Bedbug Control Mortlake, Richmond

Why the Weekly Round Trip Matters

Bedbugs travel in bags and clothes. A holdall packed on Friday and unpacked on Monday moves between two beds every week. If one home has them, the other is exposed each time, and treating only one end can leave the problem to come back on the next Monday evening.

An empty room over the weekend does not starve them out either. They can go a long time without feeding and simply wait for the lodger to return. Our guide to what bedbugs feed on explains why.

A gloved hand lifting the corner of a bed frame to reveal bedbugs in the timber joint

Talking to Your Lodger

Raise it early and without blame. Nobody can usually say for certain which home the bedbugs started in, and a lodger who feels accused may simply leave with the problem in their luggage. The useful questions are practical: have they been bitten at either address, have they seen marks on either bed, and can they check the bed at their weekend home?

Who pays for what is for the two of you to agree, and depends on your arrangement. We can say what we find and where, which is usually what helps that conversation most. An inspection from £120 shows whether the lodger's room is affected and whether it has reached your own bedrooms.

Timing Treatment Around the Week

Heat treatment is usually one visit, takes most of a day and kills the eggs as well, so it can be done while the lodger is at work or away and the room is back in use once it has cooled. That makes it the simpler fit for a room that is occupied on a fixed pattern. It costs more than chemical.

Chemical treatment leaves a residue that keeps working, which suits a room that people come back into, because returning bedbugs meet it. It needs two or three visits about 10 to 14 days apart, so plan them for days the room can be cleared. Either way, treatments start from £220 and the exact figure comes on the phone.

The Holdall and the Other Address

Wash what travels. Before the next trip home, the lodger washes everything fabric that goes in the bag on a hot cycle, then a hot dry.
Check the bag itself. Seams, zip tapes and inside pockets, with a torch. A hard case is easier to check than a soft holdall.
Keep the bag off the bed at both ends. A hard floor or a chair, zipped when not in use.
Look at the weekend bed. If there are signs there, that home needs dealing with too, or the lodger will bring them back.

For how this fits with keeping bedbugs out of a house with plenty of coming and going, see the Richmond borough page.

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Questions

Bedbug Control Mortlake — Questions

Should my lodger stop going home until it is treated?

That is between you. Staying put does not stop bedbugs; what matters is that the bag and clothes are washed and checked before they travel either way.

Can you treat the lodger's weekend home as well?

If it is in London, ring us and we will talk it through. If it is further away, the lodger will need to arrange that end locally.

Does the lodger need to be out on treatment day?

Yes, everyone stays out of the room while we work. Choose a day when the room is free.

Is it fair to ask the lodger to pay?

That depends on your agreement and on where the bedbugs came from, which is often hard to prove. We are pest controllers, not legal advisers.

Could the bedbugs spread from the lodger's room to ours?

They can, especially if bedding, laundry or furniture moves between rooms. Keep the lodger's washing separate and bagged, and check your own bed seams while you wait.

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