I lived in a Texas house with several roommates. And cockroaches, BAD! We had tried the "bombs." It was quite a bit of work covering certain places with plastic, taking ALL laundry to laundromat during, and washing all dishes after. They didn't work as hoped for, then I read about Roach Prufe. I also read of the best application technique.
Start at one point of the home, somewhere along the perimeter where the floor meets the wall. Lay out a line along the entire perimeter of every room in the home. I realize some people will see this and immediately think of how they do not want this white powder line showing along the entire perimeter of their home. They prefer to just throw some piles of powder under the sink and behind the water heater, and maybe a few other hidden places. We had tried this hit/miss sprinkling powder before we read of the "perimeter technique" but we had roaches BAD and hit/miss did not work before.
The perimeter instructions told of how it was safe for people and pets; and to imagine how, for any roach in the home to get from the floor to the wall, you make him [or her, lol] crawl past the powder. It was 98% boric acid and 2% inert stuff to help it adhere to the roach so he could go share it in his nest. The only piece of perimeter where we did not lay out a line was in the bathroom along tub/floor run. We laid our line down using a flat-surfaced cafeteria tray and a 6 inch flex tape knife [drywall tool]. We only made the line about 1/8 inch wide and we got it looking quite uniform to where it looked sort of like a trim molding.
Every sign of a roach was GONE in less than a month! There would be dead ones lying around here and there during the time, but they would usually just go into their nests to die. We left the line down for another month or so, and then we got the crevice attachment on the vacuum cleaner and sucked up all of the lines where they were openly visible. I never saw another roach in that house for the three more years I lived there. I would imagine that other boric acids would work, but Roach Prufe was what we used. The instructions we had read said that if followed exactly as stated. ALL ROACHES WILL BE GONE! They were correct.
Check out these tips.
Get powdered boric acid (available over the counter in the pharmacy). Add approximately 1/4 cup boric acid to 3 cups of water.
When I was growing up, we used Boric Acid powder around our baseboards in the kitchen, around the backsplash on the counters and in the drawers and cabinets to prevent roaches, ants, etc.
Incidentaly, Hot Shot wasp spray kills roaches very effectively. If you see one scurrying along, just bust out the wasp spray. It has excellent range and aiming capabilities.
To kill cockroaches, take a glass jar and put some peanut butter in the bottom of the jar. Put a good smear of vegetable oil around the inside lip of the jar to make it very slippery.
Out of bug spray see a roach? Spray him with hair spray works faster and dead every time! By SAM
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Is it better to spray before renovation or after? What is the best product to do the job myself?
By Sam
Having done several renos of infested properties, I feel like an old pro, lol!
I'd spray first, use something like liquid Sevin and be liberal. Make sure to follow the directions to the letter. If at all possible, spray two-three days ahead of the scheduled demolition day to avoid being swarmed by fleeing creepies, and be sure to spread a good band on the perimeter of your demo area so they can't flee the spray and then creep back in when the spray dries. Wet spray kills on contact, dry spray takes a few more hours. Your demolition crew will thank you for not having to cope with the horror of swarming roaches.
Very important: be sure that you and your crew wear properly fitted face masks and other protective gear as dead roaches spread disease every bit as much as live ones. Oh eeww!
Then after the reno is complete, spray again to keep the roaches hiding temporarily in the shrubs from re-infesting the nice new tasty reno materials you've just installed. Again, make sure to lay down a wide perimeter band, this time to keep the little rotters out.
Re the boric acid, I have used it as a indoor perimeter shield at baseboards and in cabinets. It works great and is inexpensive but takes time, and does need to be applied where children, pets, and foods are not exposed to it. One of the reasons I like the liquid Sevin is that once it dries it's not as dangerous to children and pets.
Anything you use to kill cockroaches is a poison-to you and the roaches, though, never forget that for a moment whilst handling it and planning where to apply it.
I have used boric acid before, but it seems the roaches eventually come back. Especially if you live close to a wooded area or have neighbors that use an extermination service. The best thing I have found is Combat gel. It comes in a syringe type tube and leaves a thin line of the product. Roaches eat it, then return to the nesting site. They die. Then others eat them and they die. It usually takes 3-4 days. After 7 years, I have had no returns.
I thought I had seen a roach, but it looked like it didn't have feelers on it. If I have roaches would I be seeing babies or eggs? I haven't seen any babies or eggs.
A friend is staying with me and he was cooking and saw 3 bugs; he killed 2. This was in the day time.Go to a do it your self pest control store. Ask for the flea liquid for spraying you house. Buy a pump sprayer and spray according to directions. This spray is very strong will kill roaches. Used this when my ex husband brought home the large roaches in boxes from grocery store.
This page contains the following solutions.
Adult cockroaches are medium-sized insects, with a broad, flat shape and long antennae. Often confused with beetles, the cockroach's wings are membranous and they lack the thick, hard forewing of beetles.
Pesticides that kill cockroaches can be harmful to pets as well. Here are some ideas about getting rid of roaches without harming pets.
If your home is very clean and you still have cockroaches around, they many have been there before you moved in or are coming from something in the surrounding environment. This page is about how to get rid of roaches in a very clean home.
Getting rid of roaches in an apartment can be difficult. There are many options from natural products to commercial pesticides. This is a page about getting rid of cockroaches in an apartment.
