Bedbug Control Plumstead

What Makes the Back Room Different

A small room usually means a bed pushed hard against a wall, often the party wall with next door. The headboard, the skirting behind it and the gap where the wall meets the floor become the main hiding places, and they are the hardest part of the room to see without moving the bed.

Back rooms also collect storage. Suitcases on top of the wardrobe, boxes under the bed and bags of clothes that do not fit anywhere else all give bedbugs more to hide in. And because the rear addition carries the pipes for the kitchen and bathroom, there are often boxed-in pipe runs with gaps around them.

Where to Look in a Small Room

If you are in a Plumstead terrace and suspect the back room, this is the order to check it in, with a torch and the bed pulled out only a few inches:

• Behind the headboard where it touches the wall, and in its screw holes
• The skirting along the wall the bed stands against
• The corners of the mattress nearest the wall
• Around boxed-in pipework and where pipes pass through the floor
• The seams of anything stored under the bed, including bags and cases
• The edges of the carpet under the window and behind the door

Our guide to the early signs of bedbugs shows what the spotting and shed skins look like. If you are not sure what you are seeing, an inspection from £120 settles it.

Heat or Chemical in a Small Room

A single small bedroom with the problem caught early is the kind of job chemical treatment was made for. The insecticide goes into the seams, the frame and the skirtings, you are back in once it is dry, and the follow-up visit about 10–14 days later deals with the eggs that have hatched since. It costs less than heat.

Heat suits a small room well too, because it comes up to temperature more quickly than a big one, though a room packed with storage slows it down. It usually needs just the one visit and reaches the eggs as well. Because the back room shares a wall with next door, a light residual along the edges after heat is worth considering.

Before We Come

Clear the storage. Anything that can be washed goes on a hot wash and into sealed bags; the guide to pillows, duvets and toppers explains what can and cannot go in the machine. Books and bags stored in the room need looking at too, and the books, bags and backpacks guide covers them. Leave the bed and wardrobe where they are, even though the room is tight; we would rather move them ourselves on the day than have them dragged across the landing.

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