Bedbug Control Bromley

One Room Means Everything Is in the Treated Area

In a house, the bedroom gets treated and the rest of life carries on downstairs. In a studio the bed sits a few feet from the sofa, the clothes rail and the kitchenette, so the whole flat is the treatment area. That is not a problem in itself, but it does mean more of your belongings need handling beforehand.

The bed is still where they concentrate. A sofa you sit on every evening, or a sofa bed you sleep on, comes next. Clothes on an open rail are easier for them to reach than clothes in a closed drawer.

Heat or Chemical in a Studio

Both work in a small flat. The question is really about the week around the treatment rather than the day itself.

• Chemical is one to two hours a visit and you are back in once the surfaces have dried. It needs a second visit, and sometimes a third, about 10–14 days apart, because the product does not reliably kill eggs. It is the lower cost of the two.
• Heat raises the whole flat to a temperature bedbugs cannot survive and holds it, eggs included, usually in one visit. You are out for most of a day. Anything heat would spoil comes out first, and in a studio that list covers the kitchen shelf too: aerosols, candles, medication, plants and some electronics.

In a converted building or a block, heat leaves nothing behind, so a light residual is often put along the edges afterwards in case anything wanders back in from next door. The full comparison of the two sets out the rest.

Getting a Studio Ready

1. Strip the bed and hot-wash the bedding and anything you have worn in bed. Bag it sealed until the treatment is done.
2. Clear the floor. Shoes, bags and boxes under the bed are the things that make a small room hard to treat properly.
3. Leave the bed, the sofa and the furniture where they are. We need to get behind them, not have them dragged across the room.
4. For heat, put the items on our list somewhere outside the flat for the day. A car boot or a friend's hallway is fine.

Keep sleeping in your own bed. Moving onto a friend's sofa for a fortnight usually just gives them a second home. The heat preparation guide covers the detail.

Renting: Tell the Landlord in Writing

If you rent, report it to the landlord or the letting agent by email or letter, with the date you first noticed. Who arranges and pays for treatment depends on the tenancy and on where the bedbugs came from, and we are pest controllers, not legal advisers. What we can do is give either of you a clear account of what we found and what we did.

If the flat is one of several in a building, it is worth the landlord knowing early, because a problem in one flat is easier to deal with than one that has reached the landing. Landlords with several lets may find the commercial page more useful.

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