Roaches are annoying, disgusting, embarrassing—and terribly difficult to get rid of if you don’t know what you’re doing. They’re known to spread illness, and it’s not uncommon for households with roaches to experience breathing problems, asthma, and intensified allergies. Because it can take months, sometimes years for you to notice them, you usually have a severe infestation on your hands by the time you realize what’s going on.
For instance, a single pair of roaches hiding out in your home can become a horrifying population of 3 million strong in just a couple short years. You might be thinking you only have a few dozen to deal with, while an entire army of unseen roaches are wriggling behind your walls, inside your plumbing, or in the shadowy corners of your basement and attic.
There’s no need to spend hundreds on poisonous sprays and baits, or thousands on inconsistent, unsuccessful pest control services. We’re going to show you exactly how to get rid of your roach problem, step by step, and how to do it without resorting to chemicals that endanger the health of your family and pets.
Do a Deep Clean
No matter how many pest control products you use or how often you apply them, you won’t be able to solve your roach problem without doing a deep clean. Sure, you might get rid of your roaches for a few days or weeks, but if your home offers plenty of food and water to drink in the way of spills, crumbs, or dirty appliances, they’ll be back before you know it. Cleanliness is king when it comes to getting rid of and preventing roaches.
Because even small traces of food and drink can sustain roaches for months, you need to be vigilant. Sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, laundry, dishes, countertops, immediately cleaning up food and drink spills—you’ll need to do all your normal cleaning duties just more often. If your typical routine is weekly, up it to every 3-4 days, or more often if that isn’t sufficient.
In addition to the basic housekeeping outlined above, you’ll need to add a few extra cleaning measures. Appliances like your microwave, toaster, oven, stove top, and fridge need to be deep cleaned and kept clean, inside and out. You can’t afford to leave any food debris or drink residue behind. For larger appliances, pull them out from the wall and clean the floor underneath them, too—there’s usually far more food particles here that you’d expect.
Trash and recycling cans are a big trouble spot for roaches, so make sure to use liners, seal them with a lid, and keep the insides and outsides clean and free of spills. During a roach infestation, you’ll need to take both your trash and recycling outside more often than normal, say every 2-3 days or more frequently if necessary. When recycling food or drink containers, always rinse them before tossing them in the bin.
Lastly, clutter is a big no-no when you’re struggling with roaches. First, it provides ample space to hide and breed. Second, clutter makes keeping your home clean far more difficult, as roach attractants like food, dust, and moisture can easily go unnoticed. So just make sure to address piles of clothing, books, papers, etc ASAP.
Treat Your Home to Kill & Repel
We make killing, repelling, and preventing roaches easy—you only need 1 product to get the job done: Ben’s Evictor.
TO KILL ROACHES: Give them a heavy direct spray with Ben’s Evictor and they’ll be dead in a few moments. Once you’re done, quickly dispose of the dead roach, as roaches have no problem feeding on their own.
TO REPEL & PREVENT ROACHES: While roaches move quickly and often, they tend to hang around the same areas in your home, usually those that provide darkness to hide and sources of food and water, such as under or behind furniture or appliances, and throughout your kitchen, bathrooms, basement, and garage.
To help keep these trouble areas roach free, spray them weekly for basic prevention and every 3-4 days if you’re currently experiencing a heavy roach problem. If after two weeks, you’re not seeing the results you want, simply adjust to a more frequent spraying schedule.
Don’t forget to spray and seal entry points. Cracks, crevices, and holes in and around baseboards, flooring, walling, foundations, doors, windows, screens and seals are how roaches usually get inside our homes. It’s crucial to spray these potential entryways weekly, every 3-4 days, or more often as necessary.
We suggest doing a thorough check both inside and outside your home for potential entry points like these, and sealing them with caulk, mesh wool, or another suitable material to prevent additional roaches from moving indoors.
How to Prevent Roaches
Compared to treating an ongoing roach problem, prevention is much easier, cheaper, and less time consuming. The following tips will help you keep roaches away from your home and out of your life.
- Closely follow the housekeeping guidelines outlined in the deep cleaning section above and maintain the cleanliness of those spaces moving forward.
- Also as mentioned above, keep trash and recycling bins clean, lined with a bag, and take them out often.
- Many roach problems begin due to poor food storage. Leftovers, produce, bread, pantry items, pet food—all need to be stored in airtight hard plastic or glass containers, or stored in the fridge. Similarly, avoid leaving food of any type out where it’s accessible to roaches, including dirty dishes, spills, crumbs, fruit bowls, etc.
- Along with food, water is the #1 roach attractant, so limiting moisture throughout your home is essential. Sources of standing water—like pet bowls, dirty dishes, cups of water, planters, faulty pipes, refrigerator and A/C drip trays—need to be removed, or cleaned often. For more serious roach issues, drying out sinks, showers, and plugging drains is sometimes required.
- Roaches prefer to live and breed in warmer spaces. It might sound small, but simply keeping your home or apt on the cool side can help deter roach populations.
- If you’re worried about roaches, avoiding clutter both inside and outside your home is vital. For indoors, pay special attention to piles of laundry, papers, books, unused equipment, closets, attics, basements, and other storage areas. For outdoors, address brush, clippings, wood piles, and unused tools and equipment.
- Lastly, look out for holes and cracks roaches could potentially use to enter your home, spray them with Ben’s Evictor, and then promptly seal them.
Stay Consistent
Like with most any pest, consistency is crucial to successfully killing, repelling, and preventing roaches.
If you relax your standards for cleanliness or fail to consistently spray until your problem is resolved, chances are you’ll be dealing with roaches again before you know it—and you’ll have to start the entire treatment and prevention process again from scratch.
Just stick with it and you'll get over your roach problem in only a few short days or weeks.
Need Help Solving Your Roach Problem?
Whether you need step-by-step advice or aren’t sure which product is right for you, we’re here to help. Give us a call or email us for free expert advice. Look forward to chatting with you soon!
PHONE: 210-599-0449
EMAIL: Bobamarine@cedaroilindustries.com