Picture this: you sleepily pull yourself from bed in the morning and traipse into the bathroom, ready to get your day started. As you lean over the sink to wash your face, you spot them: two roaches in the shower, scurrying around like they own the place. Big roaches, too.

Does this scene sound familiar? Are you tired of not knowing how to keep roaches out of your house, and what exactly will keep roaches away?

Don’t fret–we can help. Read on for seven simple, easy-to-follow tips to keep roaches at bay forever.

How to Keep Roaches out of Your House

Roaches are dirty, unsightly, and can even spread disease. Luckily, there are a whole host of easy things you can do around the house to keep them from getting in and taking up residence in your home.

Tidy Up

Roaches need three things to survive: food, water, and a warm place to live. In your home, that means piles of dirty laundry, overstuffed closets, and smelly shoes lining the foyer.

Of course, clutter is hard to avoid during the day-to-day, but reducing it as much as possible will do wonders if you’re dealing with roaches.

Introduce some clever organization hacks to your home like hanging laundry baskets, storage cubbies, and clutter-catching wire baskets stowed throughout the home. Hanging things up is the best way to go–that way, no pesky roaches or any other pests will be able to burrow beneath and get warm!

Use Repellents

There are a number of different types of repellents you can use, including lawn sprays, ultrasound repellents, and chemical pesticides. You should consider each carefully before making a decision. Here’s why.

Pesticide aerosol cans are usually very effective, but almost always leave you at risk of inhaling the product yourself, which is terrible for your health. If you want to go the chemical route, you should leave it up the pros.

Lawn sprays are a great option here. Since the spray is outdoors, there’s no risk of inhalation while you’re inside. This keeps pests at bay just as well, too, since they can’t make it past your lawn to get inside.

Finally, ultrasound repellents are a chemical-free but still a super effective form of pest control. They work by pulsing out ultrasonic and electromagnetic waves which humans are incapable of hearing but that pests can’t stand. Roaches, spiders, and mice are all prone to this natural form of repellent, and you won’t even notice it!

Rinse Cans and Bottles

Did you know that roaches perceive the scent of stale beer as similar to their own pheromones? That means they’re super attracted to the scent–it draws them in like nothing else.

While this can be used strategically as a trapping method, it often leads unwanted roaches to your trash or recycling bin. Rinse all your beer cans and bottles before throwing them out to be sure no leftover beer remains.

If you want to use beer as a trap, it’s simple. Here’s how to do it.

Get ahold of a jar, some petroleum jelly, and stale beer. Line the inner walls of the jar with the petroleum jelly. This will effectively trap them, making it so they can’t climb back out of the jar once they’ve made it in.

Pour some beer in the bottom of the jar as bait. Now, place the jar in an area where it won’t be thrown away, away from any areas where you’re trying to draw the roaches away from.

The scent is so powerful that you’ll likely only find roaches in the jar from here on out, and not anywhere else in your home!

Seal It Up

Ever wonder how roaches get into your house, despite making sure doors and windows are always closed? It can be infuriating to constantly find them around when you’re trying so hard to keep them out.

While roaches might seem humongous, they’re actually capable of flattening their bodies immensely to fit through tiny cracks and spaces. Even the tiny cracks created by worn-out weatherstripping are wide enough for a roach to get through.

To fix this problem, replace all the worn-out weatherstripping in your house with brand new ones. Make sure you get all the doors and windows! You should also freshly caulk any window seals where it’s worn away.

Roaches love having access to fresh water, too, so it’s a good idea to wipe out your sinks and bathtubs after each use if you’re trying to crack down on a roach infestation. You should also pop down your bathtub and sink drains since roaches can find their way into your home via plumbing pipes.

Get Earthy

There are a number of holistic and natural approaches to pest control you can choose to use instead of chemical pesticides.

First, get yourself some diatomaceous earth. It’s comprised of very finely ground shells that, when a pest walks over, is sharp enough to cut their bodies. This leads to them dying due to dehydration after an hour or two.

Fortunately, food grade diatomaceous earth is safe enough for humans to ingest, too.

Secondly, there are a variety of essential oils that can help keep roaches at bay, too. Get yourself a few essential oil diffusers, one in each room you have a pest problem, and diffuse oils into the air. You can also soak cotton balls with oil and leave them in commonly roach-infested areas, or add a few drops into a spray bottle with water and spray your floors and countertops.

The best essential oils to diffuse to keep the roaches away are cedar, peppermint, and cypress. Bonus: they smell amazing!

Say Goodbye to Roaches

Now that you’ve read up on how to keep roaches out of your house and what keeps roaches away for good, you’re probably ready to tackle your house to de-roachify it.

If you run into any trouble or find that these methods just aren’t cutting it for you, get in touch. We specialize in pest control, and that includes stubborn roaches that you can’t seem to get rid of. We’d love to help!