Cockroaches
Living Over a Food Business on the High Road
German cockroaches, the small light-brown species, live indoors in warm, humid places close to food, and a commercial kitchen provides all three. A flat above one can share pipe runs, a boxed-in riser, a back staircase and a rear yard with the business, and cockroaches follow warm pipes and cables up through the building. Mice use the same shared voids, so mouse control in Whetstone is worth a look if you have also heard scratching. How cockroaches get into properties explains the other ways in, from deliveries to drains.
Where they turn up in the flat
In the flat above, they are usually found first in the kitchen and bathroom: behind the fridge, under the sink, round the boiler and in the gaps where pipes come through the floor. They hide by day and come out after dark. Why cockroaches appear at night covers the habit, and where they hide in kitchens lists the spots.
Oriental cockroaches
The larger, dark, shiny Oriental cockroach prefers cooler, damp places such as cellars, drains and ground-floor voids, and can occasionally turn up in an older ground-floor flat. It is slower and more likely to be seen on floors than climbing walls, and where it does appear it tends to point to damp or a drain problem under the building rather than to the business upstairs. German vs Oriental cockroaches helps you tell them apart.
Houses Near the Brook: Honestly Uncommon
The brook corridor described on Pest Control Whetstone brings rats, mice and foxes up the garden, but not cockroaches. In a cottage or semi away from the High Road they are uncommon, and when they do appear it is usually because they came in with something: a second-hand appliance, a box from a storeroom, or luggage. A single dark insect in the kitchen is often something else entirely, such as a ground beetle wandering in from the garden, so a photo helps before booking. Small insects trailing to something sweet are more likely ants.
Signs in a Flat
- Live cockroaches scattering when the kitchen light goes on at night
- Droppings like ground pepper, or small dark smears, along shelves and behind appliances
- Brown egg cases in gaps behind the fridge or cooker, or under the sink
- Shed skins in corners and cupboards
- A musty, oily smell in a cupboard that has been shut for a while
The signs of a cockroach infestation goes into more detail. If you only ever see them late at night, try switching the kitchen light on suddenly an hour or two after you have gone to bed, and note where they run to; that is useful to pass on when you book.
What to Do Now
- Tell your landlord or managing agent, and mention the business below
- Put food in sealed tubs and wash up before bed, leaving no dishes or pet bowls out overnight
- Fix dripping taps and wipe up water round the sink before bed
- Avoid shop sprays, which can scatter cockroaches into walls and neighbouring flats
- If you run the business below, ask us about the premises separately
Booking and the Visit
When you book cockroach control, say whether you live in a flat or a house, what is downstairs, which rooms you have seen them in, and whether neighbours have them. Clear the cupboards under the sink and around the cooker so they can be reached. Treating a flat on its own may not hold if the shop below or the flat next door is left untreated, so it helps to raise it with the building's owner. Why you may still see cockroaches after treatment explains what to expect and when to call back. Cockroaches in the newer blocks and elsewhere in the borough are covered on Cockroach Control Barnet.
