5 Pro Tips to Get Rid of Cockroaches in Your Home
If you’re reading this, it’s likely that cockroaches have invaded your home.
If you’ve ever dealt with cockroaches, you know how difficult it is to get rid of them. They are fast, they hide in hard-to-reach places, and they make a mess whenever they move. While DIY methods can help, a professional pest control service is often the most effective solution.
But there are some easy methods to prevent an infestation. Here are five easy ways to remove cockroaches out of your home once and for all!
1. Keep your home clean
It may seem obvious, however, keeping your home free of dust, rubbish, and any food sources can make an enormous difference in keeping cockroaches out of your house.
Cockroaches are omnivorous, which basically means they will eat anything they can get to. They are attracted to grease, dirty dishes, pet food, food crumbs, and any kind of organic mess. Regular carpet cleaning and professional tile cleaning can help eliminate food sources and create an environment less attractive to pests.
Regularly disposing of waste, both inside and outside your home, and cleaning regularly will give cockroaches no reason to visit your home.
Making sure your home is free of clutter like cardboard boxes and unused furniture will help reduce the number of places cockroaches can hide and build nests.
Advantages
- Effective
- Affordable
- Safe for kids and pets
Disadvantages
- Requires constant work
- Only deters the infestation
2. Use cockroach bait and glue traps
Glue traps are adhesive strips that can be placed in areas where there is evidence of cockroach activity, usually where cockroach droppings and cockroach eggs accumulate such as behind the refrigerator or sink. The smell of the glue attracts the cockroaches and they become stuck overnight, to be disposed of the following morning.
If you are unsure where cockroaches are originating from in your house, place the traps near all doors, windows, sinks, and rubbish bins. You can purchase numerous cockroach glue trap products, each with slightly different adhesives and methods.
Advantages
- Effective
- Fast-acting
Disadvantages
- Bait stations can be toxic if consumed
- Wild animals may be poisoned when consuming affected cockroaches
3. Seal any possible entry points
Sealing any possible entry points with caulk, or silicone sealants is an effective way to keep cockroaches from entering your home and preventing them from travelling freely.
Depending on your property there are multiple areas that need attention when sealing your home to prevent roach infestations:
- Apply a thin layer of silicone caulk around all entry points in your home where they might be coming through—this will form a barrier that they can’t penetrate without dying.
- If you have gaps or holes in the bottom of any furniture or cabinets, fill them with expanding foam insulation. Tie up cardboard tubes around the openings of these spaces so that the foam doesn’t get everywhere when you pour it on top of them!
- Seal cracks in concrete floors with concrete patching compound (available at hardware stores). This will make it harder for roaches to find their way into your house through small openings around pipes or other utilities installed underneath floors.
Advantages
- Effective
- Affordable
- Safe for kids and pets
Disadvantages
- Sealants wear over time
- Needs to be checked and repaired periodically
4. Spray pesticide outside your home
One of the most effective methods of cockroach removal is by spraying the perimeter of your home with an insecticide. This will kill cockroaches that happen to wander into your yard or garden, as well as keep them from entering your home through cracks or other openings in the outside walls.
To ensure this method is effective, you must use a sprayer with a hose attachment so you can reach all areas easily, especially those around windows and doors where roaches tend to gather.
When spraying, be sure that you coat the surface completely but don’t allow the insecticide to drip onto any surfaces where people might come into contact with it—this includes pets! If you have children living in your home who could accidentally ingest insecticides and become ill as a result, then it would be best not to spray around doors or windows where children might play near them.
Advantages
- Effective
- Fast-acting
- Affordable
Disadvantages
- Insecticides can be toxic for children and animals
5. Contact the experts
If you have a German Cockroach infestation, you will likely require a pest control team to perform a German cockroach treatment. German cockroaches breed extremely rapidly and carry their eggs until hatching. This means that the infestations can spread through your home very quickly and the treatment must be performed thoroughly to ensure it does not return.
Cockroaches commonly build their nests in places that are extremely difficult to locate and reach. Professional cockroach pest control services have the tools and experience to locate the source of the problem and uncover any potential problem areas.
Many of the pest control products available in hardware stores and supermarkets can be toxic and harmful to children, pets, and those with respiratory and skin issues. Our Gold Coast pest control services can develop a treatment plan that suits you and rids your home of cockroaches safely and effectively.
If you believe you might have a cockroach problem in your home, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to receive a free quote for pest control treatment today.
