Bedbug Heat Treatment Tower Hamlets

The Building Decides the Plan

When you ring about heat in Tower Hamlets, most of the questions we ask are about the building rather than the bedbugs: how many floors, whether there is a lift, where the bed sits, and whether the sleeping area has walls round it. The answers tell us how many machines to bring, how long the space will take to come up, and what the price will be.

What the equipment does and why it reaches the eggs is set out on the London heat treatment page, for the full explanation. Here we stick to what changes from one kind of home to another.

Open-Plan Warehouse Flats

In a converted warehouse the bed is often on a mezzanine, behind a half-height partition, or simply at one end of a long room. There is no bedroom door to close, so the space we heat is whatever the bed shares its air with. That can mean the kitchen end and the sofa as well, and we would rather tell you that on the phone than discover it on the morning.

Height matters too. Warm air rises into a tall ceiling and a mezzanine, and the floor under the bed can lag behind. The thermal camera shows us where the cold patches are, and the fans are moved until they close. A big open volume takes longer than a boxy bedroom of the same floor area, which is one reason loft quotes vary.

The bricks, beams and gaps that make these flats awkward to inspect are covered on the Wapping page. Read it first if you are still working out where they are living.

Getting the Kit Into the Building

Heaters, fans and cabling come in more than one trip. In a converted block, tell us on the phone:

• Whether there is a goods lift or only a passenger lift, and whether it needs booking.
• Whether a concierge or building manager must be told the date and who is coming.
• Where a van can stop to unload, and whether a permit or a code for a gate is needed.
• Whether the flat has smoke or heat detectors linked to an alarm for the whole block.

That last point needs sorting with the building before the day, not on it. If you are unsure who runs the alarm, ask your managing agent, and ask us when you ring what we need from them.

Victorian Terraces in Bow and Bethnal Green

A terrace brings the opposite problem: small rooms, steep stairs and bedrooms stacked on top of each other. In a whole house, the bedrooms on the first floor and a back bedroom over the extension may all need doing, and we quote by the number of rooms rather than the house.

Many terraces in Bow and Bethnal Green are now split into an upper and a lower flat. If yours is one of them, we heat your rooms only, and we ask whether the flat above or below has seen anything. Heat leaves no residue behind, so where rooms share a party wall or floor with another home, we may put a light residual along the edges. We tell you where before we leave.

If you think they came up the stairwell or in from a neighbour, the guide on whether bedbugs travel through lifts and corridors explains what is and is not likely.

Clearing a Loft Versus Clearing a Bedroom

In an open-plan flat the list of things to take out is longer, because the living room is inside the heated space. Records, a plant wall, a speaker set-up, candles on a shelf, a drinks cabinet with aerosols in it: all of it needs to come out or be discussed with us beforehand. In a terrace bedroom there is usually less, but check the drawers and the top of the wardrobe.

Beds, clothes and soft furniture stay where they are, because that is where the bedbugs are. Pets go out for the day. The step-by-step list is in the London guide to preparing, and we send you our own list when you book.

Price, and When Chemical Makes More Sense

Heat costs more than chemical, and treatments start from £220. For a loft the figure turns on the size of the space we have to heat; for a terrace, on the number of rooms. You get the exact price on the phone on 0800 955 1018 before anything is booked. The guide to what affects the cost explains why two quotes can differ.

If the signs are in one bed in one room and were found early, a course of chemical treatment in Tower Hamlets may be enough. For the day off work a heat visit needs, see how much time off you need, and for the wider picture go back to the borough page.

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