House Overrun With Roaches...any Suggestions?
:-x Hello,
We recently bought a 4/2 unit property that the city has designated as "historic." The rear duplex was rented out to some low-life types by the previous owner. We evicted them and are currently rehabbing the inside, but have been confronted with swarms of roaches. I've had two professional sprayings so far, and then decided to take matters into my own hands when I wasn't seeing results. I bought 4 gallons (!) of pesticide and told the manager to go crazy with it. I also told him to spray around and inside the front building because I've read that roaches do migrate to the next food source. Does anybody have any other suggestions that have worked for them? I thought bombing the place would help, but the exterminator said that only drives the roaches deeper into the walls (?). Also, there's a terrible stench that we're dealing with by washing the walls with a bleach solution, then priming with Kilz, followed by paint. I'm sure they're in the heating ducts too, so any suggestions on how to deal with that?
Thanks,
xy2xy
Get a fork and bring your apetite!!!
I'd bring in a professional.
Years ago when I lived in Texas and then California I encountered many problems with these critters!
One thing that worked for me was placing Comet in ALL the corners, including cupboards. This didn't stop the existing roaches, but it did stop the offspring.
I have no clue as to why this remedy works, but it did for me! (It was passed on to me from an elderly woman)
Good Luck
Deb
orkin man
People in my housing association use either MaxForce or Combat gel. Takes several days and repeated applications to work on major infestations, but it does work. Orkin and Terminix use a similar product, so I'd suggest saving some money and doing it yourself.
Make sure other products (sprays, etc.) are not used at the same time as the gel.
Tracy
Bomb it. Bug bombs work great, just don't use too many or the house will explode like that urban legand.
Boric acid powder. Disolves the ectoskeleton of the little buggers. Better than that they get it on their skin and legs and carry it back to the nests where it kills the eggs and larva too. Boraxo soap is the cheapest source. Also marketed under the brand name Roach Pruff. I also put it behind and under kitchen cabinets whenever I renovate a kitchen. If you keep it dry its active for years.
We had that 'urban legend' happen here in San Diego last year. 600 sq ft house with 10 or so bug bombs. Luckily they had gone to market, but the house had only 3 sides afterwards.
If you are in a humid area, the boric acid will cake up and lose its potency relatively quickly.
We had a bad case in a couple houses that we are still fighting.
We do sell the Max Force Gel on here that really helps get rid of the roaches. But it works better with Gentrol which is an offspring killer.
45 bucks for a 3 pack. Look under Products and Services.
Hello Everybody!
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. I'm waging an al-out assault on these roaches! Actually, the neighbors have started complaining that the roaches have come over to their places now. I'm using a combination approach...professional spraying, "Hot Shot" pesticide from Home Depot, Ortho pesticide, and now boric acid powder. Their numbers have definitely started to decline.
Regards,
xy2xy
A friend claims that if you mix coca powder with the boric acid it works even better. No actual personal experience however.
I had unwittingly bought a house in Florida (for personal use!) that was infested with cockroaches. It was the most creepy, disgusting, awful experience of my life. We ended up using Terminix. Within days, the nasty things were all gone, but six months later we needed a re-treatment. However, after that, no more problems. I suspect they didn't use enough bait the first time. After talking with the people from Terminix, I learned what makes their formulation effective. The stuff they used has a "domino effect." When cockroaches die, they eat each other, and when they eat the contaminated carcasses, the poison within the carcasses kills them, then their contaminated carcasses are eaten by more unsuspecting cockroaches, and so on. So I would say that a baiting system is the most effective, so that they come out for the food, and basically kill each other. I would think any baiting system, including borax mixed with honey, would work, assuming the dead carcasses are contaminated enough to kill the cockroaches that eat them.
Terminix put the bait on the inside of all the outlet covers, under sinks in the kitchen and bathroom, as well as other dark, hidden areas cockroaches may use as a refuge.
Good luck.
Candace
orthro liquid diazon. kills every thing. but you must evac. the area for a couple of days. you can get it at co-op or farm supply. read the instructions carefully, this stuff will put your lights out........kenmax[ Edited by kenmax on Date 08/15/2004 ]
Had roaches in the first house I bought. Tried bombs first then an exterminator.
They came back after a few months. I was so sick of them I took of all the outlet covers, light switch covers, and poked some large screwdriver holes in the kitchen walls. I was replacing the floor in the kitchen at that time so I had the base boards off also. Had the exterminator spray through the holes, through the gaps between the outlets and behind where the base boards go. Then we followed his advice of leaving no water anywhere. Not even a drop in the sink -"wipe it dry before going to bed." That got rid of them.
Call around and find a terminator that garantees their work for 6 months or so. They may come back, but they'll be spraying for free every time after that. The second time they'll be VERY thourough because they know that they're working for free now and until they're gond.
You may want to drop a bomb into the atic and the crawl space the same day that they spray. Good luck.
Remove cockroaches, roach debris, food, other particulate and dust by vacuuming. Vacuum harborages, under, on top and around stoves and refrigerators, shelving, cabinet tops, electrical receptacles and switches, range vent hoods, floor/wall junctures, along baseboards, all around door and window frames, and other areas as needed.
Place a narrow tube on the end of the vacuum hose to extract cockroaches from cracks and crevices. Vacuuming will not kill live cockroaches, so place the bag in a freezer or seal it in a cockroach-proof container for disposal. Roaches will escape an unattended vacuum, so dispose of your bag promptly!
Hot air from a hair dryer or heat gun (less than 1,000 F) can be used to flush roaches from harborages.
When using hot air flushing, take care not to apply excessive heat to materials that could be damages (e.g., paint, electrical wiring, and electronic components)
Remove all roach excreta and other residues from surfaces.
Vacuum all horizontal surfaces with a vacuum before and after wet washing.
Wash roach stains from walls, ceilings, cupboards, doors, etc. Scrub-off stains with a detergent solution; remove the dirty wash solution with disposable rags; wring-out the dirty rags into separate bucket, not into the wash water. Rinse thoroughly with clean rise water and clean rags. Wash again with a bleach solution (use ¾ cup of household bleach in a gallon of water, allow 10 minutes of contact time) and rinse. Follow bleach label precautions for skin protection and ventilation.
For vinyl flooring, scrub with detergent solution. Mop up the dirty wash solution and wring into to separate bucket, not into wash water. Rinse thoroughly with clean rise water.
For carpeting, vacuum very slowly (no faster than 4 minutes per 10 square feet).
Apply borate powders into voids, electrical switch and receptacle boxes (install, seal and cover plates), and cracks and crevices. Borates are effective when very lightly dusted along a wall/floor juncture (e.g., at baseboards) and under/behind appliances where roaches are known to travel. Follow label instructions of all borate products.
Seal openings, cracks, or crevices where food debris can collect. Seal holes, cracks and crevices where roaches live and where there is roach debris. Some wall openings, cracks, and crevices can be left unsealed and used as locations to place gel baits.
Sealing of wall voids in kitchens and bathrooms can be particularly important in achieving elimination. Use caulk or foam seal where sinks and fixtures are mounted to the floor or wall, cracks and crevices, baseboard molding and corner guards, where shelves and cabinets meet walls or door frames, pipe penetrations and other openings which provide entry to the unit or access to harborage. Use latex acrylic with silicone caulks to seal molding.
As needed, apply baits using applicator syringes. Use baits from the approved list. Bait in areas of greatest roach activity, such as in food storage cabinets, under sinks, at smoke detectors and CO monitors, and on appliances (e.g., rear of gas cooking range).
Location is critical in bait application. Cockroaches will feed on the first food they find, so it is important that they find the bait before other food sources. Thus, it is important to use many, widely distributed, small-sized application points (e.g., BB-sized dabs or l/8 inch beads) rather than large smears of bait. Place bait beads as close as possible to harborages and feeding areas, adjacent to edges and corners.
Apply baits so that they are inaccessible to occupants and out-of-sight. Baits which can be used, include: Avert by Whitmire Micro-Gen Research Gel (active ingredient (a.i.) abamectin), Maxforce by Clorox (a.i. hydramethylnon), preempt by Bayer (a.i. imidacloprid), Pro-Joe-S and MRF-2000 by Blue Diamond (a.i. boric acid), and Siege by American Cyanamid (a.i. hydramethylnon).
Repair leaky pipes and plumbing fixtures and faucets. Caulk baseboards, cupboards, sinks, toilets, pipe junctures and wall voids as needed. Cover drains with small mesh screens. Cover potted plant soil with a layer of gravel. If your dwelling is excessively humid, consider using a dehumidifier to reduce the humidity. Petroleum jelly and mineral oil mixed together and applied to the inside rim of the toilet bowl and around the tank will prevent cockroaches from using them as a source of water.
Never forget the ATTIC AND OUTSIDE as the large roaches, American, Smoky Brown and Wood Roach, tend to nest in the attic or outside. The only product recommended for this area is roach bait. Roach bait scattered in the attic, along the perimeter of the house, under decking and on and around woodpiles will help eliminate these types of roaches.
Roach Prufe we buy it at Ace hardware.
IT is the best stuff I have found.
http://www.copperbrite.com/roach.html
Mal
I have had some terrible problems with them myself. GET THE MAXFORCE GEL. It absolutely is the best thing out there. Do not spray when you use it. It will rid them quickly and without smell.
Good Luck,
Shawn(OH)
Youre in luck. See, if you capture a few live ones and quickly brand them unlawful combatants, they will not be protected under the Geneva Convention. When you have them in captivity, torture them to hell ( but below levels considered to cause organ failure), and hear what they have to say. If you feel like they are speaking a foreign language or are just plain hard to understand, they are probably messing with your head. At this point, remove all their clothing (in this case shell), stack them in pyramid form, and embarrass them in front of all their colleages.
Lay off on the "wacky tobaccy" okay?
Quote:
On 2005-01-07 00:18, onelicha wrote:
Youre in luck. See, if you capture a few live ones and quickly brand them unlawful combatants, they will not be protected under the Geneva Convention. When you have them in captivity, torture them to hell ( but below levels considered to cause organ failure), and hear what they have to say. If you feel like they are speaking a foreign language or are just plain hard to understand, they are probably messing with your head. At this point, remove all their clothing (in this case shell), stack them in pyramid form, and embarrass them in front of all their colleages.