out (but he had already skipped).  He then “raccoon-proofed” the attic.  I paid them about $800.00 to do that, and that consisted of copious amounts of chicken wire and staples.

A couple of months later a horrid smell was coming from the attic.  I called the pest control company that “raccoon-proofed” the attic and asked them to remove the corpse.  They informed me that they had a fixed price of $599.00 to remove carcasses.  No discount for failed raccoon-proofing.

I had my gardener remove the corpse.  And then I had him remove all the attic insulation.  And then new insulation was installed.  Removal and replacing the insulation was about $2,000.00.

Apparently the raccoon-proofing was not effective for intrusion, but was effective for exiting. 

As an aside, the raccoon problem on Long Island has been blamed on noise abatement laws.  About 40 years ago, municipalities on Long Island banned galvanized steel trash cans because they made too much noise during the trash collection process. 

This meant plastic trash cans.  And plastic trash cans meant a steady supply of food for the raccoons. And not raccoons are all over the place.

I hope your plastic totes work.  But for anything that seems like it might be edible for small creatures, you probably want to use steel.

 

[squall_line]

The plastic totes will not protect the contents from rodents, squirrels or raccoons.  They will gnaw through the plastic in seconds.  And good luck keeping them out. 

I had a raccoon doing B & E on very cold nights.  He ended up sleeping in the attic. 

I hired a pest control company to escort him out (but he had already skipped).  He then “raccoon-proofed” the attic.  I paid them about $800.00 to do that, and that consisted of copious amounts of chicken wire and staples.

A couple of months later a horrid smell was coming from the attic.  I called the pest control company that “raccoon-proofed” the attic and asked them to remove the corpse.  They informed me that they had a fixed price of $599.00 to remove carcasses.  No discount for failed raccoon-proofing.

I had my gardener remove the corpse.  And then I had him remove all the attic insulation.  And then new insulation was installed.  Removal and replacing the insulation was about $2,000.00.

Apparently the raccoon-proofing was not effective for intrusion, but was effective for exiting. 

As an aside, the raccoon problem on Long Island has been blamed on noise abatement laws.  About 40 years ago, municipalities on Long Island banned galvanized steel trash cans because they made too much noise during the trash collection process. 

This meant plastic trash cans.  And plastic trash cans meant a steady supply of food for the raccoons. And not raccoons are all over the place.

I hope your plastic totes work.  But for anything that seems like it might be edible for small creatures, you probably want to use steel.

Chicken wire isn't recommended to protect chickens from raccoons or other predators.  Hardware cloth (thicker, galvanized, tighter mesh) is prescribed, but still can't be guaranteed in all situations against a hungry enough predator.

Chicken wire can keep chickens in, but mammals require something much sturdier.

I ended up screwing 1/4" steel mesh to the cap on our gas fireplace chimney to keep out bats.  1/2" isn't small enough in some instances.  1/4" would be a bad idea if it were a wood burner, however.

In any case, for the melamine cabinets, you may need to use gasket material of some sort to seal up the doors against bugs.  I don't have enough experience to say what would work best, but in my head the peel-and-stick weather stripping seems like it would help?

Edit: I didn't realize how old this thread was, and that it already had this suggestion made.  Yikes...

 

[sancho57]

[member=74278]Packard[/member]

"I hope your plastic totes work.  But for anything that seems like it might be edible for small creatures, you probably want to use steel"

seeing as I live in tthe desert and had a bunch of totes sitting on the floor of my garage along with piles of other junk for the last 3 years with no issues what so ever along with cardboard boxes and bags etc lining the entire length of the back wall of my 3 car garage.

yeah I think the stuff now reorganized into larger totes items taken from the bags and cardboard boxes and put into totes now sitting in a rack off the ground will work just fine

 

[Packard]

[…]
Stink bugs that I have seen are usually pretty big […]

Stink bugs invaded NY State about 15 years ago.  Before that I never saw or heard of them.

They seem like locusts.  They show up in masses for a few months and then disappear.

They appear to have no survival instinct.  They never scurry away when I capture them.  But don’t crush them.  That is where the “stink” name came from.

The real problem with these is my lighting.  I have several lights where the globe is inverted and a couple of “boob lights”.  The stink bugs manage to get in these and die.  Every few months I get the vacuum cleaner and a ladder and give them a proper burial in the vacuum cleaner bag.

I am in the process of replacing those lights.  Not only do they attract stink bugs, but also changing bulbs is a chore.  I am hoping that the flat LED round panel lights are bug proof. 

By the way, the ant bait traps really do work.  The key is not to kill the ants as they hurry back to their nest.  Let them go.  They will carry the poison back to the nest with them.  Killing them en route works against your goal.