We got the keys to a new-to-us, bigger apartment in the same building on the hospital campus on Friday. Although we were psyched initially, we finished moving back into our old apartment today, on Monday.
Why?
In one word: roaches. In many words:
After picking up the keys during the day on Friday I wasn't able to actually spend more than 5 minutes in the new apartment until noon on Saturday secondary to my work/call schedule. Starting at noon on Saturday I slaved away for several hours moving in furniture and about half of our worldly possessions. This was no mean feat as I did it solo (except for the washing machine!), it was 80+ degrees, and the apartment is a split-level on the 2nd and 3rd floors, no elevator and a narrow stairwell, of course.
When things went south was when I moved our dishwasher into the kitchen. Then I discovered that there were roaches. A lot of them, in fact, and with a particular focus around the refrigerator. I pulled it out to reconnoiter and was aghast to find about a solid inch of fetid, rotting organic material positively teeming with roaches. I looked a bit further and found that the stove was also rich with rotting material, and the area behind the stove was nearly as disgusting. Exploring further yet revealed that a leaky sink had caused all manner of mold and rotten wood in the under-sink cabinets, and that the floor tiling under the fridge and stove was either missing or gone.
Lovely.
Then night fell, and that's when the roaches really came out. All over the walls. All over the ceiling. All over the cabinets and countertops. Absolutely disgusting, it was.
I went for the nuclear option, or the "nuke 'em from space" option, more precisely: a 1:30 AM run to the drug store yielded an armful of anti-roach room fumigators. Two rounds of fumigation, a lot of scraping of organic material from the floor, and several hours later yielded the below images, with dead roaches galore, a behind-fridge area still revolting despite being much, much cleaner than its initial presentation, and the most vile natural gas line hookup behind the stove that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.
Without further ado, the photos:
Those dots are mostly dead roaches following our two fumigation attempts. Don't worry, there were/are plenty of live ones, too.
Hole in wall underneath downstairs A/C unit suggests at structural problems that would cause or at least exacerbate pest problems.
All manner of fuzzy stuff dead and alive on the bottom vent of one of the upstairs A/C units.
Leaky sink leads to rotten, festering under-sink-cabinet wood.
The stove was gross. Here's the side.
A look at the top and left side burners of the filthy stove.
Right side of stove. Pilot light won't stay on. That black, caked on stuff is partly burnt-beyond-recognition food, partly roach carcasses.
The area behind/underneath the stove was apparently a favored place to dump all manner of trash. Note lack of floor tiling leading to more rot and infestation.
Incredibly foul and crusty gas line to the stove.
This is after cleaning up a veritable roach colony centered on this area. There was about 1" thick rotting organic material + roaches near the top-left corner initially. Note signs of rot + misplaced/loose tiles.
Foulness within freezer and refrigerator shouldn't even be surprising at this point.
All of our stuff moved out of the roach-infested apartment ready for sorting into bug spray-treatment + packing, laundry, or trash queues.
Why?
In one word: roaches. In many words:
After picking up the keys during the day on Friday I wasn't able to actually spend more than 5 minutes in the new apartment until noon on Saturday secondary to my work/call schedule. Starting at noon on Saturday I slaved away for several hours moving in furniture and about half of our worldly possessions. This was no mean feat as I did it solo (except for the washing machine!), it was 80+ degrees, and the apartment is a split-level on the 2nd and 3rd floors, no elevator and a narrow stairwell, of course.
When things went south was when I moved our dishwasher into the kitchen. Then I discovered that there were roaches. A lot of them, in fact, and with a particular focus around the refrigerator. I pulled it out to reconnoiter and was aghast to find about a solid inch of fetid, rotting organic material positively teeming with roaches. I looked a bit further and found that the stove was also rich with rotting material, and the area behind the stove was nearly as disgusting. Exploring further yet revealed that a leaky sink had caused all manner of mold and rotten wood in the under-sink cabinets, and that the floor tiling under the fridge and stove was either missing or gone.
Lovely.
Then night fell, and that's when the roaches really came out. All over the walls. All over the ceiling. All over the cabinets and countertops. Absolutely disgusting, it was.
I went for the nuclear option, or the "nuke 'em from space" option, more precisely: a 1:30 AM run to the drug store yielded an armful of anti-roach room fumigators. Two rounds of fumigation, a lot of scraping of organic material from the floor, and several hours later yielded the below images, with dead roaches galore, a behind-fridge area still revolting despite being much, much cleaner than its initial presentation, and the most vile natural gas line hookup behind the stove that I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.
Without further ado, the photos:
Those dots are mostly dead roaches following our two fumigation attempts. Don't worry, there were/are plenty of live ones, too.
Hole in wall underneath downstairs A/C unit suggests at structural problems that would cause or at least exacerbate pest problems.
All manner of fuzzy stuff dead and alive on the bottom vent of one of the upstairs A/C units.
Leaky sink leads to rotten, festering under-sink-cabinet wood.
The stove was gross. Here's the side.
A look at the top and left side burners of the filthy stove.
Right side of stove. Pilot light won't stay on. That black, caked on stuff is partly burnt-beyond-recognition food, partly roach carcasses.
The area behind/underneath the stove was apparently a favored place to dump all manner of trash. Note lack of floor tiling leading to more rot and infestation.
Incredibly foul and crusty gas line to the stove.
This is after cleaning up a veritable roach colony centered on this area. There was about 1" thick rotting organic material + roaches near the top-left corner initially. Note signs of rot + misplaced/loose tiles.
Foulness within freezer and refrigerator shouldn't even be surprising at this point.
All of our stuff moved out of the roach-infested apartment ready for sorting into bug spray-treatment + packing, laundry, or trash queues.
Well maybe not that bad but I was always amazed at how cluttered their offices were.
