Which Pieces Carry the Risk
Bedbugs live where people sleep and sit, so the pieces to be wary of are the ones that spent time next to a bed or a sofa: headboards, bed frames, bedside cabinets, upholstered chairs and anything with a fabric lining. A garden bench or a kitchen table is far less likely to bring them in.
Joints and cracks are what they need. Old dovetails, the back panel of a chest of drawers, loose veneer, staples in upholstery and the hollow inside a bed rail are all good hiding places. Those are exactly the parts upcyclers take apart.
A Check Before Anything Comes Indoors
- Look outside, in daylight, with a torch. Pull out every drawer and look into the runners, the corners and the underside.
- Look for spotting, shed skins and live bugs in joints and seams. Dark marks in a screw hole are worth a second look.
- Leave anything upholstered you cannot check fully. Deep seat cushions and sprung chairs are the hardest to clear.
- Hold new pieces somewhere away from the house. A garage or shed is better than the spare bedroom.
- Keep a note of where each piece came from, so a find can be traced and the rest of that batch checked.
Keep the Workshop Out of the Bedroom
If you work in a spare room or the back bedroom of a New Malden house, the workshop and the sleeping space are a landing apart. Keep tools, dust sheets and work clothes in the working room, and do not carry drawers or panels through the bedrooms to reach it.
If you do find something on a piece that is already indoors, leave it where it is. Carrying it back out through the hallway shakes them loose on the way. Our guide on moving furniture between rooms explains why, and what to do instead.
When It Is Already in the House
Ring before you start stripping or painting the piece. Paint does not kill them and sanding spreads debris. If the workshop room and a bedroom are both involved, heat treatment deals with every life stage in each room in one visit, including the furniture standing in it. For a single room with one piece, chemical treatment can be enough. If you are not sure whether what you found is bedbugs, an inspection starts at £120.
Selling pieces on while the home has bedbugs passes the problem to a buyer. Pause sales from the affected room until it has been treated and checked again.
Bedbug Control New Malden — Questions
Can I spray a second-hand chest of drawers myself before bringing it in?
Shop sprays are not reliable on bedbugs. The guide on why sprays disappoint explains it. A careful look and a holding space outside work better.
Should I throw away a piece I have found bedbugs on?
Not before you ring. Moving it out of the house can spread them, and many pieces can be treated where they stand.
Does heat treatment damage antique furniture?
Some finishes and glues are sensitive to heat. Tell us what you have and we will say what should come out of the room before the day.
Do I need to tell a buyer in New Malden if I have had bedbugs?
We are pest controllers, not legal advisers. What we would say is not to sell anything from an affected room until the house has been treated and checked.
How much does a treatment cost?
Treatments start at £220. The price depends on how many rooms are involved and on heat or chemical, and is given on the phone before booking.
Elsewhere in Kingston
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for New Malden
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for New Malden.
Moving Furniture Between Rooms
Why carrying the bed or sofa elsewhere widens the job, when moving is fine, and what to do in its place.
Read more →
The Places That Get Missed
Beyond the bed and the two-metre radius: the harbourages that survive a mediocre inspection.
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 →
Why Sprays Stop Working
Resistance explained without the jargon, why the can from the shop disappoints, and what is done differently.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in Kingston
Every service has its own page for Kingston: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering New Malden
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us what kind of pieces you work on and where you keep them, and we will say what makes sense.