Second-Hand Furniture and Bedbugs: What to Check: Bromley

Bedbugs do not live in furniture for the sake of it. They live near where people sleep or sit, and hide in the nearest tight gap. So the risk depends on what the piece is and where it came from. A bed frame or headboard from a bedroom carries more risk than a bookcase from a hallway.

Which Pieces Carry the Most Risk

• Bed frames and headboards — joints, screw holes, slats and the back of an upholstered headboard.
• Mattresses and divan bases — seams, piping, handles, and the fabric underneath the base.
• Sofas and armchairs — seams, the gap under the cushions, the hessian underneath, and sofa beds in particular.
• Bedside tables and chests of drawers — drawer runners, corners and the back panel.
• Lower risk — solid, smooth items that never lived in a bedroom, such as metal garden chairs or a glass-topped table.

Where the Piece Came From

Charity shops vary. Some check donations, some do not have the space to. Ask what happens to furniture when it comes in, and check it yourself anyway.

Auctions often sell whole rooms from one property. You usually cannot handle a lot closely before bidding, so plan to check it at collection before it goes in the car or van.

Online marketplaces let you see the piece in the seller’s home. Ask where it has been kept, look at it in daylight, and do not be embarrassed to take a torch and look underneath.

House clearances are where most caution is needed, because the contents of a whole home move at once and nobody may know how the last occupant lived.

How to Check It

1. Look in daylight or with a bright torch, and bring a thin card or old bank card to run along seams and into joints.
2. Turn the piece over or on its side. Most people check the top and miss the underside.
3. Run the card along every seam and joint and look for small dark spots, pale empty skins, tiny white eggs and live bugs the size of an apple pip.
4. Take drawers right out and look at the runners and inside corners.
5. On upholstery, lift the cushions and look into the gap behind them, then check the fabric stapled underneath.

Our guide to the hiding places that get missed shows more of these spots, and the early signs shows what the marks look like.

If You Find Something

If you find signs before it comes in, the simplest answer is to leave it. If you have already paid, keep it outside or in a garage, away from any bedroom, and ring us. Do not bring it indoors to ‘have a better look’.

If it is already inside, leave it where it is. Moving it room to room, or carrying it out through the house, spreads them. An inspection from £120 shows whether they have moved off the piece into the room. Treatment starts at £220, and heat will treat the furniture and the room together in one visit.

Soft Items That Come With It

Cushions, throws and curtains often come with a sofa or a house clearance lot. Anything that can go in the washing machine should be washed on the hottest setting the label allows and dried fully before it goes into the house. Items that cannot be washed should be bagged and kept out until they have been checked.

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