Bedbug Control Belgravia

How Bedbugs Cross Between the Floors

In a Belgravia house the obvious route is the laundry. Bedding from the upstairs bedrooms is carried down, sorted, and often left in baskets near the machines for a while. If it has bedbugs in it, the basement is next. The route works in reverse too: a staff member's coat or bag goes upstairs with them every working day.

The house itself adds routes. Back stairs, service risers and old bell-wire runs connect the floors, and the gaps where they pass through ceilings are easy to miss. Bedbugs do not climb three floors on purpose, but they use whatever passage is nearest when their hiding place gets crowded or disturbed.

Checking Both Parts of the House

When signs turn up on one floor, the useful question is whether they are anywhere else yet. Every bed in the Belgravia house needs checking: the family's, any guest rooms, and the staff bedrooms. Staff rooms are someone's private home, so they should be checked with the knowledge and agreement of the person who lives there, and they should be told plainly what has been found and where.

An inspection from £120 maps which rooms are affected before a treatment plan is set. Our guide to reading an inspection report explains what the result covers.

Changing the Laundry Routine for Now

• Bag bedding and clothes in the room they come from and carry them down tied shut.
• Take each bag straight into a hot wash or a hot dryer, not a basket.
• Keep clean laundry apart from anything not yet washed until treatment is finished.
• Wash the bags or throw them away once they are empty.

Whoever runs the household day to day is the right person to explain the new routine to everyone, upstairs and down, so that nobody is left guessing why their washing is suddenly handled differently. A short written note of what to do helps when several people share the job.

Everyone who sleeps in the house should keep sleeping in their own bed. People doubling up or using a spare room takes bedbugs to new rooms.

Treating a House Like This

A tall house with several bedrooms spread across floors is often a case for heat treatment, because it deals with every affected room, eggs included, usually in one visit. Heat-sensitive things come out first: medication, aerosols, candles, plants, some electronics and anything valuable that could be affected by heat, which in a Belgravia house can be a long list. We give you the list well before the day.

If only one or two rooms are affected, chemical treatment may be enough and costs less, over two or three visits. Treatments start from £220, and the figure depends on how many rooms are involved. For more on treating homes in busy buildings, see the Westminster page.

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