Pests In Apartments

If you have a pest infestation in your apartment, it may be that it did not originate from your dwelling, but that of a neighbours.

An apartment dweller can clean up after every meal, vacuum religiously and dust every conceivable crack and nookie in their home but bugs can still inevitably invade their personal space, and it isn’t just those tenacious cockroaches that are to blame.

Residents in flats and apartments are at the mercy of their neighbours when it comes to fighting cockroaches, ants or the newest scourge in the entomological world, bed bugs.

Residences too often have "focus units" where bugs go, thrive and then spread out to other parts of the building, and they can occur in almost any building.

Identification of these focus units is often only possible after repeated requests for pest control treatment occur from adjacent residences that are already neat and clean. If there is a suspicion that a focus unit exists, effective pest control can only take place we are invited in to do so. This can lead to the problem of a focus unit being left intreated for far too long, so an infestation is even more difficult to eradicate.

Beyond that, you may have to ask whether it is possible to seal yourself off from your neighbours. To do that, an apartment owner will have to inspect the unit’s gas lines, water pipes and electrical outlets.

If you are the victim of an infestation caused by an external focus unit, you may be able to minimise the impact of the pests without using traditional bug-battling techniques.

It can be done without chemicals or with non-invasive chemicals. Pest control technicians can use very good baits and traps, and can also place highly repellent, all-natural mineral products within a unit’s walls to provide a barrier to bugs coming in from the exterior.

Top Tips

Too many apartment units have bathroom pipes without an escutcheon plate – the little silver ring that encircles a pipe as it enters the wall. By fitting this small piece of plumbing equipment and ensuring that it is flush and caulked to the wall prevents pests entering your apartment through any small gaps that may have surrounded these pipes.

Another easy fix involves the drip condensation pan under a refrigerator. Insects love moisture, and keeping this plate dry will discourage pests from taking refuge in your kitchen. In addition, by cleaning up any crumbs or food items and keeping rubbish bins sealed you are discouraging pests to settle within your property.