Let’s face it, when we think of roaches in a home we think of disgusting filthy kitchen with six week old cake batter crusted to the wall and the stove is littered with baked on spaghetti noodles and some other unidentifiable goo that seems to take a different shape every time the heat comes on.
I must say there is a good portion of German roach infestations I see that are indeed caused by poor
sanitation but there are also accounts that for seemingly no reason at all are over run by this pest. Early in my career I had a 16 room mansion on my route that was clean as whistle. The salesman sold it as a German roach job and with my first look into the kitchen I thought there must have been a mistake. The maid was busy cleaning some wine glasses, not a single thing was out of place and the shine off the floor was like a mirror. They left me alone to do my work and within 10 to 15 minutes I couldn’t believe my eyes. Roaches were coming out of every conceivable crack and crevice and scurrying for some ‘other’ place to hide. I learned a lesson that day and have kept it with me ever since. Roaches love filth and an old rickety house but they can easily move in and adjust to living in a mansion.
I would venture to say that my experience is not unusual and I have seen this so many times since then. These type of accounts always make me nervous, not because I doubt being able to kill the bugs. No, what I watch for is a quick turn and my spray wand knocks over a $30,000.00 statue or ‘heir loom.’ I always marvel that these affluent people with their maids, cleaning crews and every modern convenience can still be infected with a German roach problem. We have many high end homes as clients and very few have any real problems precisely because of their daily maintenance and cleaning but every once in awhile one will throw you for a loop.
The greatest stigma with roaches is that the person ‘is not clean‘ and this bothers so many, especially the ladies. No one wants to be labeled a bad housekeeper and having roaches is a sure sign of that according to most. Now I agree that the absolute worst infestations I’ve ever seen have been in some of the most disgusting homes you’d ever want to set foot in. I won’t go in without my mask, gloves and full body suit because of the gut wrenching stench and god awful mess. Not far behind however have been some beautiful multi million dollar homes that I can only imagine living in with my wildest of dreams. While this may not be of any real consolation to you if you are battling this dreaded plague maybe there is some solace you can take in that German roaches are non discriminate infester’s. (is that a word?)
Regardless if you have designer cabinets with gold plated faucets or if your sink is cast iron from 1968 and adorned with an Elvis clock above it we all share one common kitchen foe. It doesn’t matter to the female roach where she has her 40 to 50 babies. They will scurry off and begin life anew in the autographed Macy’s knife collection box just as soon as they’ll infest the Ronco potato slicer kit.
Below is a kitchen I put together with some key areas and ideas on how to treat them against this insect that plagues us all. While the amenities I’ve chosen seem pristine they all look the same to a cockroach and they’ll be happy to live here just as they would in your home. Treat them both the same and you’re well on your way to roach free living.
click on the picture to enlarge
