How to Keep Cockroaches Out of Your Home

Metro Orlando FL | Kissimmee - Sanford - Leesburg

Do you have a cockroach problem? Or are you freaked out by the very thought of a roach infestation? If you’ve seen one cockroach scuttling across your kitchen floor, you already have an invasion on your hands. Where there is one, there are more (many, many more), but before you run to the store for roach motels or sprays, you might want to do a few things to make sure that your house is as unattractive to cockroaches as possible. Because cockroaches can be difficult to get rid of, preventing them in the first place is your best bet at avoiding a full-blown infestation.

DIY Cockroach Prevention

Even with bug spray and roach motels, if your house offers them places to hide and food to eat, cockroaches are still going to find a way to make your home their own. Cleaning and proper food storage are absolutely essential to keeping your home roach-free.

• Eliminate food sources for cockroaches
  • Keep your cereal and other dry goods stored in sealed containers.
  • Make sure your garbage can has a tight-fitting lid on it.
  • Keep your pets’ food in a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid, and only put food out when your pets are eating.
• Sweep, mop, and clean to prevent cockroaches
  • After mealtimes, spend a couple of minutes with a broom and/or dry mop to make sure that you get all of the crumbs cleaned up.
  • You can make your floor even less attractive by spraying a disinfecting surface cleaner on the floor and then going over it with the mop.
  • Make sure that you wash your dishes or get them in the dishwasher immediately after you eat. Leaving dirty dishes out is another cockroach invitation.
• Eliminate hiding places
  • Spend some time cleaning up cluttered piles of newspapers and any other potential roach habitats.
  • Get rid of any cardboard boxes or old grocery bags. Any warm, dark place is attractive to roaches.
• Use sprays or Chemicals
  • Boric acid and roach traps help with getting rid of a cockroach infestation, but prevention is the best policy.
  • If you have allergies or asthma, you should especially avoid roach sprays, as these can really affect the air quality in your home.
  • Sprays wear off quickly, and aren’t nearly as effective as keeping your house free of roaches.
• Spread coffee grounds outside
  • Roaches are repelled by the acidity of coffee grounds. Spread them around the foundation of your home, concentrating on places that the roaches may be using for entrances and exits.

Get Rid of Cockroaches for Good

A professional cockroach exterminator who uses environmentally-friendly pest control solutions is your best bet for eliminating these pests. DIY spraying methods for cockroach control are basically useless, and will just drive the cockroaches into another area of your home. Heron Home & Outdoor uses Integrated Pest Management to get rid of cockroaches in the safest way possible. We’ll work with you to make sure your needs are taken care of, any problems are addressed, and we won’t stop working until the cockroaches are gone for good. Call Heron today for a free estimate!