Bedbug Heat Treatment Ealing

Drawing the Line Round the Right Rooms

In a period house the bedrooms are often spread over three levels, joined by one staircase that everybody uses. That makes the question on the phone less about how bad it is and more about where people sleep, who has moved beds recently, and which rooms hold things carried out of the affected bedroom. A sofa bed in a front room counts as a bedroom if somebody has slept on it.

We ask you to go through the house floor by floor before you ring. For each room, note who sleeps there, whether they have bites, and whether bedding, clothes or a mattress have been moved in or out lately. From that we can suggest a sensible set of rooms, and if the picture is unclear we may suggest a bedbug inspection in Ealing first so nobody pays to heat a room that does not need it.

What the heat does to bedbugs and their eggs, and how the room is monitored, is on the London heat treatment page for the full explanation. This page stays with the house.

Top Floors, Lofts and the Rooms Under Them

A loft conversion or a second-floor bedroom is where heat most often earns its price in an older house. Those rooms tend to have sloping ceilings, built-in cupboards under the eaves and a bed pushed against a low wall, which are fiddly places to treat by hand. Heat reaches into them without anyone having to empty every cupboard.

If the top room is the one with bites, we usually also want to know about the room directly underneath and the landing between them. If the top room is a nanny’s or au pair’s room, the Ealing Broadway page deals with that arrangement, including who tells whom.

Things About an Older House to Mention When You Ring

None of these stop heat from being used. They change how we plan the rooms, so tell us about them at the start rather than on the morning:

• Fireplaces and chimney breasts in bedrooms, whether open, blocked or fitted with a stove.
• Sash windows that rattle or do not close fully, and any secondary glazing.
• Floorboards with gaps, and bedrooms carpeted over old boards.
• Cupboards built into alcoves or under the eaves, and anything stored in them.
• A cellar or lower-ground room used as a bedroom or for storing bedding.
• A neighbour through the wall, since most houses of this age are terraced or semi-detached.

Anything the heat could damage comes out of the chosen rooms before we start, and we send you the list in advance. Old pieces you are worried about, such as a piano or a painting, are worth a photograph and a question beforehand. Clothes, books and the bed itself stay put.

Where the Household Goes for the Day

Heat takes most of a day, and the rooms being treated are closed from the start to the time they have cooled. In a tall house where the whole upper part is being done, it is usually simpler for everybody to be out of the building than to camp in the kitchen. We tell you on the phone which parts of your house need to be empty.

1. Decide who is going where, including any grandparent, lodger or live-in help, before you book.
2. Pack a day bag for each person the night before, from rooms that are not being treated if you can.
3. Take pets with you or arrange for them to be looked after; they cannot stay in treated rooms.
4. Leave a phone number that will be answered, so we can ring when the rooms are cooling.
5. Come back after that call, not before, and remake the beds with washed bedding that night.

If a child has a favourite toy that cannot be washed, do not take it out for the day unless we say so. Our guide to bedbugs in children’s soft toys explains what to do with it. Belongings already sealed in lidded boxes are covered in our guide to plastic storage boxes.

Heat or a Course of Visits

If the bites are in one bed, in one room, and nothing has moved, heating three floors would be more than the problem needs. The chemical treatment page for Ealing covers a course of shorter visits instead. Heat tends to make more sense when several rooms are involved, when somebody in the house has been moving between beds, or when you want it done in one go.

The Price for a House Like Yours

Treatments start from £220, and heat costs more than chemical. The price for a period house depends on how many rooms go into the treated set, so a single loft room and a whole upper floor are quoted differently. Ring 0800 955 1018 with your room-by-room list and you will have the figure on the phone before anything is booked. The borough page has more on handling treatment in a busy family home.

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