Best way to cockroach-proof new kitchen

The single most effective thing you can do is NOT have a dishwasher. The combination of moisture, food particles, and warmth will always attract them, and they will come up through the drain pipes.

The next best thing you can do, while you have everything torn up, is to have your contractor seal every single square inch of every hole, crack, and corner with silicon gel. This includes sealing around light switches and outlets.

That's just silly. The only things that work (and they work very well) are Combat disks and Combat gel, used precisely as instructed on the packaging, replaced at the specified interval. Calendar it.

ONLY Combat brand ... others use different (ineffective) chemicals.

I'd have to disagree with alanhart. I wouldn't say combat is the ONLY thing that works. You asked mostly about structural things. Vermin get in through spaces, cracks, gaps, etc -- the best thing is to make sure your apartment is "tight." Of course, after all is said and done, there is no apartment that is absolutely 100% absent of all gaps -- at least, not in a couple of years (buildings shift, settle, and move over time; someone above or below you may renovate which may shake something loose, or the building may just be old).

so, plug up any holes you see after your renovation. I have used and would recommended an expanding foam sealer, something like this:
http://m.homedepot.com/p/GREAT-STUFF-16-oz-Big-Gap-Filler-Insulating-Foam-Sealant-248314/100029171

It's basically a foam that expands, and then hardens like a rock. Well, maybe not THAT hard, but very, very solid. But be careful! This type of thing can expand a LOT. if you use too much in too small a space, it can crack cabinets, tiles, whatever. Experiment on a piece of newspaper first. For smaller cracks and holes, just use a filler or putty.

After you've taken this "physical" approach, you can THEN take chemical measures. Use Combat, Raid, or whatever you like, everyone has their favorite brand.. Additionally, you should sprinkle some borax (sodium borate) wherever you can: behind radiators, under the sink, behind the fridge and stove, etc -- anywhere that you DON'T keep food, cooking, or serving items. Insects (pretty much all animals I think?) hate this chemical, and will be deterred by it. And it doesnt evaporate, dissolve, or get used up -- it just sits there on the floor and creates a toxic enviorment for bugs. If you have pets, I'd recommend NOT using borax.

This will be a good start. Nothing is foolproof, but the more sealed up you are and the more you make it unpleasant for vermin, the better your chances.

:-)

[Oh, and of course, as im sure you already know, the best thing to do is keep CLEAN! If there's nothing for them to eat, then there's no reason for them to set up camp in your apartment].

I have been very unsuccessful keeping c0lumbiac0unty away.

Honestly ,
The best solution will be if you keep your kitchen and apartment clean and hope your neighbors do the same. If your building develops a roach problem they will find a way to get in. Do the right thing, and trust your neighbors do likewise and if there is a problem that the building has a competent exterminator that they call right away.

We kept our apartment very clean and never had to deal with vermin/roaches.

Also be careful where you shop and check your groceries. It only takes one roach.

Welcome them as pets. Put out water and milk for them. There are harmless creatures.

...Yep - put out those goodies for them - & in no time you'll have this:

http://pooke.thedreamisdead.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/creepshow-bugs.jpg

It is a prewar - that is why I thought to spray through a strategically placed hole every 3 months would cover areas that are out of reach and out of sight. What should I tell the GC to do with the pipes (mount a cuff vs. seal it up nicely) ? Also what do you do with the areas behind the radiators, where the floor often has gaps?

I, too am prewar - & I can't even remember the last time I was sprayed through a strategically placed hole...sigh...

LOL, walpurgis.

@ pyxis,
Reread my comment above -- all gaps are fillable. That's the best approach. The gaps behind the radiators and by heat pipes are fillable with any sort of filler/compound/putty. DAP is available everywhere and is standard:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-16-oz-Natural-Plastic-Wood-Solvent-Wood-Filler-21506/100357232#.UhlMN6z_5hE

They even make wood-colored filler. You can then sand it down to make it smooth. No more gap at all.

Spraying into a "strategically placed hole every 3 months" seems like a lot of work, not very permanent, and not very effective to me at all.

As for your GC, ask him what he would recommend. He will know your situation best. For me, I'd personally choose to seal it, if applicable. But that's just me.

That 'strategically placed hole' will become a roach super-highway into your apartment. No holes!

I think they can even get through cracks....it's hard to seal everything so perfectly.

scarednycgal,
True, it's pretty impossible to seal everything 100%. That's why this "3-way" method I talk about (1- plugging up cracks as best you can, 2- putting down appropriate chemicals as necessary, and finally 3- being CLEAN all around) is the best way to ensure that your place is vermin-free. I have done this with most of the places I've lived, and have had successful results each and every time. Of course, if the building is very badly infested, and if you are surrounded by neighbors on all sides who are slobs and hoarders, then this might not work (in this case, it might be reason to move).

Learn HOW Combat works -- colony collapse when the little darlings bring the stuff home on their furry paws or whatever -- and you'll understand why the rest of this advice is nonsense, and why visiting roaches won't matter.

Sonya_D, I think you mean boric acid, not borax. Anyway, the former just makes a mess without doing much in the way of pest control.

Squid, I had to laugh at your expression; please allow me to tell you why.

Back in 1989, I took my parents to see my 1st co-op I was purchasing - Flagg Court in Bay Ridge.

What I didn't know, until shortly before closing, is that it was snarkily referred to as "Black Flag Court", courtesy of the obvious & which I touched on in another recent thread.

Anyway, there I am with my parents & the "exclusive" sponsor's sales agent (a cross between Virginia Graham & Totie Fields), hoping Mom & Dad would be as enthused & excited as I was.

Mom, maybe. Dad? No way.

The 1st thing he noticed was that there was no baseboard to be seen anywhere in the kitchen, & he asked the agent why.

"That's the style," she shrugged.

Suffice it to say this did not sit well with him at all, & I could read it quite clearly in his face.

I knew he was going to say SOMETHING, but what came out even I didn't expect.

"THAT'S THE 'STYLE'?!?" he shot back, his heavy accent making it even all the more hysterical.

"YEH YEH - IT'S A STYLE, ALL RIGHT - A TURNSTILE FOR THE ROACHES TO.GO THROUGH!!!"

The agent was dumbstruck; I had to literally bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

"I'll see what we can do," she said, & waddled out of the room. My father then said to me, "Make sure your attorney puts that in the contract," which he did.

Apparently it worked, because at the final walk-through, there was brown rubber molding going around the whole kitchen.

I imagine it helped somewhat, but it turned out the roaches were quite adept at "turnstile jumping"!

Eventually Combat did get it under reasonable control.

Also: I just follow this simple rule, made easy to remember via this little ditty:

Keep your kitchen as clean as your crotch,
In which you wouldn't want a certain crustacean;
By doing this each,
And every day,
You'll never have a roach infestation!

Good Luck!

alanhart,
Do you have stock in Combat? Do you work for them? It sounds like it. ("Learn how Combat works!!"). I'm not saying it's a BAD product, I've just never had any sort of amazing results from it. And to say that plugging up holes and entryways for vermin to get in is "nonsense," well, THAT just doesn't make sense. ("Yes, leave them a clear path into your apartment! That will help keep them out of your apartment!" See?).

And yes, you are totally correct, it's boric acid, I misspoke (maybe I was thinking borax because I think it's used as an ant bait/killer). But it certainly doesn't make a mess -- just use it behind things that never move (fridge or radiator or stove -- I even use it in some closets), and then you dont even have to know it's there. It doesn't move, it doesn't get on things, etc., etc. It's THE best deterrent I've used. When I've added it to the arsenal, it's amazing the difference it makes. pyxis: use both, make everyone happy! :)

>Do you have stock in Combat? Do you work for them? It sounds like it. ("Learn how Combat works!!").

Combat is made by Henkel of Germany.

>>I think they can even get through cracks....it's hard to seal everything so perfectly.<<

Yes, they can squeeze through tiny cracks and waterbugs come up through drains. It's hard to keep roaches out if they're keen on getting in.

Never realized where Combat was manufactured...I should have known: The extermination experts!

Seal up all holes especially under the kitchen sink to prevent mice and bugs, and in the bathroom. Yes close holes behind the cabinets & caulking around sinks, bathtub. Use liquid caulking for narrow cracks. Put some sort of screen over any vents to prevent entry & calking around air conditioners, etc. It's not always related to food, there must be a portal of entry. Also bugs like water - One summer I found a water bug upside down in water in the sink during really humid weather.

Ha!

I guess the Combat name beat out 3rd Reich Roach Reduction System ("Your Final Solution to your roach problem!")

Can you imagine the commercial?!?

A pic of your MOTHER-IN LAW by your front door should do the trick

But that would kill EVERYBODY!!!

In good consciousness, I couldn't do that - even to a roach.

One year, we actually had to remove a Halloween decoration, so that dear ol' MIL wouldn't think she was looking in a mirror...

I had a massive roach problem a long time ago when the roaches would invade en masse to eat the cat food. Oncce the cat food went away, the roaches got gone quickly. One would never suspect that there'd been a roach infestation of biblical proportions.

What happened with the cat?

"We kept our apartment very clean and never had to deal with vermin/roaches."

Pretty much every expert on the topic will tell you that this is a giant myth. If humans live in a home, and there are holes leading into the home, and vermin present, the vermin will come into the home. Cleanliness does not stop most pests, because all humans do end up with food or trash falling places out of eyesight. Always.

Foam may or may not work for roaches, I don't know. For MICE, steel wool is essential for keeping them out. They can chew through foam in a day. They will use foam to make there nests (really.)

Some lovely narrative from the Wikipedia:

"Cockroaches eat the feces of other roaches and they feed on each other. After consuming a lethal dose of a residual bait insecticide known to have delayed toxicant activity, cockroaches return to the harborage where they excrete feces. The insecticide-laden feces, fluids and eventual carcass, can contain sufficient residual pesticide to kill others in the same nesting site. As the roach staggers around for hours or even days, it infects other roaches in the nest, with toxicant transfer through feces, which then go on to infect others. This secondary transmission occurs through direct contact with, or ingestion of, traces of baits dispersed in the environment by contaminated cockroaches. These traces were either deposited by “trampling” in the environment or on dead contaminated cockroaches. The cascading effect goes on to wipe out whole colonies from indirect exposure by contact with the corpses, feces, or harborages of cockroaches previously exposed.

Such nests, when contaminated with sufficient residual pesticide via faeces, secretions, exuviae, or corpses provide an important reservoir of pesticide, which would be available to infect co species. Residual pesticides by virtue of their efficacy against cockroaches, their deployment in secure bait stations, and the way in which the active toxicant is transmitted to cockroaches that have not fed on the baits, offer an effective and environmentally compatible way of controlling cockroaches."

"The active ingredient Fipronil .05% disrupts the insect central nervous system, leading to the cockroach’s death in 6 to 24 hours. Cockroaches nestling together transfer insecticide to one another by touch. Fipronil acts as an insecticide with contact, and stomach action. It is sparingly soluble in water and is stable at normal temperatures for one year. Fipronil is an extremely active molecule and is a potent disruptor of the insect central nervous system.

Fipronil bait is more effective and kills faster than Hydramethylnon. Mortality rates caused by secondary transmission are higher for Fipronil bait than for Hydramethylnon bait."

"Pretty much every expert on the topic will tell you that this is a giant myth."

These "experts" tell you its a myth because they want to sell you products and services.
But actual PEOPLE who live in the WORLD, anywhere, know that if your apartment is a pig sty, with food left on dishes, in pots and pans, piling up in the sink, for days and days, it's going to attract more bugs. Does this mean that if your place is clean, it will automatically be free of bugs? Of course not. That's why doing all the things I mentioned above will help the most. But if you don't believe me, then please, I beg you, throw some food on your floor, spill juice, leave crumbs, and let it all sit for a month or two. Then throw down a bait trap or two. Let's see how many bugs you have.

Roaches have a very different sense of what "clean" means, and what "food" means.

"http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandmantids/a/10-Facts-About-Cockroaches.htm"

"Clean" means no fipronil! "Food" means just about EVERYTHING: books, the grease in your mechanical devices like clocks and mixers and washing machines, and so on and so forth.

Whatever, it seems we will have to agree to disagree. You seem not to realize that roaches and vermin in general tend to migrate towards some smells and things (discarded old food) more than others (books). While yes, roaches will eat most anything, they, like most living things, have preferences, instinctually. But obviously you think its all the same. That's fine (of course, if this were true, every library would be infested, while the back kitchens in every restaurant would be just fine, or, at least, just as infested ). No matter though -- difference in opinion/common sense :-) You keep your place a mess with food everywhere, I'll keep mine clean.

(By the way, even in your very own link, the author recognizes that roaches do gravitate towards some things more than others: "While most roaches prefer sweets given a choice, in a pinch, they will eat just about anything..." This explains and goes along perfectly with why roaches are found more in places where there's food, a NYC restaurant's kitchen for instance, rather than, say, the average washing machine). This is also probably why people put their bait traps in the kitchen rather than their mixers or grandfather clocks :-)

Yes, by all means keep your place nicely picked up. But not because of roaches. Because

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS!!! It's the truth; it's actual.

For roaches: kill kill. Dead roaches don't eat much.

Live ones eat their friends' and families' feces! That makes them almost worse than a certain internet troll I can think of. And (hint) it's not you, me or a cast of thousands.

LOL, indeed. :-)
And yes, they do eat their friends' and families' feces. But they don't require being in your home to do so. Let them do that someplace else. The idea here is to keep them out. The way to do that is make your home as inaccessible and unattractive to them as possible. (And having 20 washing machines in your home won't make it any more attractive... But having 20 pies discarded on your kitchen counter and coffee table sure will).

:-)