Roaches in Prewars??

I live in one of the buildings mentioned, and I've been in all four. Never seen a roach in any of them. All those buildings are very well-kempt, so making a broad generalization such as "all pre-wars are roach-infested" and "white bricks are not" is just nonsense.

Twenty years ago I lived in a "newer" building (new at the time), and there were roaches all over the place, especially in the laundry room.

It's not a lame question, but be wary of people who cite "rules" such as this.

Thanks so much for your comment. I am particularly interested in 200 w 20th, although I love all of them. The building is absolutely immaculate, and you could literally eat off the floors of the common spaces, from what I've seen. The guy I quoted is very neurotic, and I think a bit unhappy that he paid an enormous price for the Vermeer (grey brick), and it has no personality or architectural interest at all. I'm coming to NYC in a few weeks and I'm going to take him to a salvage place on w 26th, where he can purchase prewar molding to make his place seem as though it has more character. But the low ceilings (I believe only 8') and the boxy feeling will be hard to beautify. You are very fortunate if you live in one of those buildings. They are all so beautifu and have so much character.

Sooner or later you are going to see a bug of some type in every building. Virtually all buildings have regular visits by exterminators. But the idea that older buildings are "infested" is silly. Id be more on alert to ask about the situation in buildings with food oriented retail spaces. Even then though it is probably fine if all else looks well maintained.

I'd say it's not that the building is infested but more so that NYC is infested. A roach is a roach. It doesn't sting, it doesn't fly... it should hardly keep you from living in a place you love. Just step on it.

I'd be more concerned with what YOU, the new tenant, brings into the building in terms of bed bugs. You should ask your mover when the last time was that the blankets and furniture wraps had been disinfected as well as the inside of the moving van. An errant roach or waterbug is not pleasant but fairly easily (and cheaply) remedied. Bedbugs are not.

People live in the Vermeer for the roof deck. Have your friend take you up there.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

What is a waterbug??? Similar to a roach??

Riccardo65: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cockroach

Are you looking to buy or rent? What's your budget?

Waterbugs are bigger and uglier than conventional roaches. But make a bigger target for your shoe or magazine. They can also fly. Thanks West81 for posting the link.

waterbugs are gigantic!
They scare the crap out of me.
we have them in our building. (a rental)

fascinating that they are the fastest running insect. The equiv of a human running over 200 mph!! Still can't outrun a spray can!

There isn't a place on earth that doesn't have a roach, waterbug (big roach), silverfish, spider, mouse and even, heavens forbid, even a rat, etc. I don't care how new or expensive the residential, commercial, retail or hotel property is you are eventually going to see something.

If you live in the Southwest you have to get used to scorpions, the South, palmetto bugs, and all sorts of flying insects. Do you mean to tell me that there are no insects in San Francisco??

Most people worry more about the human variety of insect than the little critters that seem to have you overly concerned. Good Luck!

I agree with RENY. I've had 8 apt in 17 years in NYC. Some I've owned. Some I've rented. Some had a roach. Some had a waterbug. Some of those buildings were built 100 years ago while others were built 15years ago. You'll never be 100% immune.

There are roaches everywhere, in every building, in NYC. If you're moving here, you will have to accept that. True some buildings are better at mitigating the problem. But that has nothing to do with the age of the building. We purchased a prewar apartment a year ago and I have yet to see a single roach. This even with a renovation. (Of course, I've probably jinxed myself now...)

If you live on a lower floor, you will be more likely to see waterbugs, though they've been known to travel to higher floors as well. Roaches love dark, tight spaces and will be drawn by any food remnants so keeping clutter to a minimal and regular cleaning is key. If there is construction going on in your building you will likely have more incursions as the bugs scatter from the work area for safer ground. Of course, if you live next door to a slob you will likely have bug problems no matter how well you keep your own home.

When you visit potential apartments ask to see the basement. If it's a dump that might indicated a poorly-kept building.

^^ minimum not minimal ^^^ Sorry, fat fingers this morning.

I came close to purchasing at 200 W 20th but decided on a different location. It's a lovely Emory Roth building. You will love it there.

"A roach is a roach. It doesn't sting, it doesn't fly... it should hardly keep you from living in a place you love."

Not true at all.

The big ones grow wings and eventually fly.

And all roaches DO bite.

"When you visit potential apartments ask to see the basement. If it's a dump that might indicated [sic] a poorly-kept building."

And when you go down to the basement, take the stairs, not the elevator. My friend quipped that the stairwells are the building's "underwear", and if the "underwear" is dirty, consider that a warning sign. It's quite telling.

Riccardo, go into the stairwell of any of the four buildings you mentioned in your original post, and I think you'll like the way they look.

Matt: bramstar is gonna faint.

Ricardo: Call "CitiProof" Windows. They also install weatherstripping on the apt front door that will seal it off from the hallway. No roaches can get in that way (and they scurry right into your apt through the gap at the bottom or sides of the door).

Most of these se comments from posters who have not seen any roaches in their apt/ building are probably not at home during the day. Take the day off from work, next time the exterminator is working in the building.
Take a look in your hallway after it is sprayed. If you don't see them fleeing the compactor room and/or coming and going into apts through the front doors - that doesn't mean the building doesn't have roaches- it just means they aren't coming into apts. on your floor through the apt doorways.

Of course buildings that have food retail on the ground floor have roaches. Any resident can bring one home in luggage, shopping bags, things like that.

To finish sealing off your apt the space where the walls meet the floors can be sealed. Any gaps in the kitchen between the appliances and counters/walls should be sealed.

I've seen waterbugs the size of a baby mouse. Big, ugly and fast. Turn on the bathroom light in the morning
and it's in the tub. Then when you spray they scurry around the tub and try to crawl up and out but they can't, they slide down.
My method is to grab a kitchen pot, fill it with water and hit the bug with the water. It will flow down the drain. Much easier and quicker.

Ok so they bite. I never suggested picking it up and trying to pet it. I said to step on it.

I'm not sure how one gets bit by a roach unless they're trying to get incredibly close to it. Ever had anyone show you a roach bite on their arm? Doubtful.

And perhaps a couple will fly...but in the dozens and doezens of roaches I've come across in my life I have yet to see one. So the odds are pretty good.

They can crawl up on your bed and bite you on any exposed skin.

bramstar? you o.k.?

So can a lot of things.

Taste is in the eye of the beholder. Looked at all four of those buildings and 200 W 20 was my least favorites; liked the apartments but the lobby reminded me of a college dormitory.

True, Nordberg.

We're talking about dirty roaches here.
I prefer not to step on bugs. I don't want to mess up my shoe.

"I'm not sure how one gets bit by a roach unless they're trying to get incredibly close to it."

When they crawl on you in your bed at night, they will bite you.

****

"Ever had anyone show you a roach bite on their arm? Doubtful."

Actually, yes. My college roommate. He had dozens of bites on his arms from the roaches in our seedy off-campus apartment. And yes, the bites were confirmed by his doctor as being ROACH bites, not any other insect or spider.

Child protective services get involved all the time in cases where children show up at school covered in roach bites. Roaches do bite. But generally you need to have a pretty out of control situation and real infestation before that becomes a realistic concern. If you see one in your kitchen and the exterminator comes, you aren't going to get bites.

That really must have been some kind of dump of an apartment. Foolish of me to assume most people tried to keep themselves clean I guess.

And by clean I mean an infestation-free living situation.

Oh for Pete's sake......

Riccardo, the four buildings you mentioned are lovely, clean buildings. You sound like a clean person, and you don't appear to be roach bait, regardless of your abode. To answer your original question, the answer is NO, pre-wars are not predisposed to having roaches just because they are pre-wars, and white bricks (and newer buildings) are not immune to roaches just because they are newer.

Your friend who told you this is obsessed and misinformed, as are apparently one or two posters on this thread. Nothing new here.

Fear the roaches!

Here's a heart-warming anecdote that I'm sure Bramstar will appreciate:

One morning, my wife was taking a shower, minding her business, when she felt a pinching sensation on her big toe. She looked down to find a nice, plump waterbug clamped onto her foot. She waved the foot around, trying to dislodge the beast, but it just bit down harder, holding on for deal life. Finally she put her foot down on the floor and smashed the little bugger with a shampoo bottle. Luckily, the proboscis of a roach doesn't embed like a tick, so the corpse dislodged more or less on impact.

The bug probably crawled up out of the drain when water started pouring down from the shower. That's one of their favored access paths, especially if you don't have a mesh trap. (We didn't then; we do now.)

Nordberg, LOL. I have something for you:

http://www.amazon.com/Dupont-Advion-Cockroach-Bait-Tubes/dp/B002Y2GNVM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335816538&sr=8-2

Read the reviews. My friend in Hartford (roach capital of the U.S.) used it once and never saw roaches again.

Wow--Lucy--I've never been 'sic'd' before. Again, apologies for the fat fingies...;-)

West--those waterbugs are tough buggers. The only time I've ever heard my husband scream (and seen him leap onto a couch like a scared child) was the time a water bug flew--yes, FLEW--into the living room (in our previous rental, where the entire building was under construction and all manner of insect was out in force) and landed on the wall... antennae as long as fingers. And boy could that thing run. Smart too. Turned and rushed at me when it got cornered. Yeesh. But I outwitted it and won the battle eventually. A worthy adversary, I must say.

bramstar: what did you kill it with?

w81st: They do fly. I once turned on the bathroom light and heard something fall in the tub.
It was a waterbug, lying on its back in the tub.
Mostly they come up out of the drain. I couldn't figure out where it fell from and I knew it fell because I heard it land.

I think it must have flown up to the shower caddy and that's where it fell from. I must have startled it and it made a move and fell off.
I water-potted it.

I have lived in both SF and Manhattan, and I would say without a doubt NYC has a worse infestation problem - but not MUCH worse. Just worse.

You will probably see a bug, but I will save you some time - you can luck up complaints on this and lots other things on the city housing website.

Just type in the address here http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/home/home.shtml under complaints on the right hand side.

NEVER move in NYC without checking this first, even for newer buildings!!!!

the HPD online. I've been telling se about that.

the DOB website has the big stuff.
They can issue $penalties. The HPD can not they can only write violations.
If there are open HPD violations when the DOB inspector visits then the DOB can issue a "failure to maintain building..." violation.
The DOB can fine the sh*t out of buildings and the civil penalties for non-payment at 5k a pop add up.