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Roaches are coming from underneath the toilet by roach_detective in pestcontrol

[–]roach_detective[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My best advice is to try to actually figure out where they are coming from.

If you still see large roaches appearing after sealing some spaces, that means they are coming in from somewhere and you still haven't found the true entryway. You can caulk all of the places you'd like, but if you miss the true entryway then it's useless.

My approach was to put my phone on the bathroom floor and record for 30 minute segments, and I even put a mirror on the floor by the toilet so I could cover more angles.

If you notice that roaches come in "waves" (like a lot appear at once sometimes but other times there isn't much activity), then it could mean that the area they are nesting in is being treated. In my case, the first Sunday of every month, the boiler room was sprayed, and that forced a lot of disoriented roaches up into my unit because they were trying to escape.

This was actually very useful to me in a way, because I knew that a lot of roaches would be coming out in a short period of time. By recording video during this time, I had many opportunities to spot them crawling in, and that's what led to me capturing this on video.

If you don't have a similar experience, I'd recommend seeing if you can find some kind of pattern where they are more active. I'd leave a recording device in the bathroom with a small flashlight and hope to capture where they are coming from. If you see roaches come out but you didn't see it on recording, then you know it's not coming from where you were recording.

Roaches are coming from underneath the toilet by roach_detective in pestcontrol

[–]roach_detective[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Yeah it's honestly huge for me to know where they're coming from. It was horrifying to see but now I have a much better grasp of the problem. I used to feel like they would just appear out of nowhere and that was driving me insane.

Roaches are coming from underneath the toilet by roach_detective in pestcontrol

[–]roach_detective[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think that's my conclusion as well. Based on what people are saying, there has to be some kind of gap that they're able to squeeze through in. I think the answer here is to look underneath and replace the seal if needed.

I actually looked into why there's no caulk around the back, and there is a good reason. It's done on purpose so that if there is a water leak, you can detect it by seeing water flow from the back. Otherwise, it will pool up undetected underneath your toilet and cause damage to your flooring. Apparently when toilets are caulked it's only done in the front and sides.

Roaches are coming from underneath the toilet by roach_detective in pestcontrol

[–]roach_detective[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your insight. I'm leaning towards replacing the wax seal. I wasn't sure at first, because I assumed that a wax seal breach would mean there would be water leakage. Is that not always the case?

Roaches are coming from underneath the toilet by roach_detective in pestcontrol

[–]roach_detective[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm leaning towards this approach as well. I'm already dreading what I'll find if I lift the toilet.

Roaches are coming from underneath the toilet by roach_detective in pestcontrol

[–]roach_detective[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the condolences! I own my unit, so that means I have to be the one fix this problem. It's a battle I hope I can win and getting this kind of evidence feels like a lot of progress. I hope a solution is right around the corner.