Bedbug Control Clerkenwell

Why the Old Bed Is Not the Whole Problem

By the time bites are noticed, bedbugs have usually spread beyond the mattress into the frame, the headboard, the skirting and bedside furniture. Take away the bed and they stay behind in all of those. The new bed arrives into a room that is still occupied.

Replacing a bed can be the right call, if it is broken, badly stained or a flimsy frame with a lot of joints. But the decision belongs after treatment, not before, and the room itself has to be dealt with either way.

Hold On to the Old Bed Until We Have Been

Please do not throw the old bed out before treatment unless we have advised it. Carrying an infested mattress through a flat, down a communal stair and past the neighbours' doors is one of the most reliable ways to spread bedbugs through a building. It also removes the thing they were feeding from, which sends them looking elsewhere in the room.

If we do agree it should go, wrap it completely in heavy plastic, taped shut, before it moves, and mark it clearly so nobody takes it home from the street. Check with the council about collection.

When the New Bed Can Come In

1. After heat treatment: once the room has cooled on the day of the visit. Heat kills eggs as well as adults, so the room is ready for the new bed straight after.
2. After chemical treatment: ideally after the follow-up visit. The residual stays in the room and works on newly hatched bugs, but a brand-new bed with fresh seams is best brought in once the second visit is done.
3. If delivery cannot wait: keep the new bed wrapped in its packaging in a room away from the bedroom, and do not assemble it until we have said so.
4. When it arrives: ask the delivery crew to take away packaging only. If they also collect the old bed, it must be wrapped first.

A zipped mattress encasement on the new mattress makes future checks easier. It is not a treatment, but it closes off the seams.

Choosing the Treatment Around a Delivery

Heat is usually one visit and costs more; it is the neater fit when a delivery date is already fixed. Chemical is usually two, sometimes three, visits about 10–14 days apart, so the delivery goes after the follow-up. Treatments start from £220 and depend on the number of rooms. If you are not certain the old bed has bedbugs at all, an inspection from £120 costs far less than a mattress. Choosing a bed that is easy to check helps too; our guide to bunk beds and cabin beds covers frames with lots of joints and storage, and the Islington page covers clearing a small flat for treatment.

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