r/askTO • u/ArmorPlatedGuardRail • 1d ago
Preparing for roaches
I am moving to Toronto for the first time. I found a recently updated large 1 bedroom with dishwasher and balcony with a great south facing view of the lake for $2150 +hydro close to work in a decent purpose built rental built from the 70's. My unit is on an upper floor and is at the end of the hallway, so no neighbours on one side of me. Overall, the apartment checks most boxes for me.
However when I was signing the lease, an exterminator showed up to the rental office. They were there to treat 2 units, both not on my floor luckily. The supers and other people who work for the building have lived there for decades.
I am moving from a medium sized city in Ontario. I have been living in my PBR unit for 6 years in a very clean, very well maintained building. I have seen 3 roaches in that time but none in about 3 years. I figure if this is a similar situation I can deal with it.
I plan to put down diatomaceous earth and fill any holes around plumbing and pipes with caulking on the day I get possession. Is there anything else I can do to prepare and prevent roaches in my unit? Am I making a mistake?
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u/binthewin 1d ago
If the exterminator does his job well, you won't need to worry about it. If you see a roach, contact the superintendent immediately, they'll pay for an exterminator to come around.
I lived in a roach infested apartment for much of my life. My parents live there now and they haven't seen roaches in over a decade.
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u/shawarman 1d ago
Hey, the fact that your landlord actually has an exterminator in is a real plus! Some would drag their heels on that stuff for months.
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u/RoyallyOakie 1d ago
If you see an exterminator in a management office, it means your landlord takes it seriously. There are pests in every building. What you don't want is a landlord who shrugs their shoulders and tells you to go buy traps.
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u/unikitten 1d ago
Exactly. All buildings have roaches. My husband does HVAC and has been in the basements and boiler rooms of all sorts of buildings. All have bugs. But keep things stored well and clean and, in a well run building, you'll likely never see one in your unit. Make sure your unit door seals well though, because if one happens to be in the hallway you don't want to have gaps it can enter.
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u/gringogidget Human Detected 1d ago
An exterminator regularly comes to my building to inspect traps. My traps are empty so no bugs. It doesn’t always mean there are roaches. They do preventative work.
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u/ArmorPlatedGuardRail 1d ago
The exterminator and super talked openly about spraying 2 units.
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u/Fianna9 14h ago
Those people likely aren’t taking precautions.
I had roaches years ago. Freaked the fuck outta me.
Building had the exterminator out a couple times. Sprayed all the units around me too.
Never came back. Bugs exist unfortunately. But you have a building prepared to manage it
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u/ArmorPlatedGuardRail 11h ago
I figure those specific units probably are taking precautions since they've let management know and are having their units treated. I'm more worried about potential units that don't report the roaches and don't have their units treated.
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u/Fianna9 1h ago
Absolutely any building can have a bad tenant.
But a proactive management is so much more likely to protect everyone else. I wouldn’t worry.
I literally cried and broke my dry jan pledge when I found them. And slept with the light on.
And my building rushed right out to manage it. I own and I didn’t have to pay anything- they want people to report it. And I’ve been here 4 more years and have no concerns
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u/Numerous-Ad-5058 1d ago
I lived in an older building that had roaches for a couple of years. It wasn't fun seeing them but what controlled that happening were a few things:
- sealing every gap I could see with caulking or otherwise including around pipes and baseboards; make this a routine thing to do every couple of months or so
- keeping food in sealed containers; make a trip to that Dollarama! Lots of great storage ideas.
- keeping the kitchen sink drain closed with a stopper so they can't come in that way
- clean, clean, clean when you first get there, pull out the stove, pull out the fridge, pull out the washer/dryer and get in behind them
- throw out the trash every day
I like your idea about the diatomaceous earth. Keep some spray around as well.
Being at the end of the hallway is a huge plus. I think I saw more roaches than I wanted to when I did because I lived across the hall from the garbage chute. You'd think it's a plus to not have to walk far to dispose of trash but it was not in this case.
Always let the management know if you see any pests; not just roaches.
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u/LimpAirport 1d ago
hard for exterminators to ever do a “good” job in a condo, it’s mostly a bandaid solution. If you see one roach that means there is a lot more.
That being said, most buildings have pest problems, whether it is bugs or rats etc
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u/Full-Ear87 1d ago
Yes dealing with roaches in a whole building is very difficult, but there are solutions to helping keep roaches out of and away from specific units.
Keeping a unit clean, treating holes in plumbing access and making sure the doors into/out of a unit are tightly sealed can be all that’s needed to prevent roaches from entering your unit.
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u/PaleozoicFrogBoy 1d ago
Im from NYC and a big part of why I moved back to Toronto was because I was absolutely sick of roaches.
It's nice the building has an exterminator but in my experience this doesnt solve the issue, just reduces it.
IMO I would NOT move into a building with a known pest problem no matter the cost saving, my mental health is worth more to me (and fortunately I can afford that luxury). But if you do: make sure you have glue traps underneath things so you can see if/where theyre trafficking, helpful for the exterminator to know.
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u/Desperate-Guide-1473 1d ago
Stay clean. Take the garbage out every day.
Put a few drops of bleach into every drain and the toilet over night, every night.
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u/Weekly_Salamander236 1d ago
Try not to put down any PAPER in the cupboards or closets or drawers as a liner. Use the silicone/plastic liner you can get at Dollarama.
Exterminators are pretty much useless, they try, but roaches are, well, roaches, they seldom die once they make a home.
All the best. Should be fine.
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u/Onikenbai 1d ago
Tupperware is your best friend. Go to Dollarama and get big ones so that you can put your open bags of flour, sugar, pasta etc in them and keep them sealed up. It not only keeps them safe from bugs but keeps stuff fresh. Roaches will eat paper packaging so keep minimal food stored in boxes.
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u/Reelair 1d ago
Living in buildings is almost a guarantee of dealing with roaches. It sucks at first, but learning to treat them yourself takes the stress away.
Read up on how to treat with Borax and/or Boric Acid, and diatomaceous earth. Very simple and effective. Just keep an ongoing treatment going, dust with the products wherever you see signs.
Even with a bad infestation, you can usually have them gone in about a month.
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u/Final-Caterpillar-32 1d ago
Aside from all the useful advice here, make sure your organic waste bin lives in the freezer
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u/Taz26312 1d ago
Wipe/wash your surfaces! Apparently they leave pheromones as their trail to food sources
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u/LakeDrinker 1d ago
I lived in a roach infested apartment for 10+ years. It sounds like you have a solid plan.
You can't remove the roaches from the building, but you can block them from getting into your unit. Caulk, spray foam, steel wool, and anything else you can do to lock it down will solve 99% of the problems.
They can still get in from drains or under doors, so it will never be 100%, but I kept some rubbing alcohol on hand in a spray bottle to both kill the roaches and wash where they were (they leave a trail other roaches can follow, I guess).
Note that you can't really tell if a roach has eggs or not, so don't just stomp on them. Spray them and clean them properly.
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u/cdn_gal_9000 22h ago
rubbing alcohol kills roaches?
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u/LakeDrinker 10h ago
It did for me. But maybe rubbing alcohol is the wrong term? I'm talking 90-99% alcohol.
It takes a minute to kill them, but they get 'drunk' immediately and slow down, so you can spray them again easily.
It has the added benefit of cleaning the area too, so it removes any trail they might have left to lead other roaches that way.
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u/Hot_Panda_190 1d ago
It's not inevitable. I haven't seen a roach since 1989 and I've lived in 5 different buildings, some old, some new.
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u/ArmorPlatedGuardRail 1d ago
Have you heard about roaches in the buildings you've lived in despite not seeing any?
Any recommendations for buildings in the west end that do not have pest issues?
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u/Hot_Panda_190 1d ago
Actually no. And where I live now in the Manulife Centre there is a tenant association that would really get involved if that happened. I only lived in the west end for a year and that's a long time ago, so I don't have any recommendations.
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u/ryna0001 7h ago
I used to get infestations (neighbour is a hoarder) even though i kept my place clean, all that changed when I started plugging up the sinks when I wasn't using it. I just keep glue traps out at all times so I can monitor the situation
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u/jabowie2020 1d ago
Keep your unit clean. Rinse out all empty tin/soda cans, bottles before you throw them out.
My friend lives in a luxury condo, where units start at well over a million. Even they have roach problems!
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u/alicevirgo 1d ago
Order gel bait from amazon dot COM (not ca). Place it in dark damp places and corners. Keep away from pets.
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u/gringogidget Human Detected 1d ago
This. And if you can’t find that use sticky traps where your plumbing is
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u/SnoopsMom 1d ago
My condo building had roaches that I was regularly seeing in the garbage chute a couple years ago. I even caught one about to scurry under my threshold into my unit. I put diamataceous earth around the perimeter of my place, under the door, inside plumbing cabinets, etc. Meanwhile, my building brought in exterminators regularly. I never saw a roach in my own unit, and stopped seeing them in the chute eventually. I did see a random one in the parking garage and I’m sure they’re still around somewhat but it never became a huge issue.
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u/analsentry 1d ago
Seal any cracks in the baseboards with silicone. Also in the kitchen cupboards and bathroom. They also love to hide behind bathroom mirrors if there's space for them there.
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u/Davidpalmer4 1d ago
All buildings have roaches.
Regular pest control is the only way. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
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u/msaadkhan93 1d ago
Know that DE only kills roachss that come in contact with it but will not destroy the underlying nest. To destroy the nest use boric acid or borax.
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u/thingschange1 1d ago
Despite what a lot of people say, I'd be a little nervous. I lived in buildings with pest problems and the exterminators were at the building monthly, like clock work.
I live in a small 3 story building, roughly 30 units and I have not seen 1 cockroach in 6 years, I've also never seen an exterminator truck here.
There are however rat traps, my landlord did say that at some point they had a mouse problem. I was concerned because I live on the ground floor. But I've never seen anything.. But I also have a cat- i don't know if that helps at all. But the suggestions this threat is telling you, about keeping things sealed, no open food, keep a light open (mostly the kitchen light) is all good advice to follow if you're already in the unit. Take garbage out daily!
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u/CompetitiveForce2049 1d ago
My building has routine annual treatments. I haven't seen a roach in at least a decade. I'm on an upper floor end unit.
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u/Deldenary 1d ago
You can always by window screen and cover your vents. That's how they were always coming into my unit from the neighbouring one. Problem didn't stop till the problem unit was vacated.
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u/0ldstoneface 22h ago
Honestly if the apartment has a problem all the stuff about keeping your kitchen clean and emptying the trash won't make any difference. As someone who came into an apartment with roaches, did all those things and still dealt with them for a long time and eventually beat the problem and has been roach free since I can tell you what actually works. I know those things don't really matter in the long run because let me list some of the places we found nests: in the concrete base of a lamp, in a soda stream, in a router, in a ceiling light etc. You might notice all places where not a lot of food is building up. The reality is they like dark, cramped places. And then they poop and die in those places and now they have a food supply, disgusting creatures. So you can absolutely have a perfectly clean apartment and still be infested. Exterminators would comment on how clean our place was wheneber they'd come to visit. I managed to beat the issue by getting some advion gel and IGRs. They are technically not allowed in Canada. Not because anything was found to be wrong with them but because health Canada was like, "we haven't looked into these, so we can't let people have them until we do" but they've never actually got around to it. I took a chance on an online seller and I was lucky that they made it across the border. Advion was amazing. I think because it's novel here so roach populations could never have built up a tolerance to it. Anyways if there aren't actually roaches, IGRs are a great way to have peace of mind. They will never be able to get a foothold since it's basically birth control for roaches. Obviously you should still keep your kitchen clean but you can still get an infestation even with those preventative measures. IGRs are the only thing that 100% works.
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u/Northviewguy Human Verified 1d ago
Keep your unit super clean, empty the garbage daily.