How to Get Rid of Cockroaches for Good: Homes & Businesses

Cockroaches are survivors: they've outlasted practically everything nature has thrown at them, and they'll outlast a can of spray too. Getting rid of roaches for good isn't about one dramatic attack; it's about removing what sustains them, hitting the colony where it lives, and closing the doors behind it. Here's the plan, in order.

Step 1: Cut off food and water

A cockroach can live for weeks without food but only about a week without water, so moisture is your first target. Fix dripping taps and leaking pipes, dry sinks overnight, and empty pet water bowls before bed. Then remove the food supply: sealed containers for everything in the pantry, nightly wipe-downs of counters and stovetops, dishes done before bed, garbage in a lidded bin, and (the one everyone misses) degreasing the areas behind and beside the stove, where splatter feeds a colony indefinitely.

Step 2: Bait, don't spray

This is where most DIY efforts go wrong. Repellent aerosol sprays scatter cockroaches into walls and new rooms, spreading the problem while leaving eggs untouched. Gel baits do the opposite: foraging roaches eat the bait and carry it back to the harbourage, killing the colony at its source. Place small dots of bait in corners under sinks, inside cabinet hinges, and near appliance motors: anywhere warm, dark, and near water. Be patient and don't spray near baits; you'll undo their work.

Step 3: Seal the harbourage

Roaches spend most of their lives packed into cracks and voids. Caulk the gaps where pipes enter walls under your sinks, seal cracks along baseboards and backsplashes, and in apartments, pay special attention to shared plumbing walls: that's the highway between units. Breaking down and removing cardboard boxes quickly matters too: corrugated cardboard is both a favourite hiding spot and how many infestations arrive in the first place.

When professional control is the smarter call

If you're still seeing roaches after two to three weeks of disciplined baiting and sanitation, or if you're seeing them during the day, which signals a large hidden population, the infestation has likely outgrown DIY methods. German cockroaches breed too quickly for half-measures. For businesses, the math is even simpler: one sighting by a customer or health inspector costs more than a year of professional service. A professional program combines commercial-grade baits, residual treatments in voids you can't reach, and monitoring that proves the problem is gone.

Fortify Pest Control eliminates cockroach infestations for homes and businesses across Winnipeg and Manitoba, with prevention guidance so they don't come back. Book a free inspection today.