Natural Pest Remedies & Getting Rid Of Roaches: a house log
When Rebekah emailed us with a doozie of a question we were fairly much left scratching our heads. Here is it is:
Q: I have become an addict of your journal – simply ask my husband! I cannot assist but check it multiple times a day. Your posts are consistently so informative and they keep me motivated to keep working on our 1960’s home. Anyway, my husband and I purchased the brick ranch with a lovely yard about four months ago. My only problem is that we are starting to see more pests (i.e. roaches… ewww!) due to the weather getting colder here in Georgia. I cannot live in a house and accept that the pests will consistently be there. We woke up at 4am last night because one crawled up my husband’s arm. Assist! I was hoping you or your readers had some recommendations for in-house pest control. I know that pests might come with the territory of living in an older home, but I have to believe there is a cure out there. I am an uber-clean person (vacuuming & dusting once a week) plus we do not leave food out and we keep everything off of the floor as much as possible. I hope my only option is NOT to hire a pest control company but if it is then so be it. Any advice? – Rebekah
A: Yup, we were stumped. Luckily (knock on wood, oops that spooked the dog and now he’s barking) we have never had to deal with roaches or other pests like (shiver) mice as of yet. But we did suggest that Rebekah try google-ing around for “natural pest remedies” or “getting rid of roaches” or even hanging out in the pest control aisle at her local home improvement store to see what she can find (perhaps even asking an expert there what they recommend). We are thinking there are little things like roach motels that can poison them or trap those creepy little buggers, so they might be pleasant to hide behind things and in corners- but Rebekah would certainly have to be careful that pets and kids do not get into them!
In short, we tossed out a few paltry common sense ideas but wondered if any of our lovely readers had more tried and true advice to share. After all you folks were so helpful when it came to our annoying bathroom drain debacle (which we gleefully solved here), so we are hoping that a few of you have some strong ideas to toss out for Rebekah. Any natural remedies or not so natural cures that work like a charm? Any specific products or treatments that did the trick for you? Any ideas for finding the root of the problem (ie: holes? cracks?) and sealing things up at the source? Feel free to chime in and save the day. We are hoping that regular “Calling All Experts” posts like these will become a strong resource for anyone with common issues like clogged drains and pesky pets- and we certainly plan to rely on them whenever we need assist right along with the rest of you!
PS: You can also learn several natural solutions for getting rid of fruit flies that involve items you already have around your home.
