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November 14, 2019Pests

How to Get Rid of Roaches In Your Home

Picture this: You’re cleaning up after dinner, headed to the sink to give your dishes a good post-spaghetti dinner scrub, when all of a sudden a giant cockroach runs across your foot. You’re immediately grossed out, but let it go because it’s just one roach, it’s not like you have an infestation. But then a few days later you’re greeted by one in the bathroom, and then in the living room, and in every room until boom – you have an infestation that could’ve been taken care of right away had you followed these tips for getting rid of roaches the first time around.

4 Tips for getting rid of roaches

Knock out their hiding places.

Roaches are excellent at hide-and-seek. Just when you think you have one of those creepy critters trapped, they dart away into another nook or cranny in your home. Cockroaches can sprint at speeds of about 1.7 miles per hour, so the chances of you winning in a game of tag are slim. Instead, you can catch them when they least expect it by eliminating their hiding places. Roaches love the dark, wet areas of your home such as:

• Inside bathtubs
• Underneath sinks
• Inside major appliances
• Under refrigerators
• In or around pipes, drains, and faucets

Get rid of their food and water source(s).

Cockroaches are cold-blooded insects, so they can live without food for up to one month. This doesn’t mean that taking away their food source is ineffective, though. When you take away the source of food, roaches will stop coming to your home for food. Instead, they’ll look elsewhere… like your neighbor’s home, perhaps. On the other hand, cockroaches can only live one week without water, so getting rid of their water sources might be a more effective way of kicking them to the curb.

Seal up entry points around your home.

No matter what methods you use to get roaches out of your home, if you don’t seal up entry points, they’re going to crawl right back in. Check out these common entry points and how you can seal them:

• Plumbing: Seal holes around plumbing pipes.
• Sewers/drains: Seal or use screens for large openings around your outside drainage lines and sewer vents.
• Opened windows: Install window screens.
• Foundation cracks: Use a DIY sealing method or call in a professional.

Call in the pros.

Just because you only saw one roach doesn’t mean there aren’t more hiding around your home. The best way to knock out a roach problem in one go is by calling in the pros. Whether it truly is just one pesky roach or a whole infestation, our Bug Guys will help you get your pest-free home back in a jiffy. Just reach out to us here to schedule your free in-home inspection and quote!