Cockroaches love to live in dark and damp areas, making your house drain an ideal habitat for survival. Having cockroaches in your house is an unpleasant experience that no one likes to encounter. Unfortunately, more than 63% of American households experience a cockroach infestation at one point.
These nasty pests create an unhygienic appearance in your house and can cause several allergies and diseases. Not to forget the unbearable musty smell that cockroaches can spread in your kitchen.
So, what do you do when the cockroaches in your house have found a home in your drains? You pour down some solutions, like ammonia, bleach, vinegar, and pesticides. However, you need to be careful when using these chemicals. Let’s learn more about removing cockroaches from your drain.
5 Things to Pour Down the Drain to Kill Roaches
Getting rid of these nasty creatures might seem impossible, especially when living in the drains. However, with the help of a few tips, you can eliminate cockroaches without trouble. Here are five solutions you can pour down your drain to instantly kill cockroaches.
Ammonia Solution
A mixture of ammonia and hot water makes for an effective solution to kill cockroaches. This trick is also used by professional pest control services to remove cockroach infestations from tricky places like drains.
Why Does it Work
Ammonia is a strong chemical that can dissolve or break the exoskeleton of cockroaches. Their exoskeleton is their outer protective layer that safeguards their internal organs.
Spraying the solution directly on the cockroaches can instantly kill them. This powerful ingredient is used in several pesticides due to its instant insect-killing properties.
How To Use it
Follow these steps to pour ammonia solution in your drain:
- First, mix two parts of household ammonia and one part of hot water in a container. The amount of ingredients you use depends on the number of drains you need to treat. For example, you can take two cups of ammonia and one cup of boiling water for a single bathroom drain.
- Now, mix the ingredients thoroughly and pour the solution down the drain. Make sure there is a perforated cap on the drain to prevent the cockroaches from running.
- Once you pour the liquid, place a heavy object over the drain to block the fumes from coming out.
Safety Tips
Make sure to:
- Wear gloves while dealing with concentrated ammonia.
- Avoid any splashes from getting into your eyes.
- Cover your nose and mouth properly since ammonia has a pungent smell that can bother your respiratory system.
Concentrated Bleach
Bleach is a multi-purpose chemical cleaner that works as a pesticide as well. However, mixing bleach with water or any other liquid can reduce the strength of bleach. Therefore, using the most concentrated form of bleach to kill cockroaches is ideal. However, it can damage your pipes, so be careful.
Why Does it Work
Chlorine bleach is a highly potent chemical that is used to disinfect materials. It is also great for eliminating cockroach allergens that can harm your health. Since bleach is quite a toxic chemical, it can kill cockroaches in case of ingestion.
Using bleach to clean the area with cockroach droppings and allergens is a highly effective method. However, since bleach does not evaporate instantly like alcohol, it can also drown and kill the cockroaches.
How To Use it
Follow these steps carefully:
- First, take a highly-concentrated chlorine bleach. You can also use the laundry bleach at your house. Even though it has a low concentration, it still works effectively to reduce cockroach infestation.
- Next, pour one cup to one and a half cups of bleach down the drain and cover the drain cap with something heavy.
Make sure not to do it in an open drain, as the smell and potency of the bleach will compel the cockroaches to run outside. The cockroaches need to stay inside for the bleach to work.
Safety Tips
Here are some safety measures:
- Wear safety gloves while dealing with chlorine bleach as it can damage your skin.
- Make sure the room is well ventilated to avoid inhaling toxic bleach fumes.
- You can also wear a mask and goggles to further protect yourself.
Vinegar and Baking Soda
If you want to use safe ingredients from your pantry to get rid of cockroaches, a vinegar and baking soda concoction is the best option. This solution does not emit toxic fumes and can be used anywhere in the house. It is especially ideal for kitchens and places with exposure to kids.
Why Does it Work
Baking soda has a strong scent that cockroaches cannot tolerate. When mixed with vinegar, it turns into a potent solution to drive the cockroach infestation away. It might not kill the cockroaches instantly, but it will surely help you get rid of them for a long period.
You can also use baking soda mixed with water to kill cockroaches. Baking soda is a leavening agent and can expand quickly once it reacts with the stomach acids of a cockroach.
Infact, a study shows that the death risk of the cockroach instantly increases once they ingest the baking soda.
How To Use it
The steps include:
- First, take two parts vinegar and one part baking soda and allow the baking soda to activate.
- Once the bubbles go down, pour the liquid into the drain. Since baking soda will settle down, it might stay on top of the perforated drain cap.
- You can use a little water to wash the baking soda off the cap and into the drain.
- Alternatively, you can also use a water and baking soda mixture to increase the killing rate of cockroaches.
People also use baking soda pellets to drop into their drain to kill these pests.
Safety Tips
Be aware of these things:
- When baking soda pellets are placed into the drain, ensure nothing is left outside, especially if you have kids at home.
- Wear a mask and gloves if you have a sensitive respiratory system and skin when using this solution.
Boiling Water
One of the simplest ways to scare the cockroaches away is by pouring scalding hot water over them. It might kill only a few cockroaches, but it will definitely scare them away. This method is safe to use and does not require any store-bought chemicals.
Why Does it Work
Cockroaches are tough creatures, but they cannot survive temperatures above 115° F to 120° F. Anything above that can exhaust their energy and burn their body. You need to get scalding hot water and allow the cockroaches to submerge in them for a few minutes to kill them.
How To Use it
The method is super easy; you just have to:
- Take a pan and boil two to three cups of water.
- Once the water is boiling, pour it down the drain with the perforated drain cover on.
It will instantly start killing the cockroach due to the intense heat on its exoskeleton.
Safety Tips
Some things to take care of include:
- Use padded gloves to hold the container with boiling water.
- Be careful while pouring the water as boiling water may splash on you.
- Do not hold the container too close to your body.
- Make sure kids and pets are not around when dealing with boiling water.
Pesticides or Insecticides
Store-bought pesticides and insecticides also work great in removing cockroaches from the drain. They come in the form of gels, tablets, sprays, and powder that you can pour easily into the drains. However, they are made of harsh chemicals that can emit toxic fumes.
Why Does it Work
Most pesticides directly attack the insects’ nervous system, eventually killing them. Some chemicals used in these products also induce a burning sensation in the pests’ bodies, killing them instantly.
Some uncommon insecticides also affect insects’ digestive properties, forcing them to starve to death. Once the pest comes in direct contact with the chemical, its state starts deteriorating, leading to death.
How To Use it
These pesticides are available in several forms. Commonly, they come in the form of sprays that you can spritz down the drain. If you have open drains, you can apply pesticide gel with the help of an applicator and close the mouth of the drain.
These pesticides will help kill the insects instantly. Since these products are specially designed to kill house pests, they will ensure a 100% death rate of cockroaches. Furthermore, they also damage cockroach eggs.
Safety Tips
Remember that:
- Pesticides can be hazardous to human health so make sure not to let them touch you directly.
- If the product touches your skin and eyes, wash the area with tap water.
- Wearing safety gloves, masks, and goggles is necessary when working with pesticides.
- Once you use the pesticide, leave the room for a while and allow the place to air out properly.
- Using pesticides in the presence of kids and pets is not safe.
How To Stop Cockroaches from Coming Up the Drain?
Since drains are a happy place for the cockroaches to live, they will eventually come out and return to the drain several times a day. In addition, they might come out to search for food, which can be a significant health hazard.
If you have cockroaches in your drain, you must ensure they don’t come out to your house. Especially when you are pouring chemical or DIY cockroach-killing solution down the drain, you need to make sure there is no place for them to return.
Using a perforated drain cap helps prevent the cockroach from coming out.
In addition, you can buy an anti-cockroach drain protector, which allows easy access to the drain whenever needed. These protectors will prevent outside cockroaches from entering the drain while restricting the drain cockroaches inside.
Drain Maintenance Tips to Prevent Cockroach Infestation
Getting rid of cockroaches is not a one-day task. It requires patience and regular cleaning to ensure the cockroaches have nothing to feed on. Clean spaces are not the ideal habitat for cockroaches.
They look for damp and dirty corners in the kitchen, fallen food particles, dark and moist drains, and bathrooms. You can follow these simple steps to prevent cockroaches from infesting your house:
Monthly Cleaning
Create a monthly schedule for deep cleaning your drains and corners of the house. Several deep cleaning checklists are available on the internet that you can use to make sure you are not leaving any part of your house.
These places include:
- Cabinets
- Shower cabins
- Bathtubs
- Laundry pipes
You need to thoroughly clean each place to avoid cockroaches. Whether you have cockroaches in your drain, boiling water down the pipes can unclog them and keep them pest-free. You can also pour pesticides monthly to stop an infestation from returning.
Do Not Drain Solid Food
Most people like to throw food crepes and leftover food particles in the drain. Unfortunately, it is what the cockroaches feed on. Make sure to throw any piece of leftover or rotten food in the compost basket or dustbin to avoid cockroach infestation.
If you have kids or pets in the house, check for any food particles that have fallen during meal time.
For example, kids’ napkins with food particles in the laundry basket can attract cockroaches. Furthermore, if you have recently washed a dishcloth or a kids’ napkin, thoroughly clean your washing machine’s pipe.
Hire a Professional
If home remedies and store-bought pesticides are not working, you need to consult with a professional exterminator. They have advanced tools and strong medicines to eliminate cockroaches from your house.
You can also hire professional cleaners monthly to keep every nook and corner of your house clean. Some people also like to pay for weekly deep cleaning services to keep their houses free from all sorts of infestations.
FAQs
How Do You Get Rid of Sewer Roaches?
You can get rid of sewer roaches with strong pesticides, bleach, or boric acid. Baking powder pellets are also an effective way to kill these cockroaches. Once the roaches digest the baking powder, it will dangerously increase the size of their stomach, causing death.
How Do I Get Rid of Bugs in My Drain?
You can get rid of bugs in your drains with regular cleaning. Some effective solutions that clean your drains are ammonia, chlorine bleach, baking soda and vinegar, pesticides, and boiling water. If there are poisonous bugs in your drain, you need to contact a professional exterminator.
Why Are Roaches Coming Up Through the Shower Drain?
Roaches are coming up your bathroom drain because it is not fully protected. However, you can use a drain cover protector to stop the cockroaches from coming out. Furthermore, spraying peppermint, citrus, or camphor also keeps cockroaches coming up the drain as they dislike strong scents.
Final Thoughts
Killing cockroaches can be daunting, especially when they are living in tricky places like drain pipes. However, you can use safe and easy tips like pouring boiling water down the drain or using pesticides to get rid of roach infestations.
You can also DIY cockroach killers by mixing vinegar and baking soda or ammonia and hot water. Your last resort should be concentrated chlorine bleach. Make sure you use a drain cover protector after pouring down these chemicals into your drains as a safety measure.
If cockroach infestation gets uncontrollable, it’s better to consult with a professional pest exterminator to get rid of roaches without risking your health.