If stink bugs are getting into your house, you need to do three things: keep them out, kill them before they get in, and catch the ones that make it. This is the system we use at our tiny house.
Step 1: Seal every crack
Stink bugs can fit through gaps as small as 3 millimeters, about the thickness of two pennies. Before we sealed our house and replaced the old windows, they were pouring in on the north side. Caulk around windows, doors, siding, utility penetrations, and anywhere else you find a gap, and repair damaged screens.
Step 2: Treat the outside
Spray an insecticide around doors, windows, and anywhere stink bugs gather on the walls. We use Talstar P bifenthrin concentrate mixed at one ounce per gallon in a pump sprayer, and it lasts a few weeks outdoors. Ortho Home Defense Max has the same active ingredient (bifenthrin) and works too. Bifenthrin works on contact: stink bugs don't need to eat it, they just need to touch it. Always follow the product label.
Step 3: Build a trap for the ones that get in
Some will always find a way inside. That's where the trap comes in. Stink bugs head for light, so a lit lamp in a dark room gathers them all in one place. Follow our step-by-step guide to build the lamp trap.
Why your house? What stink bugs want
Stink bugs need three things: food, a place to lay eggs, and a place to overwinter. Our house has all three nearby: soybeans and corn for food, maple, oak and black walnut trees for eggs (they lay them under the leaves), and our house to overwinter in. Learn more in our guide to the brown marmorated stink bug.