How do I keep cockroaches out of my apartment?

Keeping cockroaches out of an apartment comes down to three things: give them nothing to live on in your unit, close the paths they use to get in, and get your landlord and neighbours involved early. The last one matters more than in a house, because in a shared building your unit is only as protected as the ones around it.

Why apartments are different

Besides riding in on grocery bags and other containers,^[2] cockroaches spread in apartment buildings by moving from one apartment, duplex or condo unit to another through the plumbing and other holes in shared walls.^[2] Managing cockroaches in multifamily housing takes a community effort, because pests in untreated units can spread to units that were already treated.^[3] If you live in an apartment, work with your neighbours and landlord, because nobody will be able to eliminate the problem alone.^[1]

Close the paths in

The routes in are often the gaps around pipes under the kitchen and bathroom sinks, behind the toilet, along baseboards, and around the entry door. Seal cracks and crevices around cabinets, backsplashes, windows, doors, pipes, wires and cables, using silicone caulk, screening or copper mesh.^[1] It does not take a large opening: tight cracks 3/8 inch or smaller are suitable hiding places for cockroaches.^[1]

• Look under each sink where the pipes go into the wall. A loose or missing cover plate around the pipe often leaves a gap.
• Check the entry door. Doors should have tight-fitting sweeps and weatherstripping in good condition.^[3] If you can see hall light under the door, ask your landlord for a sweep.
• Keep drains wet. Run the faucet and flush the toilet in a spare bathroom now and then, because cockroaches can enter through dry drains.^[3]

Small gaps are usually easy to caulk yourself; check your lease or ask your landlord first, and ask the landlord to handle anything bigger.

Give them nothing to live on

A spotless apartment can still feed and water a cockroach, so the routine is about the small things.

• Clean the kitchen and eating areas before bed and never leave dishes with standing water in them.^[1]
• Store food in sealed containers; cockroaches can chew through paper, cardboard and thin plastic.^[1]
• Secure pet food and water in sealed containers overnight.^[1]
• Keep garbage and recycling in bins with tight-fitting lids and empty them often.^[1] Bag garbage and take it out frequently.^[3] Clean materials stored for recycling, and keep them outdoors until they go to a recycling center if you have a balcony or patio for them.^[3]
• Vacuum cracks and crevices at least weekly.^[1] Pay attention to the gap beside the stove and refrigerator.
• Report leaks promptly. Cockroaches must have water to survive,^[3] and a slow drip under a sink or a sweating pipe is enough.
• Cut down on cardboard boxes, stacks of paper and piles of laundry, which give cockroaches ideal places to hide.^[3]

Check what comes through the door

Check groceries, laundry, furniture and packages for signs of cockroaches before bringing them indoors.^[3] Laundry from a shared laundry room, moving boxes and secondhand furniture can all carry them in. Unpack groceries and deliveries promptly and get cardboard out of the apartment.

Keep an early warning in place

Leave a couple of sticky traps under the kitchen sink and behind the refrigerator. An empty trap is reassuring; a trap with small roaches in it means they have started living in the unit, and that is the time to act, while the problem is small. How to get rid of cockroaches covers the next steps, and why roaches show up in a clean house helps you work out where they are coming from.

Do not make it worse

Resist spraying the whole apartment or the doorway. Some pesticides repel cockroaches rather than kill them, so make sure you are not chasing them into other rooms or apartments.^[1] Insecticides and pesticides are not only toxic to pests; they can harm people too,^[4] which matters in a small space you sleep in. Cockroaches also affect health directly: proteins in cockroach droppings and saliva can cause allergic reactions or trigger asthma symptoms in some people.^[4]

Your duties and your landlord's in Virginia

Under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, tenants must keep the part of the premises they occupy free from insects and pests and promptly notify the landlord of any.^[5] A tenant can be charged the added cost of treatment caused by an unreasonable delay in reporting, and the cost of treatment caused by the tenant's fault in failing to prevent an infestation.^[5] The landlord, in turn, must put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition, keep common areas of a multifamily building clean, and provide receptacles for garbage and arrange its removal.^[6]

In practice: report the first sighting in writing, keep a copy, and ask whether neighbouring units will be inspected too. For how these duties have played out with another common pest, see whether a Virginia landlord is responsible for bed bugs.

Stop and call a pro if

• Your traps start catching roaches regularly, or you see them in daylight.
• Roaches keep appearing after you have sealed the gaps and kept up the routine, which points to a source in another unit or the walls.
• Someone in the apartment has asthma or allergies.
• You own the unit, or your landlord asks you to arrange treatment, and the problem is more than an occasional visitor.

Getting help on Loclis

Browse cockroach control services, find pest control around Blacksburg or read more pest control answers. If you own the unit or manage the building, describe the job on Loclis so licensed pest control businesses can quote it.