Where to Start in a Mews House
Start upstairs. Strip the beds, look along the mattress piping and the corners of the base, and check the headboard where it meets the wall. In a small mews bedroom, look at the skirting and at any fitted wardrobe that shares a wall with the bed.
The ground floor is a second question. A garage used purely for a car is unlikely to be involved. A workroom with a daybed, a sofa where someone naps, or a corner where spare bedding and old mattresses are kept is a different matter, and it is worth looking there before anyone books treatment.
The Stairs as a Route
In a narrow house almost everything that moves between floors goes up and down one staircase. Laundry baskets, bags of bedding, suitcases after a trip and furniture being rearranged all travel that way. Each trip is a chance to drop a few bedbugs on a lower floor.
- Bag bedding in the bedroom and carry it straight to the machine.
- Do not move a spare mattress or bed down to the garage to get it out of the way.
- Keep suitcases and bags out of the workroom until the bedrooms are treated.
- If there is a sofa or daybed downstairs, check its seams and the underside of the cushions.
Heat or Chemical in a House This Shape
Bedrooms in a mews are often compact, which suits heat well: the room comes up quickly and evenly, the thermal camera picks out cold spots, and it is usually finished in one visit. The things that must not be heated come out first, and a garage below can be a convenient place to put aerosols, candles and similar items for the day, as long as nothing soft from the bedroom goes with them.
If the workroom holds tools, paints or equipment you cannot move easily, and the signs are confined to the bedrooms, chemical treatment upstairs may be simpler. It needs clear floors and washed bedding, and usually two or three visits. Heat costs more than chemical; which is better depends on how many rooms show signs.
Checking the Ground Floor Afterwards
Once the bedrooms are done, keep an eye on the ground floor for a few weeks, particularly anything upholstered. If spotting appears downstairs, ring us rather than moving the furniture around. For why bedbugs sometimes turn up in odd rooms after a treatment, see whether bedbugs live in kitchens or bathrooms.
When you call about a mews in Chelsea, tell us what the ground floor is used for and whether anyone sleeps or sits down there. The Kensington and Chelsea borough page covers protecting furnishings and belongings more broadly.
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Bedbug Control Chelsea — Questions
Do you need to treat the garage as well?
Usually not, unless it holds bedding, a mattress or upholstered furniture that shows signs. We look before deciding.
Can I store heat-sensitive things in the garage during heat treatment?
Yes, for hard items such as aerosols and candles. Do not move bedding, clothes or soft furnishings from the treated room down there.
The workroom has a sofa bed. Should I check it?
Yes. Open it out and look along the mattress seams and the frame joints. A sofa bed that anyone has slept on is a likely hiding place.
Is a top-floor bedroom harder to treat?
No. Compact bedrooms are often easier to heat evenly. Access for the equipment matters more, so mention a narrow staircase when you ring.
How much does a mews house in Chelsea cost to treat?
Treatments start from £220. The price depends on the rooms and the method, and we give it on the phone before booking.
Elsewhere in Kensington and Chelsea
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for Chelsea
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for Chelsea.
The Places That Get Missed
Beyond the bed and the two-metre radius: the harbourages that survive a mediocre inspection.
Read more →
Bedbugs in the Kitchen or Bathroom?
Why they are seldom found by the sink or the bath, when they are, and what that sighting tells you.
Read more →
How Heat Treatment Works, and Does It Kill Eggs?
What heat actually does to a bedbug, and why an egg has no defence against it.
Read more →
Are Bedbugs Worse in Summer?
Warmth, holiday luggage and visitors, why winter does not fix it, and when people tend to notice.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in Kensington and Chelsea
Every service has its own page for Kensington and Chelsea: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering Chelsea
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us which floors have bedrooms and what the ground floor is used for, and we will say what the job involves.