How do I keep roaches out of my house? This is a question that has definitely been asked much more than it has been answered. It can be tough to get rid of roaches and equally as tough to keep them gone. Here are 10+ things that will make roaches pack up and move out of your house and never look back.
Getting rid of roaches requires a little common sense, a little science, and a lot of patience and dedication. The key to getting rid of roaches is to make your house completely undesirable to them. The first way we will do this is by taking away their food. Roaches can eat most anything but if you get rid of all food debris in your house it won’t be as desirable to them. Start by deep cleaning everything, move everything in one room into another room and deep clean the empty room, carpets, drapes, walls, everything. Once you have deep cleaned the room, spray a commercial barrier type bug spray, such as Ortho Home Defense Max, around all the baseboards and in all crevices in the room. Use a commercial expanding foam or caulk to seal up any cracks that bugs can crawl through. If you are planning to paint the room while it is empty, you can mix some cayenne pepper powder into the paint, bugs hate cayenne pepper and if it is in your paint, they will hate your walls. Clean everything coming back into the room thoroughly, pay particular attention to sofas, padded chairs, and the like.
When you have finished the room, do the same to every other room in your house. Pay very close attention to cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms. Once every room in your house has been deep cleaned and sprayed with a barrier pesticide, roaches won’t be as ready to set up shop in your house, and the ones that do will die. Now we are going to make it very difficult for roaches to get in your house in the first place.
Just as you sealed up the internal cracks and gaps in the rooms, use some commercial expanding foam or caulk sealant to seal up any gaps and cracks on the outside of the house. Look for things like gaps or holes in the eves, foundation cracks, areas where cables and pipes enter the house, check weather stripping around windows and doors, and any other area where bugs can enter without a barrier. Be sure to check under sinks where pipes enter. Use your barrier pesticide on the outside of the house around the foundation, around doors and windows, and under porches, etc. It is also a good idea to spray your yard with a good broad coverage pesticide in a hose end sprayer. If they can’t approach your house they can’t get in.
Ok, we have taken away most of the roaches food, and made it very difficult for them to get in without dying in the process. Now, we are going to make their life miserable if they do happen to get in or have survived the barriers. We want them so miserable that they leave and tell all their friends. There are a lot of things roaches do not like, and you may be surprised how well some of them actually work. Some of our secret weapons are bay leaves, mint, sage, and cedar. You can use any of these you like or a combination of them. Place the chosen herbs in places attractive to roaches like cupboard corners, baseboard corners, behind appliances, under rugs, in the sofa, and especially anywhere there may be food debris such as dining rooms and kitchens. Change the herbs periodically.
Now of course you will still see a roach here and there, they will probably be sick, dying, and looking for a quick exit, but you will see a few once in a while before they are all gone. When you see one, kill it! One roach can produce thousands so kill them all. The quickest, cheapest and safest way to kill roaches, and most household insects, is believe it or not soap and water. Yep, get a spray bottle, put in a little dish soap and fill it with water. That’s it, when you see a roach spray it generously and it will suffocate and die. The important thing is their numbers decrease by the day and not increase so kill em when you see em.
Now that we have made the house roach resistant, it’s time to take care of the long term. Wait about 2 weeks after you spray the barrier pesticide and place Combat Gold roach baits or tube paste around your house in places like behind toilets, behind appliances, under sinks, behind furniture, etc. This will kill any families that may have survived the onslaught or tried to resettle, and actually rid your house of roaches in the long term. You are going to want to change the Combat baits about every 3 months. Every 6 months you will want to respray the barrier pesticide outside the house and select places within the house such as garages, bathrooms, etc. but do not put new roach baits out until 2 weeks after you spray. The baits will absorb the pesticide smell and the roaches won’t eat it.
If you follow this procedure, keep a clean house, and be diligent in your pursuit you will get rid of the roaches in your house for good, as well as most other bugs. This is the exact procedure I have used to rid several houses of bugs. If your house is excessively infested, you may need to begin the procedures by using bug foggers or bug bombs on the entire house. Make sure you follow all safety procedures on all products, and city ordinances, this is not an all natural approach and can be harmful if done improperly.
So, how do I keep roaches out of my house? Cleanliness, diligence, patience, and science.
