Bedbug Control Osterley

Why Stored Things Matter

Bedbugs hide in folds, seams and corners, and a room of cardboard boxes and soft bags is almost all folds and corners. Cardboard flaps, taped seams and the gaps between stacked boxes are hard to reach with any spray. A spare room may also hold an old mattress, a folded sofa bed or a camp bed that visitors used, which is often how bedbugs got in.

If you are not sure whether the spare room is the source or just a place they have spread to, the London guide on where bedbugs hide that gets missed is a good place to start.

Sort It Where It Stands

The worst thing to do is carry the boxes to another bedroom, the landing or the loft. Every bag moved is a way for bedbugs to reach a new room. Work through the room where it is:

1. Take in a roll of strong clear bags and tape before you start.
2. Open one box at a time on the floor of the spare room, not on a bed.
3. Anything washable goes straight into a bag, sealed, for a hot wash and a full tumble dry.
4. Paper, books and ornaments you want to keep go back into a sealed bag and stay in the room.
5. Anything you were going to throw out anyway can be bagged, sealed and taken out, but ask us first about mattresses or furniture.

Moving boxes to the garden shed is not a cure either; our guide on whether bedbugs can live outside or in the garden explains why.

Which Treatment Suits a Storage Room

Heat treatment raises the whole room, sealed bags and all, to a temperature bedbugs cannot survive, and it kills eggs too, so things stored in the Osterley spare room do not all have to be unpacked. Anything heat-sensitive, such as candles, aerosols, medication, vinyl or some electronics, still has to come out. Chemical treatment costs less but works on surfaces, so a room still full of boxes limits what it can reach; it suits a spare room that has already been cleared.

When you ring, tell us roughly how much is in the room, whether there is a bed or sofa bed under it all, and whether anyone has slept in it recently. That lets us give a sensible figure and say how much sorting is worth doing before the day in Osterley.

Keeping It Clear Afterwards

Once the room is treated, it is worth keeping storage in lidded plastic crates rather than cardboard, off the floor and away from any bed. It makes the next check far quicker, and if bedbugs ever come in again with a bag or a visitor, you will see them sooner. For more on how bedbugs travel with belongings in Hounslow homes, see the borough page.

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