How Do You Get Rid of Bed Bugs in a Stanmore House?

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Step 1: Confirm It

Bites alone are not confirmation. Bites are the least reliable evidence there is — people react very differently, and some do not react at all.

• Live insects — flat, oval, reddish-brown, about apple-pip sized
• Dark spots on the mattress seam or bed frame — digested blood, the most reliable sign
• Small blood smears on the sheet
• Shed skins — pale, translucent, insect-shaped
• A sweetish musty smell in a heavier case
• Look in seams and joints — mattress piping, frame screw holes, headboard, behind the bed

Step 2: Do Not Move Rooms

The most important instruction on this page, and in a house with spare bedrooms the easiest one to ignore.

• Bed bugs follow carbon dioxide. Move and they follow you
• The spare room becomes the second infested room, at £120 more
• Sleeping on the sofa makes the living room a treatment room
• Carrying bedding through the house spreads them along the route
• Staying at a relative's risks taking them there
• Stay put. It is unpleasant and it is the right answer

Step 3: Prepare Properly

• Strip all bedding and wash at 60°C, then hot tumble dry
• Bag laundered items sealed until after treatment
• Clear the floor and everything under the bed
• Empty bedside tables and under-bed drawers
• Pull the bed away from the wall, access on all sides
• Vacuum mattress, base, frame, floor and skirtings, then empty into a sealed bag outside
• Do not move possessions to another room

Step 4: Treatment

Treatment covers every seam, joint, screw hole and harbourage in the room — the bed, frame, headboard, adjacent furniture, skirtings and floor edges. Adjacent rooms are inspected as part of the visit.

Step 5: Finish the Follow-Ups

• Eggs are not killed by the first treatment. They hatch afterwards, which is what the follow-up is for
• Bites can continue briefly after the first visit — expected, not failure
• Do not cancel the follow-up because things seem better
• Keep sleeping in the room unless told otherwise
• The programme typically runs two to four weeks

Check Every Bedroom, Including the Empty Ones

Specific to a larger house, and worth doing properly at the start rather than discovering later.

• Every bed in the house, whether or not anyone sleeps in it
• Mattress seams and frame joints in each
• A guest room used months ago can still be the source
• Under-bed storage in every room
• A sofa bed, which is both a sofa and a bed and gets checked as neither
• An annexe, loft room or converted garage with a bed in it

What Does Not Work

• Supermarket sprays. They kill what they hit and nothing in a screw hole
• Bug bombs and foggers. Worse than useless — they scatter bed bugs into adjacent rooms
• Throwing out the bed. Expensive, and they are usually in the skirting too
• Moving rooms. Covered above, deliberately
• Ultrasonic devices. No credible evidence
• Freezing a room or turning the heating up. Domestic equipment does not reach the temperatures required
• Closing off a room and waiting. An adult survives months without feeding

Guests and Travel

• Do not have guests to stay until it is resolved
• Tell anyone who has recently stayed — awkward, and it prevents a worse conversation
• Check luggage after travelling, and do not put a case on the bed
• Inspect a guest room after each stay, when you change the bedding
• A luggage rack away from the bed is a genuinely useful thing to have in a guest room

Read nextBed Bugs in Multiple Bedrooms in Stanmore – How Does That Happen? →

Afterwards

• Keep the bed away from the wall for a while
• Consider a mattress encasement — it makes future inspection much easier
• Check luggage after travelling
• Inspect second-hand furniture before it comes in
• Check spare-room mattress seams when you change the bedding

Related Questions

Do bed bugs mean my house is dirty?

No. They are carried in and are entirely indifferent to how clean a house is.

Can they come from next door?

In a detached or semi it is very unlikely. Almost all cases are carried in.

Will they go away on their own?

No. An adult can survive months without feeding.