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bed bugs

Started by Norway Pine, August 22, 2016, 11:40:25 AM

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Norway Pine

Anybody ever have problems with bed bugs before? I was gone for a week on a camping trip and I come back to yesterday to find my room has a small infestation any tips before I burn my house down?

ellmoe

The daughter of a customer of mine had an infestation in her brand new house. She had to move her family out of their home. They brought in a company that used portable heaters to heat the house to, i believe, over 135 degrees. The co. owner says they have been very busy.
Good luck.

Mark
Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

SLawyer Dave

Bed Bugs have been building immunity to most common insecticides for the last 60 years, and in the last decade there has been a major resurgence of their infestations.  When I worked in pest control over 20 years ago, we were told we would likely never see an infestation.  Now they are quite common again.

The first thing I would do is to have a pest control company come in and specifically identify them as bed bugs.  If they are bed bugs, then you brought them in from a hotel or motel most likely.  Bed bugs spread, by hitch-hiking on clothes, bedding or in suit cases.  So most people bring them into their homes from vacations and trips after they have stayed in infested rooms. 

There are some newer treatments out there specifically for bed bugs, but I have no real information or advice about them.  The long and the short of it, is that you will need to use the pesticides, but a lot of the work is going to be cleaning, washing, and repeating trying to kill off the actual bugs, but also killing the eggs, so that you can eliminate the future hatch outs, and finally end the life cycle.

So if you know anyone in pest control, give them a call.  The thing about pest control companies is that they all basically use the same pesticides, (there are only a couple certified for residential use).  The real trick is in having a real good Technician that is thorough and does the job right.  So I recommend using companies and technicians that have impressed your co-workers and friends, so look to them for some referrals.

Good Luck

SLawyer Dave

Quote from: ellmoe on August 22, 2016, 12:17:15 PM
The daughter of a customer of mine had an infestation in her brand new house. She had to move her family out of their home. They brought in a company that used portable heaters to heat the house to, i believe, over 135 degrees. The co. owner says they have been very busy.
Good luck.

Mark

One of my first thoughts on reading Norway's post was whether he might have a new house or a recent remodel.  In both my training and experience, when I was in pest control, every single one of our calls for "bed bugs" turned out to be wood boring/hatching based bugs, that are not even technically considered "residential pests".  Rather, these bugs and larva are introduced into the home through the infested wood that is brought in both as structural and decorative pieces.  Generally, most of the problems come in "natural" meaning log construction or other applications where the wood is not kiln dried, (as that kills off all the nasty critters, eggs and larva).

So if we are dealing with a "brand new house", it would be far more likely that they are actually NOT dealing with bed bugs.  Obviously without seeing the actual bugs and specifically identifying them, I can't be sure.  If they are bed bugs, then again, they were brought in from some other location. 

DelawhereJoe

I do remember that heating the house up to high temps will kill the little blood suckers and kills them without chemicals. Sounds like the best treatment, not sure of the cost and how long you will be homeless while your house is turned into death valley.
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Raider Bill

I have had the misfortune of these little critters in a few rentals I have.

One time they came in via a set of supposedly "new furniture" from a rental place. Upon further review they had just put a mildly used mattress and box springs in new plastic and tried to re-sell as new.
Found bunches of them in the seams. I think we caught them in time before complete infestation.

Another time the renter was/is a adult entertainer, escort, "working her way through college student". No surprise where her critters came from....

Look for pepper spots those are the eggs, bugs themselves are flat and sort of look like a tiny ticks. I had a live one in a ziplock bag for 4 months.

In both cases the beds and anything not washable got chucked to the curb including frames. I sprayed the entire bedrooms down with an assortment of toxic waste from do it yourself pest products all bed covers, clothes etc were washed and then dried in commercial dryers on high for 5 cycles.

Fingers crossed...

The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Kindlinmaker

Lots of commercial infestations around NY City a few years back.  They actually used dogs to find them in commercial buildings and hotels.  Pesticide application is a 2X process; one for the adults and a second for larvae after they hatch.  You have to do either pesticide or it sounds like heat for your carpets and upholstered stuff.  Save yourself a bunch of money on all of your other fabric items like clothes and throw them dry into a dryer set on high for 20 mins.  We used this on our clothing, as soon as we got home, whenever we had to work in an infested environment and we never got an infestation at home.  If you have access to a wood kiln, I would put all of my upholstered stuff inside at 140 for an hour or so and see if that works.
If you think the boards are twisted, wait until you meet the sawyer!

Den Socling

A little side business for people with dry kilns?  :D Sterilizing people's furniture.

DelawhereJoe

Your house, is it an apartment or shared building or a stand alone building ? I think if it was me I think I would use a large heater probably gas fired perhaps a drywall heater and a few box fans to heat the room to 120° for 90 minutes. It would probably take hours to get everything to that temp, then let all the carbon monoxide air out.
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red

Not sure but it just can't be that simple, to just heat the house.  There are people that spend thousands of dollars only to have them come back and do it again. All clothing has to go into plastic bags asap. They can't crawl on plastic. Also they can not jump but they can crawl very fast . You need the brightest LED flashlight you can find, the move when you shine bright lights .  Then you may bring them into your vehicle, work etc etc. My friend has rental apts and he removes all furniture carpet sometimes sprays bleach . But if you are renting , I think the Landlord has to do it . Good Luck ! ! !
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

Kbeitz

It would scare you to know how many hotels have them all the time...
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

DelawhereJoe

Quote from: red on August 22, 2016, 06:11:51 PM
Not sure but it just can't be that simple, to just heat the house.  There are people that spend thousands of dollars only to have them come back and do it again.
I think it is that simple, the hard part is getting everything to that temp. According to ThermaPureHeat's website  adults will die after 7 minutes of 115° and will kill eggs at 113° for 60 mins.
WD-40, DUCT TAPE, 024, 026, 362c-m, 041, homelite xl, JD 2510

red

Ok . . When you have tenants you have to catch it early before it becomes Full Blown . . the tenants try to " handle " it themselves and then it spreads to other apartments . . Then it costs big $$$ . . some people think Diatomaceous earth works , but no solid evidence. . And Steam also kills them ???  like in hardwood floors , most rental centers have heavy duty steam cleaners
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

red

Plastic bags are a very simple precautionary measure . When you check into a cheap motel or any hotel put your luggage into plastic bags and your shoes too . . Same when you bring clothes back from the high heat laundry
Honor the Fallen Thank the Living

ellmoe

   In the infestation I mentioned the bugs were first found on their infant in bed. They don't know where they picked up these unwelcome guests , but they had recently stayed at an inexpensive hotel. Treating by heat was one day.
Thirty plus years in the sawmill/millwork business. A sore back and arthritic fingers to prove it!

ScottAR

Some of the most sage advice I ever received was "Get an expert when an expert is needed"

Find a pro near you and get an inspection.  Then go through the treatment cycle and follow all their instructions to the letter.  A close friend works in that industry. He tells bed bug clients "You will hate to see my face by the time this is over."  Some of their more difficult jobs top $2k.
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]

Skip

Your best bet is to call somebody like Orkin or Terminex they are VERY hard to get rid of commercial products help ,but not for sure . Most pros guarantee and price includes follow ups. I had them in rental propertys they can live for 18 months with no food (blood). They worked for me and the pros killed em fast.

ScottAR

We haven't had this experience as landlords yet but I'm certain we will....  They are on a comeback and folks don't pay attention to the dangers of yard sale furniture and so on. 

The friend I mentioned works some in a larger town to the south and tells me one can follow a couch/chair etc. around the complexes down there as folks pick them off the curb from others trash.
Scott
"There is much that I need to do, even more that I want to do, and even less that I can do."
[Magicman]

cliffreaves

Heat is what works.  If you are lucky enough to have pesticides work, then you caught it before it got bad.  Turn your house into a kiln.  You might as well turn lemons into lemonade and dry some lumber in there while you're at it.  Sorry for your situation, hope you get it sorted quickly.

WV Sawmiller

   They are a pain. we had them in the military camps we ran in Bagram in Afghanistan. We'd replace the normal door on the B-huts or tents and put a big Wilms heater and flexible vents there and heat the whole place to kill them. We had to wash the occupants clothes in special lots and such. We had to move the occupants to transient quarters for a few days while this was on-going. We even had busybodies get involved who insisted we treat the mattresses we gave to a recycler who gave or sold them to the locals. I guess they thought we were using biological warfare. We set up a 40' connex at the landfill with racks to get proper airflow to evenly heat the inside and heated them there.

   I would also contact Terminix to see if they didn't have a better fix.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

Norway Pine

Thanks for all of the feedback guys, I actually live in a single house so to be honest I have no idea how they got in, my plan of attack right now is bagging up all the clothing and items in my room and I'm having them sit in black trash bags out in the sun for 3 weeks, everything else as far as furniture is getting burned after all it's just some bs particle board stuff. I do have a dry ice trap set up for anyone interested that's been luring the little critters to their ultimate doom and in about 2 weeks I'm gonna take care of things by hand with a credit card and a lighter after that comes the acetone treatment

kensfarm

The old fashion way..

"For years, people in Eastern Europe's Balkan region have known that kidney bean leaves trap bedbugs, sort of like a natural fly paper. In the past, those suffering from infestations would scatter the leaves on the floor surrounding their bed, then collect the bedbug-laden greenery in the morning and destroy it"

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