Roaches and apartments

Roaches and apartments can be a very tricky thing. They seem to go hand in hand. This is not only true for apartments, but really for any kind of multi-family housing. I’m not saying that EVERY apartment complex out there has a roach issue, but more often than not, they do.

The roach that we seem to most commonly deal with in multi-family dwellings are german roaches. Unfortunately, german roaches seem to be the fastest spreading, the hardest to get under control, the most resourceful, resilient, difficult roaches that we encounter. Dealing with german roaches is usually a multi-part process, which can include but is not limited to using liquid pesticides, growth regulator products, bait products, and also mechanical means, such as using a HEPA vac to remove the roaches and their eggs.

How did I develop a roach problem in my apartment?

The 3 main / most likely ways that the roaches go into your apartment are:

1. The roaches could have already been there when you moved in. The previous tenant could have had a problem with them and either didn’t inform the management company, or they did inform the management company, but they were not able to completely eradicate them.
2. You brought the roaches in with you. If your belongings were in storage, its possible that the roaches got into your boxes from other surrounding units that might have had german roach issues. Did you recently get a T.V, stereo, microwave, couch, etc as a second-hand item from someone else? Chances are, the item contained german roaches and / or their eggs.
3. The roaches migrated over from surrounding apartments.

The 3rd item is what makes living in multi-family housing so tricky. Roaches can and often do move from unit to unit through door ways, ventilation, holes in the walls, etc. If a neighbor of yours is having a german roach problem that goes unaddressed, chances are pretty good that you will eventually be sharing roaches. Lower income apartment complexes seem to have more of a problem with roaches, but higher income apartments are certainly not immune.

Before you move into a new apartment, do a thorough inspection of the unit to look for any evidence of roaches or other bugs. Items to look for include live roaches, dead roaches, roach eggs, and areas of concentrated roach fecal matter. In addition, speak with management to make sure that they include pest control as one of the services that they provide.