Editor’s note: since this post, developments have been made in the manufacturing and testing of encasements, and our recommendations have evolved. Please read the Encasements page before deciding on an encasement.
We’ve been recommending National Allergy covers since we started the blog, since a lot of readers have been happy with them.
I personally used two vinyl covers from Target for $10 each, which each ripped in turn. Then I got a National Allergy one. I like this one because instead of the vinyl, it has a soft polyurethane membrane laminated to a fabric finish. You would never know it was there. (Try that with the vinyl ones!) And it seems a lot sturdier. The zipper has a little nook to fit into, and I think the point where the zipper closes is pretty safe, though we’re told zippers are a danger point in general, and so the whole zipper should be taped.
I’m happy to tell you that National Allergy has offered us a sweet deal: a discount for you on their products, and an affiliate deal for us (which helps to run the site). The discount is 7% if the products you order add up to under $174.99, and 10% if you spend over $175. The discount is good on whatever you buy from the site, but the link below goes specifically to mattress and pillow encasings which are labeled for bed bugs.
You must click the National Allergy banner below (or elsewhere on this site) to trigger the discount code. You can use this link below again to get the discount anytime in the future.
Full disclosure: Bedbugger.com will get a small commission when people purchase through the link: you save off National Allergy’s usual prices and National Allergy helps pay our costs (at no cost to you): it’s a win-win situation from what we can see. And I want to stress that we would not be taking National Allergy up on this offer had we not already been recommending these covers for 6 months, and had many of us not been using them ourselves during that time.
I feel its necessary to say that mattress covers need to be treated with care, and used properly, in order to keep bed bugs in. You need to put the encasing on with care, tape the zipper (some recommend clear tape; I haven’t tried the tape NA sells, but maybe others can report on that). Watch out if you have a cat with claws; they can puncture any kind of cover. You need to leave it on for 18 months, or even permanently. (You may want to replace it eventually, but definitely don’t remove it within 18 months, since we know bed bugs can live that long without feeding.) The instructions on National Allergy’s site say bleach can damage the waterproof nature of the cover, and without further knowledge of what other substances besides mild detergent might do, I don’t think you should spray it with anything, though you can and should vacuum it when you change the sheets or at least every few weeks. And don’t forget your pillows, which can harbor bed bugs.
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Great. I love my National Allergy cover. They are available in extra-depth, too. Since I’ve been using them, my nose is much less stuffy. I wouldn’t have bought them just for dust mites, but they have helped me in bonus ways.
Hi Nobugs,
Can National Allergy supply research to support that their encasements are bed bug proof? If so, can it be posted here?
To my knowledge the only two companies that have had bed bug researchers working on the development of their products are:
Mattress Safe
Protect-A-Bed
My fear is that there are MANY companies out there that were in the business of selling anti-allergen encasements that have jumped on the bed bug gravy train and slapped a “bed bug” name, logo, or wording on their existing encasements with little to no testing.
I applaud you for outright stating that you will receive a commission on any sales leads from your site.
Sean
Entomologist / Pest Professional
http://www.thebedbugresource.com
(Editor’s note: test results done on National Allergy’s mattress encasements:
http://bedbugger.com/2007/09/11/national-allergy-mattress-encasements-test-results/)
HI Sean,
I will enquire about tests and get back to you all.
However, please look at the links you supplied above: I could not find any information on research linked from the Mattress Safe site (in fact, they only mention dust mites, not bed bugs).
Protect-a-bed, similarly, did not include such information. I could not even find the encasing that Cooper describes being sold on the Protect-a-bed site. They only showed a mattress cover that was top-side only, not an encasing.
I truly do not want to recommend (or use) products that do not work. I am using a NA cover and if others find them to be (or research shows them to be) ineffective, I will end this relationship with NA.
On the other hand, Cooper is selling very expensive encasings and I know many people have trouble with costs.
I also want to note that I was offered an affiliate deal with Brookstone, who sell a similar but more expensive product. They would have offered our readers no discount, their product cost twice as much. Should anyone have purchased one, I would have had a nice kickback. I’m not interested. Why? Because I have no evidence it’s better, and because I’d rather readers got a discount out of the deal as well. If I was not using an NA cover, I would not recommend them.
The costs to anyone purchasing a National Allergy cover via our links are 7-10% off; the modest affiliate commission is paid by National Allergy and does not raise the price to our readers, who would pay more if they just surfed into NA.
Anyway, Sean, if you can give us research findings on the products above, that would be helpful. I will enquire about whether NA also has some to share.
Please note that based on my personal experience–and I believe no one has reported encountering this problem so far–I think that the National Allergy SatinSoft Classic encasing is inappropriate for an active bedbug infestation where the bed is not isolated.
I decided not to isolate my bed but this would apply also to someone whose bed isolation efforts failed (where you know you are being bitten in bed despite your best efforts).
The NA encasing is plastic inside (good) but fabric outside (very bad) and has reinforced seams that appear to be covered in plain cotton cloth. The seams, in fact, very closely resemble the reinforced seams of a mattress. My bedbugs were harboring on the surface of this encasing–based on evidence of excreta and some shiny debris which I could not identify but assume to be eggs. No amount of vacuuming would solve this problem. I re-encased in plastic and can now see largish black specks under the new vinyl encasing.
I’ve been reluctant to post this because a) most people report success with the NA encasings on an isolated bed, and b) I am highly suspicious of the Cooper encasings which are sold exclusively by them at a very high price and are now touted as “new and improved.” I’m allergic to new and improved marketing claims. Rapaciousness comes in many forms.
It is my opinion that if you are being bitten in bed daily, a fabric encasing will compound all your problems.
I do not have any alternatives to recommend–other than plastic, with its well-known flaws.
Nomo, I agree with you for the most part, but the N.A. encasings don’t rip the way the vinyl ones do… and they’re more breathable. Also, if you are vacuuming your bed or even wiping down the encasing with a little Steri-Fab every day, the bugs won’t harbor in the seam. I don’t know, but I would double stick carpet tape your bed legs. Wrap saran wrap first on your bed legs then add the tape. so the tape doesn’t ruin your bed legs. That’s what I used to do (I now have a new bed frame….)
Nomo, I appreciate yourr message, and I’d like to hear from everyone, positive or negative. Critical is good.
I don’t think the solution to Nomo’s problem is a cheaper plastic cover (the ones I had–3 of them, from Target not only ripped easily, as WMSB says, but would surely have been as exposed at the seams and zip as the NA one.
But I am open to other suggestions and I really do want to hear from others about their experiences!
Because of cost convenience and because I did this before I was even given the link to this blog and just did so by instinct; as I recall …. I went to a hardware store and chose a large roll of 100 sq feet heavy duty painters’ tarp. 6 ½ feel long.
The plastic is rather stiff and it is 3 mm thick. I DOUBLE wrapped each of my two, futon mattresses separately then sealed them as air-tight-shut as best (as possible) with industrial strength duct tape as I went. This ran me about $70 .00, and the process took most of one day to execute.
The plus to this is that I can easily steam off the mattresses both top and bottom, or rub them down with 91% isopropyl alcohol, but there are negatives too:
a) the duct tape tends to come a bit loose in a few places, so there are risk and maintenance issues similar to a cover with a seam,
b) the plastic is not what you’d call comfortable,
c) it looks rather unsightly.
I did notice a few pin holes from where the plastic must have torn by my practice of taping the sheets and blankets to the plastic–so I stopped that practice.
Now I just sleep in the sterilized clothing I plan on wearing the next day, or I use something I keep tucked in-between the two mattresses.
Bohemian yes! With the blankets bundled up around me, I am getting better at not letting them drag on the floor. And that’s a serious issue. I tend to subconsciously bundle myself up now during wake-sleep-wake-sleep-wake-sleep periods ….
But this was only after having to throw all those sheets and blankets back into the drier, like 5 or 6 times because they’d draped and hit the floor.
Am I being bitten? I don’t react much to the bites, so, only time will tell.
(I doubt any mattress cover(s) would have fit my futon mattresses very well anyway. My understanding is that mattress covers are made for mattressesâ€â€not futon pillows-beds.)
OMG, $70 for that painter’s tarp and duct tape? That’s futon dedication!
I’d just junk my bedding and buy an inflatable until my home was secure!
They go on ebay wholesalers for very reasonable prices!
Now, in reality for me, I have an old custom made $1700 Private label queen size bed for the last 12 years… and I just discovered the infestation about a week ago.
Mind you, I’m dirt poor (bed was an insurance settlement).
I don’t have a clue what to do, partly because I’m in a bachelor apartment of 16′x16′ and in order to isolate my bed I’d have to practically put it in the middle of the room!
To simplify life, I guess I’ll put most of my old laundry and VHS tapes, books, in garbage bags and boxes on the balcony–lol, too lazy to do too much washing–you know of the guy who owns one fork and spoon? Honestly, I haven’t read the part 1 and 2 completely but I have an idea what i’m in for… sigh.
garbo
iwannabealone,
I personally think the painter’s tarp is a bad idea. It also costs almost twice as much as the National Allergy covers (click here for a discount) and nearly as much of the ones sold by Protect-a-bed. And anything sealed with tape is likely to develop gaps.
Unless you plan to seal your belongings on the balcony, undisturbed, for 18 months, I would not go that route. Laundry is a pain in the ass, but if you get good thorough treatment from a PCO, you won’t need to bag up everything you own.
I would look at some of the other FAQs. Your mattress MUST be encased in a sealed cover, but you do not need to fully isolate it. I would, however, move it away from the wall.
Sorry you have to deal with this too…
This is a follow-up: test results done on National Allergy’s mattress encasements:
http://bedbugger.com/2007/09/11/national-allergy-mattress-encasements-test-results/
I had to bomb the whole house…that was the only way to get rid off the little critters. We set the bomb before going to work then came back in the evening and opened all the windows..slept at a friends house for the night. I was very paranoid since I was cover it bites and decided to do it again a week later. The bugs did not come back. From now on each time I stayed at a hotel I check the bed for bugs. I would not want to bring them home again.
yessie,
Bombing is generally a very bad idea when it comes to bed bugs. I would seriously recommend people do not do this. It can disperse them into your walls and they may return.
Of course, I hope that is not the case for you. It is very good that you are searching hotel rooms proactively now, also.
Yessie, if the ‘bombing’ worked for you, what product did you use ?
There are do it yourself methods which kill bed bugs, bug “bombs” are known to make problems worse.