What Is Worth Checking and What Is Not
Bedbugs hide in cracks, seams and joints close to where people sleep or sit. A china plate, a garden tool or a boxed game is very unlikely to carry them. The things to think twice about are the ones that have spent time in a bedroom or living room:
- Bed frames, headboards and bedside tables, particularly with joints or screw holes
- Upholstered chairs, footstools and cushions
- Mattresses, duvets, pillows and folded bedding
- Suitcases, holdalls and fabric storage boxes
- Wooden chests and drawers that came out of a bedroom
Anything flat-packed and still sealed, or hard and smooth all over, can usually go straight into use after a wipe down.
Looking at the Stall
You will not get a full inspection done on a field on a Sunday morning, but you can get most of the way. Turn furniture over and look into the joints and the underside, where dark spotting shows up well against bare wood. Open the zip on any cushion or case and look along the inside seam. Pull out a drawer and look into the corners behind it.
If a piece shows dark spots in the joints, leave it. If you cannot see well enough to be sure, the price is rarely worth the doubt.
Getting It Home
The car is part of this. Soft items go into a sealed bag before they go into the boot, and the bag stays shut until the contents reach the washing machine.
- Keep it out of the bedrooms. Anything bought goes to the garage, shed or hall first, not straight upstairs.
- Wash what can be washed. Bedding, cushion covers and fabric go through a hot wash and a hot tumble dry.
- Look again in daylight. Check furniture properly at home with a torch before it goes into use.
- Vacuum the boot. Empty the vacuum outside straight afterwards.
For fabric wardrobes and clothes rails, which turn up at most car boot sales, our guide to bedbugs in fabric wardrobes and clothes rails explains where to look.
If Something Has Already Come Home
If you find signs after the piece is in the house, stop moving it. Every trip up the stairs is a chance for bedbugs to drop off. Leave it where it is, look at the nearest bed and sofa, and ring us. An inspection from £120 tells you whether it has spread before you decide anything.
If it has, the Havering page explains the choice between heat and chemical for a family house. For an Upminster semi where one bedroom is affected, treatments start from £220 and the exact figure is given on the phone.
Bedbug Control Upminster — Questions
Is second-hand furniture worth the risk?
Usually, yes. Most pieces are fine. The point is to check the ones that lived in a bedroom or living room, and to do it before they come indoors.
Can I leave a piece in the garage to starve them out?
Bedbugs can go a long time without feeding, so that is not a reliable plan. Check it properly, or ask us to look at it.
Will a hot wash deal with bedding and cushion covers?
A hot wash followed by a hot tumble dry is the standard advice for anything that can take it. Follow the care label.
What about books and records?
They are low risk unless they were stored beside a bed. Flick through them and look at the spines and box edges if you are unsure.
Is it worth asking the seller where a piece came from?
It does no harm, and a seller clearing a relative's spare room may be able to tell you how long it sat unused. Check it yourself anyway.
Elsewhere in Havering
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for Upminster
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for Upminster.
The Places That Get Missed
Beyond the bed and the two-metre radius: the harbourages that survive a mediocre inspection.
Read more →
Bedbugs, or Something Else?
A walkthrough you can do tonight with a torch, and what to do with what you find.
Read more →
Are Older Houses Worse?
Gaps, boards and cracks give them more cover, but new homes get them too.
Read more →
Can Bedbugs Survive a Heat Treatment?
Sometimes, yes. Here are the five ways it happens, and how each one is avoided.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in Havering
Every service has its own page for Havering: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering Upminster
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us what you bought and where it is now, and we will tell you whether it needs looking at.