Roaches can cause lingering odors long after they have been removed and controlled in homes, restaurants and other structures. Their feces are easily set airborne and their body parts disintegrate into dust which many people find to be irritating when breathed. Since you've done a lot of cleaning in this house already, it's apparent the lingering odor is living in the floor, the walls or the attic space. I'm inclined to initially believe the major part of the problem will be where the roaches were most concentrated when they were active. However, without seeing the initial infestation or the current condition of the house, it's not possible for me to offer direct advice from first hand knowlege. But here is a "process" which should, through the step by step elimination resulting after each step, and in the end help you solve the problem.

If you read our ODOR CONTROL ARTICLE, you'll learn we have a product called NNZ which we recommend for some harsh odors. That's because this product has proven itself highly effective in many kinds of conditions. I say start with this product.

Where to treat will involve the process of elimination. For starters, I suggest wiping down an NNZ diluted formulation over the areas where you know or suspect the roaches were congregating or mostly focused. This would no doubt be the prime location of the odor. As explained in our article, certain odors are "alive" and the act of painting or cleaning won't eliminate the odor. True it can help to reduce it and or keep it from getting worse. But once it becomes living and then after it locks onto something like wood or concrete, a true odor neutralizer is needed to completely render it gone and deceased.

If after a week you find this didn't help much, proceed by treating the floor. Obviously this could be tough if the floor is covered with tile or hardwood. But carpeting and other furniture can be lightly misted with the NNZ formulation and tile or hardwoods can be wiped down with the same formulation.

Again, if this doesn't solve the problem, consider wiping down the walls and ceiling paying particular attention to hot spots like crown molding or certain pieces of furniture.

Lastly, wall voids and/or attic spaces can be either foamed or misted as explained in our article. Though many people believe these areas are where all roaches want to live, in fact, it's far away from where they much rather be residing. Remember, roaches eat what people eat so to be happy, they want to be as close to us as possible. Attics and wall spaces wouldn't provide such close proximity and is probably why it's rare such places ever need to be treated.

If done right, you should be able to identify which of your treatments works within a day of when you treat and when you achieve success, you can then further address that treatment area again to knock out any odors you still detect a week later. If you are able to directly treat the odor living molecules with the NNZ, you'll no doubt eliminate the source of the problem.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Odor Control Article:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page200.html

NNZ:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page884.html

I am unwilling to keep treating my kitchen, unless there is a comprehensive attack to the problem.
If you were the managment company, what would you recommend?
Your information and product line is very helpful. I will be buying some product as soon as I sort out the managment company's response.
I look forward to your reply. Thank-you.

Having been in pest control for over 30 years, I can state with confidence that it is quite rare to hear or see any management company willing to treat in excess or more than what might be needed. Though I've seen it happen, in 99% of the cases where there are legitimate roach infestation problems, the infestations are related to management not doing enough. Based on "frequency" you cited above (…third roach treatment since May), it sounds like they are close to the mark on where they should be based on the quantity of roaches being reported by you.

If it is true that during these past three months you've only seen two roaches, I would have to say that these citings would be expected based on the length of time involved, the size of the units involved (more than one floor) and the fact that treatments are being done in the first place. In most any home here in the South, when it 's warm outside during the summer months seeing roaches is about as easy as going out at night with a flashlight. Inevitably some of these make their way inside. To see 3-5 a month could happen without any infestation being present in or on the building so for you to be seeing 1-2 in a few months isn't anything I'd worry about. That being said, there could be more information you didn't provide which may lead me to believe something different.

The bottom line is that if you want to get rid of the roaches in your unit, having it treated on a regular basis will be key. Furthermore, the hot spots or key areas must be treated during these regular sessions. Clearly the kitchens are such areas but other areas should not be ignored. If your management company is willing to treat the kitchen with something that's mild like MAXFORCE GEL or the ADVION GEL, I would gladly accept these treatments and be happy. Even if you aren't seeing any roaches in the kitchen. Now if they are asking that you empty all your cupboards so they can spray the area from top to bottom and you aren't seeing one bug in the area? I would say this would be overkill and not needed.

In summary I don't have enough information to make a good assessment of your problem or how it should be treated. It does sound like your management company is making an effort and I must confess that in this day and age, this is impressive and rare. Management companies are notorious for ignoring such problems so I think it could be much worse for you. That being said, at this time I would continue to accept the treatments they are offering and then consider supplementing their effort with some ROACH BAIT and ROACH TRAPS just to be sure enough is being done. If you start catching roaches in other areas of your unit using our roach traps, it would be quite easy for you to make a case as to where treatments should then be made. Clearly a single roach sighting isn't cause for alarm but if you can show an area has a concentrated population present, our traps will accomplish this goal. But for now, just seeing one randomly foraging isn't reason to be concerned.

Roaches can live outside and there are many species which do fine existing on structures around lights, decks, overhangs, rooftops, etc. From there they can forage inside if given the chance. The best thing to do is treat the outside with some ORTHENE WP as explained in our LARGE ROACH CONTROL article. Surface treat all areas where you've seen them. If the area is close to the ground, apply some MAXFORCE GRANULES to this area as well. Roaches love this stuff and will quickly find it, eat some and die.

If they are appearing inside, it would be best to set out some ROACH GEL where you've seen any activity. This bait uses a strong attractant roaches seem to love and it should be found by them, fed upon and in turn kill them with little effort on your part. For the most part, you shouldn't have to spray inside so the Gel should be enough to get control of the problem.

There are many types of bait available these days for roaches. Baiting is both easy and effective. The key is making placements where the roaches are active so they'll quickly find it and start to feed. Fortunately the latest formulations do a good job of combining active ingredients with attractants that most any roach cannot resist.

The best bait's we've seen work are the MAXFORCE GEL and the PT-300 AVERT GEL listed in our ROACH CONTROL ARTICLE. These two products combined will many times wipe out a roach population in as little as a week. Remember to make placements as explained in our article and I'm sure you'll get the kind of results you want.

Here are direct links to the products mentioned above:

http://www.germanroaches.com/german/best-roach-killer-bait.html

http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page222.html

http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control

jonathan

www.bugspray.com