PEST CONTROL FOR APARTMENT LIVING & CONDO LIVING

There are many benefits to apartment living and condominium living:

• Desirable location – being close to work, public transit systems, parks, trails, amenities, favourite hobbies & leisure activities.
• Onsite amenities - pool, gym, garden, children’s playground, games rooms, common rooms, laundry facilities, etc.
• Apartment living can offer more flexibility and generally be more affordable than a home purchase or mortgage.
• Simplified lifestyle - less maintenance & upkeep (no snow to shovel or grass to cut), and less cleaning and “stuff” to own since you’re living in a smaller space.
• A built-in community for those seeking to make friendships and socialize with their neighbours.

Apartment buildings and multi-dwelling buildings and complexes are also very appealing to pests like mice, rats, cockroaches, bed bugs, centipedes, spiders, and silverfish. They offer ease of access to everything pests need to survive:

• Food
• Water
• Shelter

How Pests Invade Apartment Buildings & Multi-Unit Complexes

Something that is very frustrating for tenants (and homeowners) living in these types of multi-dwelling buildings is that all too often they discover mice, rats, cockroaches, ants or bed bugs (just to name a few) in their unit, but they were not the cause or source of infestation. The pests found their way into their unit and home as they have moved about the building looking for habitable conditions.  

There are 2 main ways pests get inside an apartment building or condo high-rise buildings:

1. They find a way in themselves, through cracks, crevices, gaps or holes in the building’s foundation, doors, windows, exterior vents, utility lines, etc.
2. They are brought in unknowingly by tenants and visitors.

There are many entry points into apartment building, condo complexes and multi-unit buildings, and since so many people live and visit these structures, these access points are continually being used. For those living in apartments and multi-unit buildings with common areas like hallways, these pose even more access points and ease of access for pests to be transported in.

Since individual units are close in proximity, and walls, vents, floors, ceilings, and utility lines are being shared, once pests are inside, these make it super easy for them to move freely and unknowingly from unit to unit and floor to floor.

Once inside, pests will look for favourable conditions to make shelter in that is not too far from a reliable food and water source. They also often go unseen until populations grow to infestation levels, or their nests are disturbed due to construction, renovations or maintenance issues. Mice for example, favour warm locations that are void of people so they commonly harbour in boiler rooms and mechanical rooms.

Why Prompt Professional Pest Control for Apartment Living & Condo Living is Needed

Apartment buildings, condo buildings and multi-unit complexes offer pests many places to hide. They also can provide highly favourable environment (food, water, shelter, temperature) for pests to not only survive, but to thrive and flourish.

When a pest control issue arises in an apartment complex, finding the source of infestation, or even determining the extent of the infestation can be complicated and difficult.  And if gone unnoticed or not addressed correctly in a timely manner, rodent infestations, cockroach infestations and bed bug infestations can quickly occur and become out of control.  Resolving pest control issues in multi-unit dwellings are already challenging, so waiting until a full-blown infestation is present makes it even more difficult, time consuming and costly for proper pest control and pest management programs to take effect.

Cockroach Control in Apartments

When it comes to pest issues in apartments, cockroach issues are very common. They are brought in by mistake, very often in cardboard boxes that a person has taken from the grocery store or market to carry their items home in.  Once inside an apartment, they are found in kitchens (under the fridge or dishwasher, in and under the sink near pipes) and in bathrooms (inside tubs, sinks, around toilet and under the sink around the pipes. They can also be present where you have wet walls, so if there are any leaks or maintenance issues causing water leaks in other areas of your living space, cockroaches may be found there.

Getting rid of cockroaches in apartment or condos takes longer. They eat everything (even glue on cardboard), which means they have an endless food supply.  There are more areas where they can escape to and live in. Walls voids and pipes provide hidden highways for these pests to travel through. Learn more about how to get rid of cockroaches.

Tips for Apartment Pest Control

The licensed pest management professionals here at Environmental Pest Control have been successfully resolving apartment living pest control issues and condo pest control problems for over 30 years. We’ve identified 6 main tips that can help resolve and prevent pest control issues in these types of living structures:

1. Be proactive. Knowing that pest control issues are common and can quickly get out of control, keeping an eye out for pests in your unit (and building) can help you get ahead of an issue.
2. Report a pest issue as soon it’s known or is suspected. Since pest issues can rapidly turn into serious, large-scale infestations, the quicker you notify your landlord or property management company the quicker they can take action quicker. Take photos of the pests (dead or alive) you are seeing in your home, so that proper pest identification can be made, and the best treatment plan can be determined.
3. Always keep your unit in good repair. Depending on whether you live in an apartment rental or condo unit, this means reporting leaks broken bathroom fans, serious drain clogs, damage, holes, gaps, tears in screens, broken door sweeps, etc. to your landlord or property management company (and following up to ensure repairs are done) or taking care of these repairs timely on your own.
4. Don’t use cardboard boxes from grocery stores or markets. This is a very common way that pests like cockroaches get into apartments and condos (and homes and businesses too). Use reusable bags and bins as much as possible.
5. Make your home unfavorable to pests by cleaning & decluttering. When it comes to apartment pest control, there is no such thing as being ‘too clean’. In fact, the cleaner the unit, the better the end result. Keeping your unit and uncluttered serves many purposes. Pests have less places to hid or live, and no reliable food or water sources (so they move on in their pursuit for their livelihood). With less clutter, it’s easier to monitor and see unwanted pests and enables a pest control technician better access to those areas so that thorough treatment can be done.  
6. Follow the advice of a Pest Management Professional. Their job is to help you resolve a pest issue and they will have advice and guidance for you. When you follow it, and work with this expert, the more successful you will be in managing, controlling, and eliminating common nuisance and serious pest control issues.

If you have a pest issue in your unit or at your building, review your rental agreement and speak with your landlord, property management company or condo management company to confirm who is responsible for pest control. As we have shared above, resolving a pest control issue in a multi-unit dwelling is very challenging and in our 30+ years of experience, when pest issues are found in a single unit they are often issues in other units as well. If those units are also not treated, the issue will persist.