apartment dwellers. i have a pest control question.

[jonathan_matos5]

from what i understand having an insect problem just kind of goes with living in an apartment, but im starting to get grossed out seeing roaches everywhere.
my apartment is not doing anything about the roaches and it has gotten out of control to the point where i am embarrassed to have people over.

short of never eating at home again, what is the most effective way to get rid of these damned things?

i would prefer not to pay an exterminator on my own dime.

[OtterOnBass]

Keep all of your food in plastic boxes or whatever it takes to keep them bugs out of them.

Clean your apartment really well to get rid of all the crumbs.

Find what eats cockroaches and buy a few.

[Stumbo]

I used to manage apartments.

Most likely your neighbors have roaches as well so just treating your own apartment will help but may not solve the entire problem. If they treat their apartments as well, it will go along way to help getting rid of all the roaches. Roaches are coming for food & water.

What we used to do was:

1) Use an insect bomb. Gotta bag all the food or remove it. Take out any personal items as well. Read and follow all the instructions. Proceed at your own risk.

2) Clean the whole apartment (I mean, super clean). Simple Green is a very good cleanser. Can be diluted to match the type of cleaning. Clean every drawer, shelf, wipe the walls, clean the bathroom with a toothbrush, inside of fridge, behind fridge, underneath fridge, clean out the toaster, mini-oven, etc.....everything. Take all the dishes/pots/pans/spices/food out of the cabinets....scrub everything-shelves,walls,etc. Clean all the dishes/silverware/pots/pans, etc.

3) paint the inside of all the kitchen/bathroom cabinets (shelves-top and bottom), paint the inside of all drawers. We used semi-gloss paint. Flat paint doesn't work. The semi-gloss is also easy to keep clean. This step seals the shelves and everything that may remain embedded in the wood (oils, stains, etc.)

4) Patch any holes under the sink where the pipes meet the walls. Patch any holes in the walls anywhere in the apartment. Make sure there are not water leaks in the faucets, pipes, fridge water line.

5) Purchase boric acid. You can usually get it at a drug store or in a more convenient form at a hardware store. Pull out the bottom drawers and spread it under the cabinets. Check out the following for more info http://ask.metafilter.com/40763/Bori...in-my-cupboard
http://www.alsnetbiz.com/homeimprove...oric_acid.html

It takes awhile for boric acid to work. It's taken back to the nest where it will kill several generations of roaches.

6) Purchase and install "roach motels" where the roaches get stuck in them. These will need to checked regularly and changed regularly. By checking what size roaches are being caught, you can tell how your treatment is working.

7) When you start seeing smaller and smaller roaches, you know it working. It may take 30 to 60 days to get rid of all of them if all your neighbors do the same treatments at the same time.

8) It also helps to get the outside of the apartment treated as well.

Good luck.

[Phalex]

The whole building is infested. Not a darn thing you can do short of burning it down.

You could try training them to perform simple tasks.

[Visirale]

I too just moved in to an apartment. Seen 4-5 roaches in 2 months and it still pisses me off.

[sarcastro83]

watch the movie Joe's Appartment. It's pretty good.

[lunarpollen]

I think a pest infestation makes an apartment legally uninhabitable. You might want to look into contacting whatever your county or state rental board is to file a complaint.

IN the meantime check out online sites like http://www.pmra-arla.gc.ca/english/c...roaches-e.html

[mrokern]

Your landlord should be implementing pest control procedures (exterminators, etc.) ASAP.

Pests absolutely do NOT necessarily come with apartment living. Our building had two mice show up last year on the ground floor (I'm on the 3rd), and they had a pest control company on-site the next day.

-Mark

[DWBass]

Originally Posted by lunarpollen

I think a pest infestation makes an apartment legally uninhabitable. You might want to look into contacting whatever your county or state rental board is to file a complaint.

I agree. However, bombs work but only if everyone does it. I lived in an apartment once and it had roaches. I set off 2 bombs at the same time, went out for the day, came back and saw literally 1000's of dead roaches (must have come out the woodworks trying to escape). Cleaned up and never saw another one in the year I was in there!