Pest proofing your home

August 13, 2009 3:24 AM

How do I keep my (ground floor, 20 year old) London apartment pest-free?

What measures can I take to ensure that my flat remains untouched by pests?

Specifically I am concerned about mice and roaches because I know they are a pain to get rid of once you have the problem. Well, that, and I'm terrified of either. But currently I don't think I have either, touch wood. Had a small roach problem about a year ago but went crazy with the Raid and haven't seen them since.

I don't currently do anything special, just keep the place reasonably clean, don't keep food out overnight, etc. Are there any preventative measures I can take? Anything I should be on the lookout for?

posted by Ziggy500 to home & garden (9 comments total)

We have a few preventive insect traps set out around our apartment, in various low-key places - under tables, behind shelves, really wherever they will fit. You don't want to do this with mice, as this usually involves leaving some kind of food out in the trap, and if you don't have a mouse, you don't want to invite them in. Really, I've found that the only way to keep mice out is to make sure you're keeping the place clean and making sure that holes they might enter through get patched up.

Also, I can't say enough about keeping ALL of your food in sealed plastic containers, in both the pantry and the refrigerator. Pests are typically attracted to the spots where your food and water is kept, and if they can't smell it, they can't find it!
posted by honeybee413 at 4:05 AM on August 13, 2009

You're doing all the right things as far as food-consuming pests go. If you don't see/hear any signs of pests, there's a good chance you don't have any. Mice usually scurry about behind furniture and inside walls/floors, leave conspicuous droppings, and make holes in food bags. You'll probably know you have them before you actually see one. And mice (and roaches) usually inhabit homes where things are untidy/unclean.

Seconding the plastic containers. Check open bags of flour/sugar/pasta/etc. that you might have in your cupboards. Look for tiny light-brown pinhead-sized specks moving around; if you see any, you have weevils. Throw away any affected packaging, clean out your cupboards thoroughly, and put your open foodstuffs in sealed tubs.

But really, you need to try to get over your fears alittle bit. We are animals living in a world teeming with other forms of life, much of it unseen. Our bodies are entire worlds for bacteria, viruses, parasites and symbiotes. I got stung by a wasp that managed to get inside my shirt yesterday; I think it's the first time a pest bigger than a bacterium has done me any harm in twenty years.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 4:32 AM on August 13, 2009

As documented in this AskMeFi we had a mouse problem of our own creation.

We've got a two story garden flat and I'd let the vines grow all over the ground floor, lounge and kitchen windows. We both liked the mellow greenish light, especially so in the summer as that part of our flat looks west. Also, the dense vines mitigated the setting sun and in doing so kept the place cooler.

But they also provided easy ingress for rodents into our kitchen.

So if you do have any vines or ground cover around your flat clear it. The mice won't want to expose themselves in the open yard, and more than likely won't approach let alone enter your flat.

Or do what we did - get two kittens and let the vines grow back.

Other points - garbage goes out every night and with the exception of some fruit and veg food doesn't sit out either. We're not particularly fastidious about crumbs, etc but do our best and haven't had a problem for a couple of years.

Curious, what part of London are you in? We're in Whitechapel and haven't had any problem with roaches, but have heard of infestations on other estates (we're in E1).

From what I've read about other infestations, the Council likes to treat the entire block in one go, so maybe your problem was local to just your flat.
posted by Mutant at 5:45 AM on August 13, 2009

Here in the US, there's a product called "Great Stuff" that's essentially foam insulation sprayed from a can; it expands (dramatically) and hardens, and is really good for sealing little holes and crevices around the house (also big holes and crevices).

It's a huge mess to use, and is pretty awful to look at, so I generally use it only in invisible places (behind the stove, around water pipes, a tiny hidden hole in a corner under the carpet in the living room). Also, it's not going anywhere except by sanding/cutting it away - it's powerfully adhesive to whatever surface it's on.

Anyway, it really seems to have made a difference in keeping mice and bugs out here. Maybe you have an equivalent product, if not the same product, there. It was a worthwhile project.
posted by amtho at 5:52 AM on August 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

In the same vein as what amtho said, fill all the small gaps in your apartment. Caulk the edges and gaps in your baseboards and molding, around pipes coming in from the walls, and around your cabinetry. This is how they get in your place, and how they hide from you once they are inside. If you do this, at least when you inevitably find a roach or other bug, you will be reasonably sure there isn't a nest somewhere in your apartment.
posted by soy_renfield at 8:05 AM on August 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

For the roaches, I've found sprinkling some boric acid around to be very, very effective at keeping them away. It's just a white powder you can put behind your appliances, so it's not very noticeable, and they just hate the stuff. I used to have a huge roach problem, inherited from a house that had been standing empty for a while before I rented it, and now I hardly see them at all.
posted by booknerd at 9:37 AM on August 13, 2009

Galvanized steel dustbin for your rubbish while it's on the premises. Worked like a charm at our old place to encourage small rodents to go elsewhere.

The mouses, they don't like them.
posted by genghis at 7:29 PM on August 13, 2009

Thank you very much for your comments everybody!
posted by Ziggy500 at 3:02 AM on August 14, 2009

Oh and Mutant, I live in north London and it wasn't a roach infestation, it was just five or six little ones and I never saw them again. I would love to get a cat but can't as I'm allergic. Yours are gorgeous though!
posted by Ziggy500 at 3:03 AM on August 14, 2009