Pest control questions, answered

A one-time general visit usually costs less than a plan's first visit, which often carries a setup fee. Our cost guide lists published national ranges for each common job with the source and date. The company that inspects your home gives you its own written price.

Most companies don't price by the room for general pests; they price the house. Ants and mice move between rooms. Bed bugs are the exception that sometimes gets priced by room or by square foot, and the room count matters most there. Ask for the price for the whole job, follow-ups included.

For a plan that treats quarterly, $50 a month works out to about $150 a visit, which sits inside the published national ranges in our cost guide. Whether it's worth it depends on whether you have a recurring problem. For one wasp nest or a single ant trail, a one-time visit is enough.

Spend on the problem you have, not a plan you don't need. A one-time treatment for a single problem, or a termite inspection before you buy, is often all a Columbus house needs. Bed bugs and termites are the jobs where a cheap quote can cost more later, so compare what each quote includes.

It controls them; it rarely makes a house bug-free for good. Treatment plus sealing gaps and fixing moisture keeps numbers down, and some pests, like bed bugs and German cockroaches, need follow-up visits to finish the job. Ask what the company will do if the pests come back.

There's no single official list. Integrated pest management, the approach the EPA and Ohio State Extension recommend, combines prevention with physical controls such as sealing gaps and traps. It adds biological controls and targeted pesticides where needed, with monitoring to check what worked.

Bed bugs and German cockroaches usually take the most visits in Columbus homes, because they hide in cracks and breed fast, and they spread between apartments that share walls. Termites are slow to find but a single soil treatment usually handles them.

No single product or method does it every time. Heat that brings the whole room and its contents to a lethal temperature kills all life stages, and a follow-up visit with residual products catches what heat missed. Our heat vs chemical guide explains how to judge a bed bug quote.

Follow the product label and the technician's instructions; after most liquid and dust treatments people can return once surfaces are dry, often a few hours. Whole-structure fumigation is rare for houses in Ohio and has a set reentry time. Sleeping in your own bed after treatment helps, because it keeps bed bugs coming to the treated areas instead of spreading to the couch.

No smell keeps termites out of a house. Ohio's termites are eastern subterranean termites that live in the soil, and the products that protect a home are soil treatments and bait systems applied by a licensed company. Orange oil is sold for termites, but it is a spot treatment for drywood termites, a different species.

Mostly ants and house centipedes indoors. Spiders and silverfish turn up in basements. Stink bugs and Asian lady beetles crowd sunny walls every fall looking for a way in, and mice follow once nights turn cold. Bed bugs and German cockroaches usually need a professional, and so do termites and carpenter ants.

Check the applicator's Ohio Department of Agriculture license and category, get a written price after an inspection, and read the contract for auto-renewal and cancellation terms before you sign. Compare what each quote includes, such as follow-up visits, rather than the headline price.

Several national chains and franchise brands operate in Columbus alongside dozens of local independents. Size tells you little about the technician who comes to your house. The license, the written price and the contract terms tell you more.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture. A pest control business needs a pesticide business license (Ohio Revised Code 921.09) and must employ a licensed commercial applicator (921.06). Applicators are licensed by category, such as 10a general pest control and 10b termite control, and licenses expire each September 30.

Columbus Public Health treats rats outdoors in yards inside city limits when you file a 311 request and the yard meets its conditions; it doesn't treat inside homes, and it doesn't treat apartment buildings or businesses. It doesn't inspect or treat bed bugs. Call 311 at 614-645-3111 or use columbus.gov/311.

Ohio law (ORC 5321.04) requires landlords to keep a rental fit and habitable and to follow housing and health codes, which generally covers infestations the tenant didn't cause. Tenants have their own duties to keep the unit clean. Put the request in writing; our renters guide explains the steps.

Ohio law doesn't require one for every sale, but VA lists Ohio as a state where its loans need wood-destroying insect information, and many buyers and lenders ask for one. In Ohio the inspector needs a commercial applicator license in category 12, the company needs a pesticide business license, and the result goes on the NPMA-33 form.

Ask the company which products they plan to use and how long kids and pets should stay off treated areas, and follow the label directions they give you. Say when you book if you have pets or a baby at home, or someone with asthma.

Mostly in fall. John Glenn airport's median first freeze is October 29, and the area averages about 100 nights a year at 32°F or colder (NOAA, 2001 to 2025). Seal gaps before then: mice fit through an opening about the size of a dime.

A free referral service. We pass your request to one independent, licensed local pest control company that serves your ZIP code, and that company pays us for the introduction. We don't do pest control ourselves.