Bedbug Heat Treatment Westminster

Start With the Contents, Not the Equipment

The first conversation on a Westminster heat job is usually about belongings. Before a date goes in the diary, we want to know what is in the rooms to be treated, and anything you are anxious about should be raised then, while there is still time to decide what to do with it.

The standard list of things that come out (aerosols, candles, medication, vinyl, plants, some electronics) is on the London heat treatment page for the full explanation of the process. What that list cannot cover is the particular antique chest, the framed print over the bed or the collection of old paperbacks on the shelf. For those:

• Photograph anything you are unsure of and send the pictures, or describe it on the phone. We would much rather talk through a piece than have you guess on the morning.
• Ask when you ring about delicate or high-value items. Some will stay in the room, some should come out, and a few need a different plan altogether. We tell you which, item by item.
• Do not carry anything soft out of the room without asking. A cushion, a rug or a fur throw moved to the drawing room to protect it can carry bedbugs with it.
• Instruments come out, cases included. Our guide to bedbugs in instruments and cases explains how to check a case before it leaves the room.

Anything that comes out needs a quick look first, so you are not moving the problem along with the valuables. We show you what to check.

Mansion Flats: Porters, Lifts and the People Next Door

In a mansion block, a heat treatment is a visible event. Equipment comes in through the entrance, up a lift or a staircase, and stays for most of a day. It is far easier if the building knows before the van arrives.

1. Tell the porter or managing agent the date as soon as it is booked, and ask whether the building has rules about using the lift for equipment or where a vehicle can stop.
2. Ask the managing agent about the fire alarm system. Heat-sensitive detectors in the treated flat may need to be dealt with, and in a managed block that has to be agreed with whoever looks after it.
3. If you know or suspect the flat above, below or beside yours has had bites, say so to us. It changes what we recommend.
4. On the day, leave a phone number with the technician and stay out of the flat until we ring.

Heat leaves no residue behind, so in a block where flats share voids, pipes and party walls we may put a light residual along the edges once the heat is done. We tell you where and when it can be touched.

Mews Houses and Period Houses Over Several Floors

A mews house is usually compact but vertical, with bedrooms above what used to be a garage or stable. A period house may have bedrooms on three or four floors. In both, the question is which floors are affected, not just which room.

If the signs are confined to the main bedroom and nobody has been moving between beds, one floor may be enough. If a guest room was used recently, or someone has been sleeping in a different room to get away from the bites, we will want to include it. An inspection in Westminster settles that before you commit to a quote.

Where a house has basement rooms used by staff or family, the Belgravia page deals with treating a household that lives on separate floors.

Heat or Chemical in a Central Home

People with valuable contents often assume heat is the gentler choice, and for many rooms it is the better one, because it usually finishes in one visit and leaves nothing on the furniture. But it is not the only choice. A single bedroom found early, in a flat without much that is sensitive to heat, can be dealt with by the course of visits described on the Westminster chemical treatment page. We will say on the phone which we think suits your rooms, and why.

The Evening After, and What It Costs

Once the rooms have cooled you can put things back and sleep in your own bed that night. Our guide on when you can sleep in your bed again covers the first nights properly.

Treatments start from £220. Heat costs more than chemical, and several rooms or floors cost more than one. Ring 0800 955 1018 with the number of rooms and anything unusual about the building, and you get the figure before anything is booked. The Westminster bedbug control page has the wider picture.

← Bedbug Control Westminster · Bedbug Heat Treatment London, in full