Yes, especially in apartments, townhomes, and other attached housing, through shared walls, plumbing chases, and common areas. It’s not contagious the way a cold is. It’s about physical access, not transmission.

Food, moisture, and hitchhiking in packaging or deliveries. It’s not necessarily a sign your home’s dirty.

Under and behind appliances, especially the fridge, inside wall and floor voids, behind baseboards, and in cabinets near food and water. Always somewhere dark, warm, and close to a meal.

Roaches don’t build one central nest the way ants do. They spread out into cracks and crevices near food, water, and warmth, which is exactly why where the treatment goes matters more than how much you use.

Droppings (they look like ground coffee or black pepper for smaller roaches), shed skins, egg cases, a musty smell, and sightings at night in the kitchen. Our blog has a full breakdown if you want the details.

Yes. An inspection covers every active pest on the property, so roaches and mice or rats can usually be treated in one visit instead of two separate appointments.

Store-bought spray kills what you can see. A professional visit pairs targeted spray with gel bait for the roaches hiding in cracks and crevices, which is really the difference between knocking them down and actually ending the problem.

It can, when it’s applied the right way. Store-bought spray kills on contact but doesn’t reach roaches inside wall voids or under appliances. We spray where they travel and use gel bait for the ones hiding, since bait gets carried back to where the rest are and works on the roaches you never see. The two together work better than either one alone.

German cockroaches, the most common species in Roanoke Valley homes, can build up resistance to some store-bought products in areas where they’ve been used a lot. That’s exactly why a professional inspection matters, so we know what’s actually going to work before committing to a plan.

Vinegar’s smell might deter a roach from a treated surface for a bit, but it doesn’t reach where they’re hiding or stop new ones from getting in. It’s a cleaning habit, not pest control.

Sealing gaps around shared plumbing and outlets, storing food in sealed containers, and keeping clutter away from baseboards all help. In attached housing though, roaches can come in from a neighboring unit no matter how clean your place is, and that’s where professional baiting earns its keep.

Gel bait gets placed in the cracks and crevices roaches actually travel through. They eat it, carry residue back to where the others are hiding, and it spreads through the group, reaching roaches a spray never touches.