Covering Steam Heat Radiator Vents...
Hi. My husband and I are moving into a new Co-op. We had a bad experience with Water Bugs before and do not want them again! The steam heat radiators shown above (sorry it’s not a close up) scare the us a lot! We saw a dead water bug in one upon move-in and we…
Hi.
My husband and I are moving into a new Co-op. We had a bad experience with Water Bugs before and do not want them again!
The steam heat radiators shown above (sorry it’s not a close up) scare the us a lot! We saw a dead water bug in one upon move-in and we just want to keep our place as bug free as possible!
Any suggestions on how to bug proof those old vents?
Thanks for any ideas/info.
Best,
K
1 word…Boric Acid…you can get it at any home improvement store and it is safe for kids and animals….put it along the baseboards and the doorways and even the windowsills…within a week your bugs will be gone. GUARANTEED. In fact the exterminator for my building told me that if everyone knew this one simple thing, no one would need an exterminator. Itried it for the 1st time 6 years ago and went from having at least 5 huge bugs a week in my house to maybe 1 every 6 months or so….try it.
ahm sorry for sounding stupid but what the heck are waterbugs?
To address the above questions:
We called the exterminators I had recommended to come into the new place. They will plug things up, etc. Maybe they’ll have suggestions for the holes as well.
I guess I didn’t make it clear that I was just hoping for a solution to the holes the radiator covers. The covers are completely sealed to the wall and painted over about 100 times, so we feel like taking them off may not be an option.
As far as a correlation between radiators and water bugs – in the past, when we had water bugs, they came through holes where the heating pipes existed and made their way into our radiator. Hence the fear of these heaters.
Thanks for the input.
OP–Why this post, when you recommended a “fantastic” company twice on the “Hoping for good exterminator recommendation” thread?
Take off the cover. Plug holes with steel wool. sprinkle some boric acid around the floor. put a combat roach motel under the radiator. Replace the cover and ignore it.
Are you talking about the unit under the window? You cant really cover them up or you will interfere with the heating. Don’t see any correlation between radiators and water bugs anyway. Why not just use those roach things? You might check where the pipes go into the floor and see if you can plug any cracks to prevent bugs coming in. Not sure what you can use to plug it.
Just wanted to make it clear that our ‘bad experience with water bugs’ was in our old apartment, not the new.