Roaches in Laundry Room

Roaches can invade your home and spread disease to your family. Unfortunately, these nuisances are often in your laundry room. Since there’s no readily available food source in your laundry room, you may wonder, “Why are these pests in my laundry room, and what should I do?”

Why Are Roaches in My Laundry Room?

Like all the other living things on the planet, a roach requires water to thrive and live. As you may already know, a roach can live a month without food; therefore, these creatures don’t require a nearby food source. This means they can easily camp out in your laundry room and reside there for quite some time.

Presence of Water

With that being said, roaches need water to survive, and they can only live about a week without it. This makes your laundry room a prime location for these pests. If you think about it, this room is routinely damp. For instance, if you have your laundry room in your basement, the moisture from washing clothes and being downstairs, in general, could create a perfect space for roaches.

Darkness

Roaches are also attracted to dark places. Essentially, they’re nocturnal critters and are much more active at night than in the daytime. If you shine a light on a group of roaches, they tend to scatter. They react this way to light as a defense mechanism. It’s a fight-or-flight response for them because it could be the difference between life and death.

Since roaches would prefer to spend most of their time in a dark place, the conditions of most laundry rooms are appealing to them. That way, they can remain in the dark much of the day.

Low-Traffic Area

Laundry rooms aren’t typically high-traffic areas. You may only venture in there a few times per week. During the rest of the time, the roaches feel safe and secure because they don’t have any intruders that could harm them.

Are Roaches Attracted to Laundry?

You may find roaches in your laundry. This is especially the case if you leave damp laundry lying on the washer or in a basket. The moisture will appeal to them.

In addition, roaches will hide in the pockets of your clothing. You might find them in the lining or hoods. They sneak their way into anything that can keep them from being discovered. A large pile of clothes can make a haven for roaches because they’ll hide in between them. They can also provide warmth.

If the clothing remains in the laundry room and has food or sugary drinks on them, the roaches will use that as a food source. Besides actual food and drink, your clothes could have soap residue, which is also a possible food source for roaches.

While you may not notice that you have a scent, cockroaches will note it.

Will Washing Clothes Kill Cockroaches and Cockroach Eggs?

If you have cockroaches, you have roach eggs somewhere. They’re visible to the naked eye and typically between dark-brown and reddish-brown. Make sure you’re washing the clothing in the hottest setting possible. You can also use bleach on your clothing to destroy the eggs.

The adult roaches can’t live in temperatures over 125 degrees Fahrenheit. For this reason, you’d need to turn your washer on the hottest setting on your washer possible. Once completed, you should place them in the dryer on the highest setting possible. Dry them a minimum of 30 minutes to kill the roaches.

How Do I Get Rid of Roaches in My Laundry Room?

If you’re worried about making a mess or damaging anything in your laundry room when trying to kill roaches in the laundry room, try some of these natural ways of getting rid of roaches.

Try Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous Earth consists of fossilized algae. The particles of this mix are sharp and will dig into the exoskeleton of the roaches. As it cuts their exoskeletons, it’ll also dehydrate them.

Borax

Borax will kill roaches because it will dehydrate them. Mix it with sugar or peanut butter and apply it where you’ve seen roaches or found traces they’ve been there. The borax will dehydrate the cockroaches and kill them. Fortunately, this method works quickly.

Preventing Roaches

In addition to killing off a current infestation, you may also take precautions to prevent them. For instance, you can deter them by mixing two parts water with one part vinegar and adding between 10 and 15 drops of peppermint. You could also use citrus. They both are unappealing to roaches.

In addition to the strategies above, you should do your best to keep your laundry room as dry as possible and move wet laundry directly from the washer into the dryer. 

Unfortunately, roaches can end up in your laundry room searching for food, shelter, moisture, or a combination of all of them. But, you can treat an infestation by washing your clothes in hot water or setting up homemade traps. You may even prevent them by using certain scents.