BE VERY CAREFUL WITH BORIC ACID!!! I treated all of the open walls in my home before I closed them with the interior boards. My painter was using a spray gun, and some of the white powder got in his shoe. My house is all beaded board, and he removed the base boards to paint then and the walls separately. It started as a minor irritation, and then he thought it was a spider bite, and then he went to the emergency room. The doctor told him it was a chemical burn. He was out for 2 weeks. Fortunately no repercussions from the accident. When that stuff gets on your skin, and gets wet, then when you start to feel it, the damage is already done. Will do great for bugs. I have been in my house for 2 years, and never had a roach. It only works as long as it stays dry. That is why it is in the walls. You said you had small children. Mine are not that young, 8 & 11, and I would not use it in the open.