Roaches and how to solve the problem

I have been living in a Chicago Housing Association building for almost a year now. I watched them build it in 1967. I lived two blocks away. My apartment is 24 floors up and faces the north with a great view of lake Michigan.

What is not so great is that the building is infested with roaches. They climb up the inside of the cinder blocks and travel down into the units via a design flaw in the kitchen cabinets that created an eight square inch hole. The garbage shute is on the other side of my kitchen wall. They also enter via the two kitchen drains. What to do?

Doing extensive research I found a natural remedy in the form of bait. You mix one part sugar to one part baking soda to a small container in the kitchen under the stove. They are attracted to the sugar and the baking soda makes their stomachs expand. But they are trapped by their exoskeleton on the outside of their body. They explode. The "smell of death" causes others to leave at once. Like a scented car alarm that sends them running.

As the weeks go by and the eggs they lay hatch, two things happen. You start to see the largest, oldest roaches who are normally nocturnal. Then you see them in broad daylight.

The building had an annual inspection and I told them what I did. They told building management that I should lead a seminar. But I said this was a job for the building. Then the exterminator made his monthly visit. He was thrilled to hear the news. He also said that roaches can survive anything but a lack of water. So I keep the drains closed when not in use.

Roaches carry a variety of diseases and germs. Their excrement is no picnic either . I am very grateful to have solved this vexing problem without resorting to harsh chemicals.

I have been roach free for one month.