A Step-By-Step Cockroach Control Guide For Mooresville Properties

Not only can their appearance make your skin crawl, but in Mooresville, cockroaches can be dangerous too. Before they infest your home, roaches may spend time in sewers, drains, or unsanitary places that allow for them to pick up harmful pathogens and bacteria.

And, on top of contaminating your home or food with bacteria like salmonella or staphylococcus, enzymes in their saliva, skin, and droppings can trigger asthmatic symptoms or allergic reactions in many people.

Because roaches are dangerous and hard to prevent, it’s important to know the ins and outs of cockroach control. Here’s a step-by-step guide for recognizing the signs of cockroaches, making your home less attractive to them, and what to do if you’re seeing signs of an active infestation.

Step 1: Look For Signs Of A Cockroach Problem

Before we get into the specifics of cockroach prevention, it’s important to understand what the signs of a cockroach problem look like, and establish if you’ve already got a problem on your hands. Here are some signs that indicate you’ve got a cockroach infestation under your roof:

You see live roaches: Perhaps the most obvious sign that you’ve got a cockroach infestation is if you’re seeing live roaches. These creatures are nocturnal, so you’re more likely to spot them at night. They may scurry across the floor to hide if you turn on a light, or if you do spot them during the day, it could be a sign that you’ve got a very large infestation.

You see cockroach droppings: While they can be as small as coffee grounds and as big as a grain of rice, cockroach droppings are usually found near cabinets, baseboards, or under and behind appliances.

You see egg casings: After new cockroaches are born, they leave behind egg casings, which are normally discarded near moisture sources, appliances, or other corners of the room.

You smell a musty odor: While it may not be noticeable with smaller infestations, larger cockroach infestations can come with a musty odor that’s triggered by cockroach pheromones.

Step 2: Do A Deep Clean Of Your Home

While cockroaches can survive in almost any home, they love cluttered, grimy ones the most – so the best place to start is with a deep clean of your home. This means clearing out the clutter that may provide cockroaches with hiding spots, sealing trash cans, and cleaning off surfaces where food scraps or crumbs may have accumulated. Even if you don’t leave food out, that doesn’t mean there aren’t food crumbs – and that’s all it takes for a cockroach to survive.

You’ll also want to make sure you clean those hard-to-reach places that may regularly get missed with other cleanings. Areas like the back of your cupboards or underneath heavy appliances may be dirtier than you expect, and they can also be great places for roaches to hide.

Step 3: Seal Off Entry-Points

A big part of cockroach control is denying these critters access to your home, and you can do this by sealing off entry points. Cockroaches enter your home a few different ways, but it’s not unusual for them to get inside by crawling through tiny cracks or crevices in the foundation of your home or near doors and windows.

For this step, you’ll want to double-check that there aren’t any tears in your door or window screens as well as any other gaps near your entrances.

Step 4: Address Moisture Issues

Like most pests, cockroaches are drawn to moisture, and if you’ve got a moisture problem, you’re only going to attract more of them. It’s important to check for potential moisture problems and to address them. If you’ve got a leaky pipe or flooded gutters, you’ll want to get these issues fixed.

Step 5: Call The Professionals

While the steps above are great for prevention, the best thing you can do for an active infestation is leave it up to the professionals, like those of us at Lake Norman Home Services. We’ve got more than fifty years of hands-on experience when it comes to dealing with pests like cockroaches, and if you’ve got a roach infestation, we’ll put that experience to good use.

If you’re noticing signs of a roach problem or you already know that you’ve got one, you shouldn’t wait any longer. Call us at Lake Norman Home Services today for a free, no-obligation quote or to learn more about our cockroach control program.