3 Steps to Get Rid of Roaches in Your Apartment

Do you have roaches in your apartment?

Perhaps you’ve already been thinking about moving to another apartment but now you have this guide – and it’s a working solution to your cockroach problem.

Let’s get straight to the action and determine how severe the situation is.

This will help us to determine whether you need a pack of roach fumigators or something significantly more powerful. 

Step 1: Figure Out How Severe It Is

Before you start worrying too much and improvising with random insecticides from the nearest store, you have to understand which type of cockroaches intend to share the apartment with you and how many there are of them.

In most cases, apartments are infested with so-called German cockroaches. These are the small light-brown or reddish-brown insects that are about 0.5” long when they grow up.

Other roach species may also pay you a visit. It’s hard to confuse them with any other insect.

The first thing to remember is that almost all types of roaches multiply at a whopping rate and hide extremely well.

If you notice at least one roach in your kitchen or bath, which are the best sources of water and food, do the following:

• Inspect the apartment for the signs of roaches – even if you notice a couple of bugs, this may not be the sign of a severe infestation. Inspect the place for signs of roach feces and egg layings. The first looks like sprinkled ground black pepper, while the second sign is slightly bigger elongated clusters with dozens of white baby roaches inside. Once a cluster opens, all of these critters spread over your property, and, voila, you have an infestation. Large infestations are also always followed by dead roaches here and there. 
• Musty smell – if you notice a new musty, oily smell that doesn’t go away after a deep cleaning or even becomes stronger, you can be sure that the case is severe, and you need emergency exterminator service. 

Step 2: Getting Rid of Cockroaches

Now that you know about the infestation and have evidence of its severity, you should pick up an appropriate extermination method.

In any case, you have to be quick to prevent the disaster from spreading. Here are the most effective ways to get rid of roaches depending on the infestation severity:

1. Set store-bought traps – these traps are designed to attract, hold, and eliminate cockroaches. You can choose between simple sticky traps that don’t let the bugs move or use poisoned food to make roaches share it with others and poison multiple bugs at a time. The best solution is to combine both types. The first morning after setting the traps, you will be able to see how many insects are there on the sticky tape. If there are many of them in a single trap, the infestation is very severe. 
2. Handmade traps – believe it or not, but traps made of jars and bottles with some beer or wine at the bottom can eliminate many roaches per night. Else, you can put duct tape with a sweet or fatty bait to make bugs stick to it. 
3. Deep-clean your apartment – this is a way to get rid of main roach feedings and identify where they hide most of the time. You should use only disinfecting cleaning products as cockroaches might have already infected the surfaces. 
4. Hire an exterminator – even if the previous steps seem enough to you, they are not. You still have to call an exterminator after deep cleaning your place as it’s totally impossible to finish the infestation without special equipment and intense chemical treatment. Modern cockroaches are almost invincible, so cross-treatment with tough chemical mixes is a must. Don’t forget about other tenants and inform them if they need to leave the building for a certain period. 

Step 3: Proactive Prevention

Even the best exterminator service can’t guarantee that cockroaches will never return to your apartment. That’s why it’s highly important to follow the recommended infestation prevention measures to keep these creepy insects away.

Here are the essentials: 

• Reinsure there are no feedings – roaches need food and water, and your apartment may expose both goods to them. Make sure there are no issues with old pipes or leakages behind the dishwasher. By removing a water source, you can make your apartment less attractive to “newcomers.”
• Deep-clean the apartment regularly – keeping your apartment clean means not only cleaning the easy-access surfaces. No, that’s not where the pests usually feed. You have to vacuum every accessible area, keep the dishes clean every day, sweep/vacuum the floor at least twice a week, etc. It’s also a good idea to hire a cleaning service at least once a year to have your apartment cleaned by professionals. 
• Keep all the foods thoroughly sealed – if there is even a tiny opportunity to get inside a food container, a cockroach will use it to feed and share the food with ‘tribesmen.’
• Seal cracks in walls and floors – this way, you will prevent the insects from returning to your apartment through the previously discovered paths. It’s quite possible to seal all the possible entrances, but you will need your property manager’s help to inspect and fix the cracks around your unit and, preferably, the entire building. 
• Take out garbage daily – the scent of garbage is a powerful pest attractant, even if you don’t notice it. The best solution is to dispose of garbage bags daily and quick-clean the garbage storage with a disinfectant as regularly as possible.
• Get rid of clutter – roaches are brilliant in hiding, and rarely used stuff in your kitchen, bathroom, and other rooms can become a place for their egg layings and hideaways from daylight. Arrange your storage spaces and get rid of everything you don’t use. If your space is organized and actively used, bugs will be afraid to dwell there. 

Never Again?

Cockroaches are definitely the diehards of the pest world, but the combination of professional extermination and regular preventive measures will liberate your apartment from these nasty insects forever, or, at least, for a very long time.

Stay tuned for more tips on taking care of your property!