Records storage facilities, archives, and registries offer paperfish nearly ideal conditions: many undisturbed hiding places, cardboard boxes, paper, adhesives, and documents often stored for years. As a result, an infestation often goes unnoticed for a long time.
For companies, public authorities, law firms, property management companies, insurers, and other organizations with extensive paper archives, this can become a problem. Unlike silverfish, paperfish also live in relatively dry rooms and can spread widely throughout a building.
Anyone who discovers paperfish in a records storage facility should therefore not simply remove individual insects. What matters is a systematic approach consisting of monitoring, Infestation monitoring and targeted control.
Why paperfish are particularly problematic in records storage facilities
Paperfish (Ctenolepisma longicaudata) are material pests. Among other things, they feed on starch- and cellulose-based materials and therefore find numerous potential food sources in archives and records storage facilities.
These include, for example:
- Paper and cardboard
- File folders and archive boxes
- Book bindings
- Labels
- Wallpaper and wallpaper paste
- Adhesives and glues
- Other starch-based materials
Paperfish are particularly problematic because they are nocturnal. During the day, they retreat into narrow gaps, behind skirting boards, under shelves, or into other hard-to-reach areas.
Individual insects are therefore often discovered only by chance. By this point, a larger population may already be present in the records room or adjacent areas of the building.
How can you identify an infestation in a records storage facility?
An infestation often begins with isolated sightings. For example, it is typical for a paperfish to quickly disappear into a crevice when a cardboard box is moved, a cabinet is opened, or someone enters a records room.
Other possible signs include:
- Repeated sightings of live insects
- Insects in different areas of the archive
- Catches in monitoring traps
- Small feeding marks on paper or cardboard
- Shed skins
- Sightings in adjacent offices, hallways, or storage rooms as well
Especially in larger records storage facilities, however, a single visual inspection is not sufficient.
Monitoring provides an overview
Glue traps can help determine where paperfish occur and how the infestation is distributed spatially.
For this purpose, traps are placed, for example, along walls, near shelves, in corners, and along suspected routes. The catches should be checked and documented regularly.
This makes it possible to identify hotspots and track changes in the infestation over the course of control measures.
This approach is particularly useful for businesses: Instead of reacting only to random sightings, it creates a controllable pest monitoring process.
Why spray is often not enough
A paperfish crawling across the floor can be eliminated quickly. However, this does not automatically mean that the infestation has been eliminated.
Most of a population remains hidden—for example:
- behind baseboards
- in wall and floor joints
- under built-in cabinets
- behind shelving
- at pipe and cable penetrations
- in cavities
- between adjacent building areas
A successful strategy must therefore take hidden insects into account and be monitored over an extended period.
Spray products can be used selectively or to secure specific transition areas. However, the central component of systematic paperfish control is a targeted bait treatment combined with monitoring and follow-up inspection.
Systematically control paperfish in document storage areas
For light to moderate infestations, the Kaeferling Pro Paperfish Set a coordinated complete solution for control and monitoring.
The set combines several measures instead of relying exclusively on a single product.
Included:
- Advion cockroach gel as gel bait
- David bait stations for protected and clean bait placement
- Esca-Bar bait stations for discreet application along typical routes
- Deltasect Spray for creating a barrier
- Catchmaster 288i glue traps for monitoring and checking effectiveness
This combination is particularly useful in document storage areas because baiting and monitoring can be targeted at routes and hiding areas without having to treat the documents or archival materials themselves.
Step 1: Identify infested areas using monitoring traps
Before carrying out large-scale measures, you should first determine where activity is concentrated.
The Catchmaster glue traps included in the set are suitable for monitoring before, during, and after treatment.
Suitable monitoring points include, for example:
- along baseboards
- behind shelving
- under cabinets
- in room corners
- near doors
- at transitions to adjacent rooms
- in areas with frequent sightings
The traps should be numbered or otherwise clearly assigned. Especially in larger commercial properties, it is advisable to regularly document the number of insects caught.
This makes it possible to identify where infestation pressure is greatest and whether the measures taken are working.
Step 2: Apply bait strategically along the routes they use
The gel bait is a central component of the control program.
Paperfish primarily move along sheltered structures such as walls, baseboards, furniture edges, and joints. This is exactly where the baiting strategy should begin.
The included empty bait stations and Esca-Bar bait strips allow the gel to be placed in a controlled and discreet manner.
This offers particular advantages in commercially used rooms:
- The bait can be positioned precisely.
- Open gel application can be avoided in many areas.
- Bait placements are better protected from dust and dirt.
- The positions can be checked more easily during subsequent inspections.
Suitable bait placements can also be set up behind shelving or on the backs of furniture, provided this is possible in accordance with the applicable instructions for use.
Step 3: Consider transitions and pathways of spread
Paperfish do not necessarily remain in a single file room.
They can spread into adjacent areas through joints, door areas, utility penetrations, and other building structures.
Therefore, whenever an infestation has been confirmed, the following should always be checked:
Are paperfish present only in the file storage room—or already in adjacent rooms?
Especially in larger office or administrative buildings, monitoring should therefore not end exactly at the door of the affected room.
Corridors, adjacent offices, storage rooms, and other potential areas of spread can also be included in the inspection.
The Deltasect Spray included in the Kaeferling Pro Paperfish Set can, in accordance with the product information, be used for the targeted treatment of certain transition and barrier areas, among other applications.
Step 4: Reduce hiding places and structural vulnerabilities
Treatment is more effective when the conditions in the room are improved at the same time.
This includes, for example:
- remove unnecessary cardboard packaging
- store files and archive materials in an orderly manner wherever possible
- keep areas behind and beneath shelving accessible
- check cracks and joints
- check pipe and cable penetrations
- take damaged skirting boards and open connections into account
- check newly brought-in cardboard boxes and materials
Paperfish can enter buildings, for example, with packaging materials or cardboard boxes. Particularly in businesses that regularly receive goods or materials, it is therefore important to consider not only the current infestation but also possible reintroduction.
Step 5: Continue monitoring after treatment
A common mistake is to stop the measures after the first few days without sightings.
Patience is required when dealing with paperfish. Hidden individuals may still be present, and populations may only decline gradually.
Therefore, monitoring should also after the actual treatment continued.
Declining catch numbers indicate that infestation pressure is decreasing. If individual areas remain conspicuous, additional targeted measures can be carried out there.
Kaeferling Pro Paperfish Set for records storage, archives, and offices
The Kaeferling Pro Paperfish Set was put together as a complete solution for treating and controlling paperfish and silverfish and is explicitly also suitable for offices, archives, libraries, and storage areas.
The set is designed for a treatment area of approximately 50 m² designed. Depending on the infestation level and the amount of gel used, several treatment steps are possible.
The combination offers a particular advantage for businesses: monitoring, bait treatment, protected bait placement, and supplementary barrier treatment can be carried out using coordinated components.
The set at a glance
| Component | Task |
|---|---|
| Advion cockroach gel | Targeted bait treatment |
| David bait stations | Protected and clean gel placement |
| Esca-Bar bait stations | Discrete bait placements along travel routes |
| Deltasect Spray | Targeted treatment and barrier formation |
| Catchmaster 288i glue traps | Monitoring, hotspot identification, and success checks |
When should a professional pest controller be called in?
DIY treatment is particularly suitable when the infestation is spatially limited and controllable.
Professional assistance should be considered when:
- very high numbers are caught,
- numerous rooms are affected,
- the infestation extends across multiple floors,
- particularly valuable or irreplaceable collections are at risk,
- no clear reduction is noticeable despite repeated treatments, or
- structural conditions make systematic treatment more difficult.
For archives containing historically or economically particularly valuable documents, it should also be assessed whether conservation requirements need to be taken into account.
In Cologne and the surrounding area, Kaeferling Service can support you with this. We also offer professional pest control as a fixed-price service—transparent, predictable, and specialized in commercial properties and sensitive areas such as records storage and archives.
Manage paperfish professionally yourself? Fachkunde PRO online training
For businesses, property management companies, facility managers, archives, libraries, and other organizations that want to regularly inspect for paperfish themselves or coordinate measures, a suitable product alone is not always enough.
It is crucial to understand, how an infestation is properly assessed, documented, treated, and subsequently monitored.
This is exactly where the PRO Expertise: Paperfish – Online Training with Certificate at Kaeferling Academy.
The training provides practical expertise on paperfish and covers, among other things:
- the reliable distinction between paperfish, silverfish, and similar species
- biology and behavior of the animals
- systematic infestation assessment and inspection
- creation of a monitoring station plan
- monitoring and trend analysis
- selection of suitable control methods
- professional use of suitable products
- prevention and follow-up
- traceable documentation
- industry-specific requirements
The online course comprises 10 chapters with around 91 minutes of video material, supplementary PDF scripts, knowledge checks, as well as checklists and templates. The training can be completed entirely online and at the learner’s own pace.
After successfully passing the final examination with at least 75 % participants receive a Certificate of participation and achievement from Kaeferling Academy.
This makes the training particularly suitable for employees responsible within the company for pest monitoring, facility management, hygiene, quality management, or protecting sensitive inventories.
→ View PRO Expertise: Paperfish – Online Training with Certificate
Conclusion: Take early and systematic action against paperfish in records storage facilities
Paperfish in records storage facilities are more than just a visual nuisance. Wherever large quantities of paper, cardboard, records, and other cellulose- or starch-containing materials are stored permanently, they may find suitable living conditions.
Companies should therefore take action as soon as the first sightings occur.
A structured approach consists of:
- Determine the species
- Record infestation through monitoring
- Identify hotspots and travel routes
- Deploy bait strategically
- Consider routes of spread
- Document infestation development
- Continue monitoring over the long term
The Kaeferling Pro Paperfish Set combines the relevant components in one solution and is also designed for commercially used records storage facilities, archives, offices, and storage areas.
→ Discover the Kaeferling Pro Paperfish Set now
Use biocidal products with care. Always read the label and product information before use.
