Bedbug Control Barnes, Richmond | Belongings in Self-Storage

Can Bedbugs Survive in a Storage Unit?

Yes, for a long time. They do not need to feed often, and a cool unit slows them down rather than killing them. So a mattress or a sofa that had bedbugs when it went in can still have them months later. Our guide on what bedbugs feed on explains how long they can go between meals and why.

This is also why storing infested things to starve the bedbugs out is not a plan we would rely on. It may take far longer than people expect, and you cannot tell from outside the box whether it has worked.

A close view of an adult bedbug showing its flat oval body

What Is Most Likely to Carry Them

Beds, mattresses and headboards, especially ones that came from a room where anyone was bitten.
Upholstered chairs and sofas, along the seams, under the base cloth and in the frame joints.
Cardboard boxes of bedding, clothes or books that were packed from a bedroom.
Wooden furniture with joints and drawers, which gives them cracks to hide in.

Hard items such as crockery, tools and sealed plastic crates carry far less risk.

Bringing Things Home

Unload into a hard-floored room or a garage, not straight into a bedroom.
Open the fabric first. Clothes, curtains and bedding go into a hot wash and a hot dry before they are put away.
Look at every bed and sofa with a torch. Seams, corners, joints and the underside. Dark spots and pale shed skins are the signs.
Throw away tired cardboard once it is empty, bagged and taken straight outside.
Anything doubtful stays in the hard-floored room until it has been looked at.

If You Find Signs

Stop unpacking and leave the item where it is. An inspection from £120 tells you which pieces are affected and whether anything has reached the rest of the house. If only a piece or two is affected and it is still in one room, heat treatment can deal with that room and its contents in one visit, including the eggs. If bedbugs have already reached a bedroom, chemical treatment is an option too, over two or three visits. Treatments start from £220; heat costs more, and the figure for your home is given on the phone.

Whether the storage unit itself should be treated is a question for the storage company; ask when you ring and we will say what we can and cannot do. The Richmond borough page covers tracing where bedbugs came in more generally.

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Questions

Bedbug Control Barnes — Questions

Should I tell the storage company?

Yes, in writing, if you find bedbugs in things that came out of the unit. Neighbouring units may be affected and they will want to know.

Can I treat the furniture before it comes home?

Ask when you ring. Often the simplest plan is to bring it into one hard-floored room and have it checked there before it goes anywhere else.

Should I just throw the stored mattress away?

Not before it has been looked at. If it does need to go, wrap it well first so it does not shed bedbugs on the way out.

Do bedbugs die in a cold unit over winter?

Cold slows them down but a British winter in a storage unit is not something to rely on to kill them.

I only stored boxes of books and papers. Is that a risk?

A small one, mostly from the cardboard itself if the boxes were packed in a bedroom. Empty them in a hard-floored room, look along the flaps and folds, and recycle the boxes rather than keeping them for the next move.

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