Tell Them Before Their Next Visit
It can feel awkward, but a cleaner would much rather hear it from you by message the day before than find out afterwards. Keep it plain: which room is affected, that treatment is booked or being arranged, and what you would like them to do differently until it is done.
Most cleaners will have met this before somewhere. What they need from you is clear instructions, not an apology.
If you use an agency, tell the agency as well as the person who comes, since a different cleaner may cover a holiday or a sick day. A short written note left with the cleaning things, listing the room to leave and the edges not to touch, saves the same conversation being repeated and stops a stand-in undoing the preparation you have done.
What to Ask Them to Change
- Leave the affected bedroom out for now, or do only what you agree together. No changing the bed, no dusting behind it.
- Do not carry bedding from that room to the washing machine. You bag it in the room and put it straight into the machine yourself.
- Keep their bag and coat out of the bedrooms, ideally in the kitchen or hall on a hard floor.
- Empty the vacuum into a tied bag and take it outside after any bedroom has been done.
- Do not move furniture or clothes between rooms, even to tidy up.
Cleaning Between Chemical Visits
With chemical treatment the residual along skirtings, bed frames and room edges is what keeps working between visits, which are usually 10–14 days apart. A thorough cleaner will want to vacuum and mop right into those edges, and that removes it. Show them which rooms were treated and ask them to leave the edges until the course is finished; the middle of the floor is fine.
The room also needs to stay as it was set up for the first visit. Putting things back under the bed or along the walls because the room looks bare makes the second visit harder.
On a Heat Treatment Day
With heat treatment there is usually one visit taking most of a day, and the room is usable once it has cooled. Rearrange the cleaner’s visit so they are not in the house that day. Afterwards they can go back to normal in the treated rooms, though they should mention any spotting or live insects they notice in the weeks after, as they often see the corners of a room more closely than you do.
If your cleaner is worried that they have been bitten or carried something home, an inspection of their own home starts at £120. The Merton page has more on the first week for a household meeting this for the first time. When you ring about a house in Wimbledon Park, mention the cleaner’s day so the plan fits round it.
Bedbug Control Wimbledon Park — Questions
Could our cleaner have brought them in?
It is possible but hard to prove, and bedbugs arrive in many ways. It is more useful to focus on treatment than on where they came from.
Should the cleaner stop coming altogether?
Usually not. Most of the house can be cleaned as normal; it is the affected room and the treated edges that need a pause.
When can the cleaner go back into a room after chemical treatment?
Once the treated surfaces are dry, people can be back in the room. Follow the instructions we give you on the day and pass them on to your cleaner.
How much does treatment cost for a house in Wimbledon Park?
Treatments start at £220. The figure depends on how many rooms and whether it is heat or chemical, and you get it on the phone before booking.
Elsewhere in Merton
The other areas in the borough, each written around a different situation.
Bedbug Advice for Wimbledon Park
Picked for this page: the guides that go further on what matters for Wimbledon Park.
What Happens After the Treatment
Day one to week six, what you will actually see, and when to stop worrying.
Read more →
Preparing Your Home for Heat Treatment
What to do the week before, the night before and the morning of. A plan, not a list.
Read more →
From First Bite to All Clear
The usual order of events, from the first bite to a finished treatment, and what happens at each stage.
Read more →The Early Signs, and the Timeline
Week one to month six. What is detectable when, and why 'early' is mostly invisible.
Read more →Bedbug Treatments in Merton
Every service has its own page for Merton: heat, chemical, hotels, commercial premises and inspections.
Covering Wimbledon Park
Tell Us About the Property
Tell us which rooms are affected and when your cleaner usually comes, and we will fit the advice around it.