What to Pour Down Drain to Kill Roaches: Bye-Bye, Cucaracha!

2023-11-08

Since you are looking for what to pour down the drain to kill roaches, you might have seen one crawling out of your drain. I have several solutions to help you eliminate the mature pests, roach eggs, and baby roaches inside the drain. They are safe both for your health and sewer.

Even commercial chemicals that are specialized for this task can harm your drain. To avoid any potential damage, I offer you to follow this detailed guide and stop roaches coming from the drain once and for all.

What to Pour Down Drain to Kill Roaches?

One option is to pour boiling water down the drain. This will kill any roaches that are in the drain. Another option is to pour a bleach and water solution down the drain.

Guide on How to Stop Roaches From Coming up the Drain

Inspect the drain to understand whether roaches come from there.
Choose one of the possible solutions: Bleach with water, vinegar with baking soda, or ammonia with hot water.
Follow the recipes in the guide to prepare the mixture correctly.
Apply it into the drain. Wait for 2 days if you want to repeat the procedure.

Do roaches come up through the drains?

Drains are favorite nesting places for roaches, supplying them with favorable conditions to live and breed. Roaches can come up through the drains because of the waste clogging the openings with time. Wastes tend to choke the drains, which results in gunk formation. These gunk and slime are the perfect food for roaches and baby roaches. Besides, mature insects view drains as top egg-laying places.

If you see tiny roaches near the drains of the sinks in your bathroom or kitchen, it’s a sign that these pests have settled and multiplied there, and you have to deal with the whole colony.

However, cockroaches might not be coming from the drain itself. They can use your drain as shelter and enter your home another way. Thus you have to understand that applying chemicals to your drain might not kill all species.

What you can pour down the drain to kill them

If you pour chemicals down the sewer to stop cockroach invasion, you risk facing problems in your drain and plumbing system. Chemicals that are aimed at removing calcium or any other mineral build-up can weaken your pipes and exaggerate further problems. Therefore, you have to look for alternative solutions to be on the safe side.

No one can deny that the most effective solution is to address qualified pest control professionals to inspect the condition of your sewers and either clean or replace them. Combined with cleaning any food sources that can attract roaches to your home, it will make your living place less attractive for the pests.

However, it can be quite expensive. If you want to cope with these pesky insects by yourself, there are other remedies you can try. The further solutions suit all the drains in your home such as kitchen and bathroom sinks and the bathtub.

Bleach mixed with lukewarm water

Bleach is a top-notch disinfectant and an effective measure against bugs and pests. Pouring bleach down the drain can instantly eliminate the roaches. It kills the pests by forming a deposit on their exoskeleton, which prevents them from breathing.

The skeletons will break with time due to the corrosive properties of bleach. However, you can’t just pour raw bleach into the sink or use an excessive amount; first, you have to dissolve it in water.

Also, note that you can’t use bleach too frequently to eliminate roaches in your drains. I recommend applying it once or twice because of its corrosive nature. By using bleach more, you can damage your drain pipes. Remember not to use any other method below if you apply bleach because it takes time to wash away. Wait at least two days before you pour ammonia, vinegar, or baking soda into the drains.

Besides, don’t mix bleach with anything else except for water. This causes toxic gas emissions and can lead to coughing, dizziness, nausea, and even pneumonia.

White vinegar and baking soda mixture

As an alternative to bleach, you can mix vinegar with baking soda. The recipe is easy to remember, and the ingredients are available in the majority of homes.

Ammonia combined with hot water

Ammonia is also among the effective roach killers. Since it is water-soluble, you can easily mix it with water. It acts by killing roaches on contact.

How to kill roaches down the drain

Regardless of whether you have seen roaches in the drain in your bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, you can use similar methods to cope with these resilient pests.

Bleach & water

Wear a glove and a pair of glasses to protect your skin and eyes.
Mix bleach with lukewarm water in the following proportion: 2 tablespoons of bleach to 0,5 gallons of lukewarm water.
Pour the solution inside the drain. Let it sit there for approximately 20 minutes.
Pour the water you usually use into the sewer to flush out the killed cockroaches and their eggs.

Vinegar & baking soda

Mix equal parts of baking soda and white vinegar in a container.
Stir it well. Pour the solution into the drains.
Let it sit for 5 minutes.
Pour hot water into the drains.

Ammonia & hot water

Use equal amounts of ammonia cleaner and water and prepare the mix in a bucket.
Pour it into the drains to eliminate roaches.

Prevention for drain protection

Regardless of whether you are only going to get these frisky insects out of your drains or have already successfully coped with the infestation, you can apply preventive measures to secure your home. This is never late to do, and it can help you prevent other pests as well.

Seal the pipes

Inspect your drain pipes carefully for any signs of cracks or holes. If you find them, use appropriate caulk to seal them. If there are any cracks around your drain pipes, use duct tape as a quick solution or silicone caulk, cement, or plaster for a longer-term one. You can also use a flashlight for better visibility.

Fix faucets if they leak

Standing water creates favorable conditions for cockroaches to thrive. Thus you have to take care that your facets don’t leak.

Mend the gaps around the pipes under your sink

There might be gaps under your bathroom or kitchen sink. You should fill them all with urethane foam or silicone sealant. If the holes are large, you can apply steel wool or copper mesh before sealing them.

Examine your walls

Your walls can also have holes that can serve as entry points for roaches. Expanding insulation foam can help you seal any gaps where the pipes contact the walls.

Stop the condensation

Use insulation foam and tape to wrap the area around any pipes that create condensation. This will make roaches search for another water source.

Move garbage cans away from the sinks

Garbage is appealing to these pests. Therefore, you should move the garbage cans from underneath your kitchen and bathroom sinks.

Block roaches’ entry spots at night

You can cover drains with metal drain screens or rubber stoppers. Since cockroaches are nocturnal creatures, it’s essential to prevent them from entering the drains at night.

Clean your kitchen drain

Rinse your kitchen drain with an approved kitchen sink cleaner to remove food particles that attract roaches.

Keep your kitchen clean

Don’t leave any food leftovers on the counters and in the kitchen sink. Make sure your kitchen is tidy and keep food in tight containers.

Say Roaches to Pack Their Bags

If you’re sick and tired of welcoming roaches daily, it’s time to be firm and eliminate these pests. You can apply a mixture of bleach and water, white vinegar and baking soda, or ammonia and hot water to the drains in your house if you want to get rid of the roaches there.

Don’t forget about protective measures such as gloves and glasses. Take a deep breath, follow my instructions, and do not share your kitchen or bathroom with roaches anymore.

Which solution are you going to try? Have you read any reviews on the methods described here? Please, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Also read:

References

Stop cockroach invasion (Michael F. Potter, Extension Entomologist University of Kentucky):
https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef614
Don’t mix bleach (Indoor Air Quality Program):
https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/healthy-home/home-contaminants/dangers-mixing-bleach-cleaners
Protect (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety):
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/bleach.html#:~:text=The%20vapours%20from%20bleach%20are,eyes%20and%20face%20from%20splashes.

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