Cockroache prevention
General maintenance and cleaning are important because they remove the food, water, and shelter on which cockroaches depend. There are many steps tenants, landlords, and homeowners can take individually and jointly to prevent cockroach infestation of the home environment.
Wipe off counters, tables, and stovetops after all meals, snacks, and food preparations.
Keep food confined to specific areas of the house and clean any spills immediately.
Keep all food and garbage in tightly sealed containers.
Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink, on the counter, or in the dishwasher overnight.
Remove all piles of boxes, cardboard, newspapers, etc. from both inside and around the home.
Fix leaky pipes, faucets, toilets, and other plumbing problems.
Use a bathroom fan that vents to the outside after all baths and showers to reduce humidity.
Caulk all cracks and crevices throughout the home around systems such as plumbing, electrical, and gas lines, as well as in places like cupboards and walls.
Identification
Generally, determining whether a home has a cockroach problem and the extent of the infestation involves the use of glue traps, which can be purchased at most hardware or grocery stores. The traps are laid out in target areas, where they are left for at least one night. Upon either filling the trap with cockroaches or waiting a predetermined length of time, the number of cockroaches caught on the glue trap is counted to provide an estimate of the extent of the cockroach problem in the home environment. More detailed guidelines on deciding to test for cockroaches and the actual testing itself are available at www.cehrc.org.
If an apartment building is to be sampled, it is best to test more than one unit. If only one unit is tested, the landlord may claim that only that unit is infested and put the blame for the problem solely on that tenant. Most housing codes put responsibility for cockroach control on the landlord if two or more units are infested.
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