How to Get Rid of Wood Roaches | 7 Effective Hacks

Cockroaches are a pain for every household. Not only do they gradually infiltrate the house and destroy things, but they are also bad for your overall health. You struggle with poor sanitary conditions, but cockroaches and wild roaches also divide and multiply exponentially fast. So, while you try to tame and manage one side of the infestation, the chances are that they have already spread to a different area.

Wondering how to get rid of wood roaches? Like most other roaches, even wood roaches are attracted to moisture inside your house. Although they stay outdoors most of the time, they can accidentally traipse inside and never leave your home again. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?

This article will explore everything about wood roaches and how you can get rid of them from your home.

Also read: 10 Best Ways to Get Rid of Cockroaches

How to Inspect for Wood Roach Infestation?

Wood roaches are inclined towards unsanitary spots in the house. So, wood roaches are also prevalent in areas with decaying matter and super unhygienic conditions, not just in your bathrooms and the cluttered area in the home.

So, if your home caters to all of these criteria, don’t be alarmed if you find them lingering in the backdrop, trying to get comfortable in your pantry or garage.

Where Should I Look?

Wood roaches, unlike the staple cockroaches, prefer staying outdoors. They prefer mulch, decays, and forests and jungles. However, if one or two accidentally gain entry inside your home, they will consistently look for wooden areas with moisture. Wood piles and decaying logs around your house are their ideal breeding grounds.

What Should I Look For?

When looking or inspecting a wood roach infestation, there’s not much that you have to inspect. You want to look for moisture and humid prone areas that get direct light exposure. Unlike other insects and pests, wood roaches enjoy the light when it shines on them. One positive thing about a wood roach infestation is that they don’t survive for long inside the house. So, if they don’t find the area favorable, they will move outdoors immediately.

List of Ways to Get Rid of Wood Roach

When it comes to eliminating wood roaches from your house, you need to realize that more than the indoors, you need to tend to the outdoors since that is where they like to spend most of their time. And, you must be thinking, “Well, why do I have to worry if they are outdoors?” 

Well, wood roaches multiple and breed quickly when they are outdoors. So, if you want to stop an uncontrolled infestation throughout the perimeter of the hours, it is a given that you need to treat the outdoors and get rid of them before things take a turn for the worse.

1. Seal All the Cracks

More than an elimination method, this is a preventive measure. If you have cracks in the outdoors of your house that lead to the home’s inside, we’d recommend that you seal those off. The wood roaches can easily enter your home via the cracks and crevices present in the door, windows, etc. 

So, if they are damage-prone cracks, mend them by yourself or a contractor who can help you out. If the cracks and entries are via the doors and windows, we’d recommend that you install a mesh covering to prevent their entry.

2. Clean the Perimeter of the House

Since wood roaches are mostly found outside the house, you must ensure that you get rid of the dirt and mulch. Ideally, we’d recommend storing your firewood in a clean and dry spot so that these roaches don’t get into them and inflict irrevocable damage.

Also, when storing wood around your house, store them in a waterproof setting so things don’t take a turn for the worse. Ideally, we’d recommend that you potentially avoid bringing larger pieces of firewood and instead get them in smaller quantities, so storage isn’t a concern at all.

3. Switch Off the Unwanted Lights

There’s nothing more terrifying than having roaches fly around. It is some people’s worst nightmare, and if you don’t want to encourage that to happen, we’d recommend that you instead look into switching off the unwanted lights in the close vicinity of your home. Since wood roaches are attracted to light, they will try to locate the light sources and hover around them.

This can lead to further infestation around the house, making it difficult for you to control their spread and breeding. Ideally, the easiest way to get rid of them from around the house is to keep the lights switched off during the night. If you can’t do that completely, the next best thing would be to use a dim light instead.

4. Be Careful While Discarding

Inside or outside your home, wood roaches won’t stay alive for a prolonged period. So, if they are infesting your home, you must discard them cautiously. If not, this can lead to a further greater degree of infestation, leading to an unnecessary and never-ending cycle. While a vacuum cleaner seems like a safer option for cleaning, we’d recommend that you be careful.

Instead of straight-up using a non-disposable vacuum bag for cleaning, use a disposable and one-time vacuum bag that will allow you to clean them up and then get rid of the vacuum bag. 

5. Get Rid of Leakages

As we have said from the beginning of the article, wood roaches are attracted to moisture. So, if you have undetected leakages and dampness around the house, you need to fix them immediately without any further questions. 

Also, if you have uncovered drains and open water bodies like pools and water tanks outside your home that are left uncovered, you need to immediately cover them up without any further questions at all. Also, if you spot damp patches inside your home, check the cause and fix it immediately with the help of a professional. 

6. Clean the Yard

Your open yard is a free home for the wood roaches. Instead of preferring the insides of your home, they prefer living outdoors, which is where they breed and multiply exponentially. What you can do instead of letting it get worse is to clean out and vacuum your yard every other week. This should include raking the dried and dead leaves, pulling out wood, discarding unnecessary decomposed items, etc.

Also, if you have open and moisture-induced logs and wood pieces lying in the yard, collect them and get rid of them immediately without any questions at all. Doing this every other week keeps the yard clean; it also makes the place inhabitable for the wood roaches, driving them away in the process.

7. Use Chemical Treatments

Sometimes, the infestation gets so out of hand that your last resort is to get hold of chemical pesticides. These are effective and hands down the easiest way to get rid of the wood roaches from your house immediately. However, if you have kids and pets that like to get into things in the backyard, we’d recommend that you keep a close eye on them after spraying down the area.

Typically, you want to ensure that you thoroughly spray down the most infested spots in the house and around the house. Focus on spraying the chemical in the area with moisture, logs, and decomposed materials where the wood roaches frequent the most. Covering up these bases will not just kill the insect but also ensure to keep them away from infiltrating the yard again.

Also, if you don’t want to spray down the areas yourself, you can always contact a professional exterminator to do the same for you.

Finding how to get rid of wood roaches can be complicated if you aren’t sure about the degree of infestation. We hope this article gives you a clear understanding of all the top ways you can eliminate these harmful roaches from inside and outside your home without any complications. Just ensure that you take the right steps immediately after you spot the infestation before it turns for the worse.

Also read: How to Get Rid of Groundhogs? | 11 Effective Remedies

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