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RainCity Housing’s “bed bug sauna” now active in new Vancouver building

nobugsonme — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:02:22 +0000

Remember when we reported back in June 2008 that a new RainCity Housing development in Vancouver was going to contain a “bed bug sauna” for treatment of infested items?

The new building “The Lux”, at 65 Hastings Street, is in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a highly infested neighborhood, and provides 25 transitional housing units, and 67 supported long-term housing units. And they’ve started baking tenants’ bed bugs.

RainCity is a chartiable organization which provides housing to people who need it. Their website states,

The men and women who benefit from the services of RainCity Housing are treated with dignity and respect, and are offered a safe place to live, independence and improved quality of life.

Nothing says “dignity and respect” as much as helping people to live without the presence of bed bugs.

The Vancouver Courier reported of the new sauna room, that

Staff take bed bug-infested furniture to a 200-square-foot cream-coloured room with a grey cement floor and four metal troughs. A gas boiler heats water and an electric fan spreads heat throughout the room. Simpson, operations manager for RainCity, wraps infested mattresses, carries them carefully to the ground floor room, cranks the dry heat to 60 degrees Celsius for four to six hours, and watches bed bugs creep from the highest point of an item down, until they dry out and fall off.

It does not replace bed bug treatment for the unit, but does mean tenants do not have to throw out belongings which they may have been asked to toss in the past.

However,

RainCity hasn’t run the belongings of tenants moving into The Lux through the oven before they get set up, but it might do so when the flow of tenants moving in decreases. The nine-storey building provides low-barrier transitional housing with intensive staffing on two floors, and provides apartments for men and women who have a history of homelessness.

In my opinion, it would be best to run new tenants’ belongings through the unit. Many people will not notice they have bed bugs until the problem is pronounced — especially since many people do not react to bed bug bites. And tenants with bed bugs can spread bed bugs to others via common areas, and outside of the building (buses, hangouts, etc.).

With construction and consultant costs, Simpson estimates the bed bug room cost $8,000 out of the $22 million it took to construct 92 new social housing units in the Downtown Eastside. Extra money was spent in an attempt to seal each unit. Electrical outlets include flanges to keep bed bugs at bay. RainCity’s maintenance contract with a pest control company continues but in this new building, treating rooms above, below and next to an infested one shouldn’t be necessary.

$8000 out of $22 million? Peanuts.

And simply sealing each unit carefully from the outset may go a long way to helping prevent bed bugs spreading.

The bed bug sauna idea is attracting interest from public housing provider BC Housing:

Bill Briscall, RainCity’s communications manager, said B.C. Housing is interested in including bed bug saunas at each of the 12 city-owned sites where social housing is planned. RainCity Housing runs shelters, including the controversial HEAT shelters under Granville Bridge, long-term housing, outreach programs, life skills and food services.

The Globe and Mail also reported on the Bed Bug Sauna at The Lux (PDF here).Similar Posts:

Bed Bugs hit Johnson City Fire Station

nobugsonme — Thu, 14 May 2009 07:49:54 +0000

Can someone please tell the good folks at the Johnson City, Tennessee Fire Station #2 on Cherokee Road that leaving mattresses outside in the heat is not a reliable way to kill bed bugs?

This news video says they’re “hoping the heat” will deal with bed bugs in the mattresses. Not likely.

They got a pest control operator to spray after finding bed bugs Monday. It sounds like they’ve also put all their furniture outside. But this is not necessarily going to make the furniture bed bug-free.

Mattresses can be covered in encasements designed and tested to keep bed bugs in or out, but other items will also have to be treated.

I hope the department is able to get rid of bed bugs quickly, so these firefighters can relax when they’re not saving lives.

Check out this video from WJHL in the Tricities: Bed Bugs Invade Johnson City Fire Station.Similar Posts:

FAQ: What is a Packtite?

nobugsonme — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:57:47 +0000

Someone commented on an old post about this product today, and seeing much of the information was outdated, and we have so much more to say about the Packtite now, I wanted to bring it up to date.

The Packtite is a little machine into which you can place packed or unpacked luggage, stuffed animals, shoes, “unwashable” clothing, and other items. You leave your stuff in it for several hours while it heats up, killing bed bugs and eggs inside. You need to carefully follow the instructions and monitor the temperature at the core of your items, in order to make sure 120 F is attained throughout, and then leave the Packtite running for an hour after the temperature is reached.

Although the unit was originally designed so that frequent travelers could bake their luggage when they got home from a trip — for the purpose of preventing a bed bug infestation at home, people with bed bugs quickly saw the possibilities in terms of de-bugging items in the home.

Packtite measures measures 36l x 19w x 24h inches and looks like this:

The Packtite was independently evaluated by entomologist Sean Rollo of The Bed Bug Resource, who found the Packtite did reach the required temperature of 120 F, and said “In summary, I am happy with the unit.” On our Bedbugger forums, bedbugs78 asked if the item would melt plastic bags. David James, the Packtite’s creator, responded:

I can answer the plastic question, with our newly designed unit we tested cheap thin walled plastic bags to see if we would have any melting issues, these bags were tested by tying them directly to the metal frame inside and were positioned closest to the heat source- after 4 hours of heating we did not have any plastic melting issues. The inside of this unit reaches sauna like temperatures and is a good guide to use when considering what to put inside. We are currently including a digital thermometer with each packtite so that the user can monitor temperatures of personal items placed in the unit to insure they reach killing temperatures.

As Sean notes in the same thread, “It can be used to treat anything that can be heated to 120-140F. ” And Packtite creator David notes,

… we have a long list of specific safety instructions plus we are including a digitial thermometer with every unit so that our customers can track the heating process if they like. Each unit also has a timer so that it will shut off after 4 hours.

The timer is an important safety feature. People began to use the machine to get rid of bed bugs in all kinds of stuff which was previously difficult for individuals to treat. Bedbugger forum user Overwhelmed said,

I’ve treated a pretty wide variety of stuff: purses, books, shoes, mail I need to send to my roommate who is away at grad school, the footstool and removable seat of an armchair that lives in my bedroom, the carpet attachment to my vacuum, the wood-framed mirror that hung on a wall near my bed . . .

Adele tells us she baked a loosely packed box of papers.

Mangycur had some creative ideas also, including heating empty clean-but-used Ziploc XL bags, yoga props, and a cat scratching post. She asked here if we might compile a master list of items which could be treated in the Packtite, and David reminded us that the best practice is to learn to use the probe to monitor the temperatures, so we can judge whether any particular item has reached the correct killing temperature: David said,

The master list idea would be nice, but I think there will be just too many variables and might discourage use of the included thermometer to monitor ones progress. We could say x number of hours for sweaters, but the type of sweater, the size of the sweater and how tightly folded etc the sweater was put in would effect treatment time. I would recommend running the thermometer into the center mass of what you are heating and once it hits 120 give it another hour just to be sure. I love the different things you mentioned putting in the unit, who knew bed bugs could be into yoga?

Packtite owners must use their own judgment. Remember you are baking an item at 120-140 F. Even items which can usually be safely treated (such as leather shoes) may suffer effects in time. One has to use own’s own goog judgment.

Of course, if you have an infestation of bed bugs, you have to worry that even the cloth-covered Packtite might become infested while sitting around on the floor. Not to worry, David notes here,

… if you are worried about the outside of the unit being infested, you can remove the internal frame and put the canvas bag part in a dryer.

Thinking back on a short time ago when people used to put sealed things in storage for 18 months rather than keep potentially-infested items in the home after treatment, this is really quite a revolutionary option.

For people who are infested at work, or whose children are attending a school known to be infested, this may be a way of keeping bed bugs in clothing, backpacks and purses, from coming into the home.

You can see a video of Jeff White of Bed Bug Central talking about and demonstrating the use of the Packtite below.

Note: Bedbugger has an affiliate relationship with Packtite. If you purchase through the links here or via one of our other Packtite ads, part of the proceeds of your purchase go to help support the operating costs of Bedbugger.com, at no additional cost to you.

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University of Central Missouri (and other Missouri colleges) vs. bed bugs

nobugsonme — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:52:33 +0000

This article and video report from WCBD in Charleston reports that bed bugs have been found at colleges all over Missouri, including Northwest Missouri, Missouri State, and 70 cases at Wichita State.

However, the focus of this article is on the encounter between bed bugs and the University of Central Missouri:

It is a pest unexpected by college administrators.“We didn’t have them until about three years ago,” said Patrick Bradley, director of housing at the University of Central Missouri. At UCM, since the beginning of the last academic year, Bradley confirmed bed bugs in 32 rooms, treating many of them multiple times.

Some parents and students with infested rooms are angry, not only because those bed bugs keep returning, but because in some cases UCM has failed to fulfill it’s pledge to replace infested beds. Students say they discovered the discrepancy by marking their beds before officials displaced them to treat the room for bed bugs. Returning students then looked for their markings when they moved back into their treated rooms. Freshman Lauren Pulse was disturbed with the findings.

“It was the same mattress and the same bed frame,” Pulse said. “You ask them to do something and they don’t,” says freshman Molley Buckley

The university says it has since instituted tighter controls to ensure facilities employees dispose of bed bugs from infested rooms. “What we’re doing right now is everything we know,” Bradley said.

They may take a cue from the University of Florida, which decontaminates students’ infested items by heating them in a makeshift oven. Thermal methods may be very effective for treating mattresses, and would avoid the unnecessary expense of replacing mattresses.

Though I understand that students and parents think replacing beds is the solution, doing so actually does not ensure bed bugs have been removed from the room. If there are bed bugs there which persist after treatment, you may simply be giving them a new home.

Encasements are an option, though they must be treated with care so as not to rip. My own college had sealed mattresses (though I had no idea why at the time), and I wonder if colleges won’t start using these again.

The other thing UCM needs to think about is that experts say as many as 70% of people do not react to bed bug bites. Relying on students to react and then report the problem means many more students may have bed bugs, which feed and breed and spread, unknown to administrators.

It would be in the college’s interest to implement a proactive bed bug detection program. Bed bug sniffing k9s are not 100% accurate, but a good one is likely much more accurate than a human inspector. Texas A&M University has been flying bed bug detection dogs in to check for the pests before students start to complain of bed bug bites or bed bug sightings.

You can read the full article here or watch the video.

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Large Philadelphia Seniors’ Apartment Building Gets Thermal Remediation for Bed Bugs

nobugsonme — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:08:40 +0000

Action News 6 in Philadelphia reports that around a hundred senior citizens have been evacuated from the Coatsville Towers apartment building in downtown Philly because of a bed bug infestation.

Every resident has been moved out — some to stay with relatives, and 23 more were evacuated to a Norrisville apartment building by their management company (AIMCO) — during pest control treatment.*

The good news is that the entire building is being treated using thermal heat. Done properly by professionals who know what they’re doing, thermal heat should entirely eliminate the problem of bed bugs in this building.

There’s one catch: thermal has no residual. And bed bugs can potentially return in one of two ways:

Whoever or whatever brought bed bugs in the first time can do so again. Put another way, anyone can be exposed to bed bugs at any time.
Any of the residents may have potentially moved bed bugs with them and may have infested the place they stayed temporaily; they might even bring the bed bugs back again to the building when they return home.

This is not a reason not to use thermal methods: these things are true of all treatment methods to some degree. I think treatments that get rid of bed bugs in one shot are to be preferred for many reasons, and I love to see landlords consider them.

However, these possibilities are a reason to make sure residents understand the need to take precautions when returning to their homes, including laundering and carefully inspecting items. Residents and relatives who hosted them should be educated about the signs of bed bugs. Residents also need to know how to avoid bringing bed bugs home in future.

Frankly, if I were heat treating a building, I’d spring for a hot truck to bake any stuff people took out, before they evacuated. That, coupled with some bagged laundry and a good shower, could ensure the problem is cleared — at least for a good while — and ensure as well that family members or other alternate lodgings are not infested.

Many of the worst reports we read about in the news are senior citizens’ apartment buildings where bed bugs are allowed to thrive and spread, with minimal or sporadic treatment. It’s tragic when anyone is forced to live with bed bugs a moment longer than they need to; when the residents are elderly or disabled, it’s really shameful. So I really am very glad to see this story.

Click here to watch the ABC 6 video or read the accompanying text.

*AIMCO had some bad press about how they allegedly handled bed bug cases in another Philly building in the past. We can’t judge them based on either of these two press mentions, but for what its worth, the Coatsville tenants interviewed in this story described suffering with bed bug bites before the treatment was implemented, and seemed quite happy with the way their management company was responding to the problem.Similar Posts:

MSNBC: bed bugs go back to school

nobugsonme — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 06:57:04 +0000

MSNBC did a report on Friday about the problem of bed bugs on college campuses, warning students and their parents about bed bugs going back to school (or, for that matter, coming home from school).

Don’t be put off by the fact that Matt Lauer opens the segment by dropping the nursery rhyme bomb.

Watch the video below, and pay special attention to the system senior pest control technician Wayne Walker is using at the University of Florida: baking bed bug-infested items in a “makeshift styrofoam oven” constructed inside the room. Of course, the room itself also needs thorough treatment.

Please do not try this at home. But let’s all hear it for imaginative and creative professional bed bug killers!

Wayne Walker also stresses the need to educate students on how to avoid bed bugs.

We also hear that The University of California at Berkeley is using heat, cold, and pesticides to fight bed bugs.

Matt Lauer talks to Rick Cooper, who brings in a sample “mattress” with fecal stains, and talks about mattress encasements, how students bring bed bugs into their homes (and parents’ homes), and the difficulties of bed bug treatment.

(Bonus: watch Matt Lauer giggle in embarrassment at the phrase “fecal stains”!)

Along with other segments appearing in the print and tv news in the last week or so, I’d say this year marks the most back-to-college bed bug coverage we’ve seen yet.

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New Vancouver building installs “sauna” for decontaminating bed bug-infested items

nobugsonme — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:18:23 +0000

Wendy Stueck writes in today’s Globe and Mail that a new Vancouver apartment building is going to have a sauna for decontaminating bed bug-infested items. Talk about planning ahead:

. . . a housing complex under construction in Vancouver will include what’s been dubbed the “bedbug sauna,” a room where furniture, clothing and other belongings can be heated to a point that kills Cimex lectularius, the common bedbug enjoying a worldwide resurgence.

The idea was born of frustration with the rising cost of treating bedbug infestations and the desire to find some way to get rid of them that wouldn’t force people to throw away their belongings, says George Simpson, operations manager for RainCity Housing, the non-profit group that has ordered the bug room for a 92-unit complex now under construction.

“Inevitably, belongings had to be disposed of that couldn’t be treated or laundered,” says Mr. Simpson, for whom bedbugs have become a major headache in recent years.

The room will be big enough to hold mattresses and other bulky furniture, and equipped with technology that allows contents to be heated to a point that cooks bugs and their eggs.

It’s not a bad idea.

Parakeets fantasized about her idea of an apartment with attached sauna for decontamination purposes repeatedly on the Bedbugger yahoo group. And along similar lines, I spoke about getting items decontaminated (”sauna’d”) here and elsewhere.

I think it’s a great idea that people are thinking about ways to help people get rid of bed bugs in the future, even while constructing new developments.

The planners got advice from pest control firm Steritech:

The concept is sound, says Judy Black, technical director with Steritech Group Inc., a U.S. pest-control company that last year briefed Vancouver hoteliers on the pests.

“Bedbugs are relatively insusceptible to cold, but they are very sensitive to heat,” says Ms. Black, adding that Steritech is investigating heat as a control method.

A blast of sufficient heat – about 55 degrees [editor's note: 55 C = 131 degrees F], Ms. Black estimates, applied for a matter of minutes, not hours – would kill bugs without using pesticides that can leave rooms uninhabitable for days.

A room to heat large items may be advisable, so long as it meets applicable regulations, says the bedbug-prevention design guidelines from BC Housing. Currently, there are no standard heating units on the market.

The room could help rein in the cost of bedbug control – including compensation for staff members who pick up bedbugs on the job, which can amount to $800 or more. If the room proves effective, RainCity hopes it will become a model for other housing complexes in the city.

I am curious about some of the logistics about how the room will be used in bed bug treatment.

First, the management and tenants need to know how to safely get items to the room. They need to be sealed carefully in order to prevent infesting hallways, elevators, and other apartments en route.

Furthermore, the building needs to educate tenants about avoiding bed bugs in the first place. An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure, where bed bugs are concerned.

Finally, I am wondering about the logistics of decontaminating furniture while treating the apartment. Let’s say I have bed bugs in my apartment. My furniture could be removed and baked, but not all at once (the hot room is not that big). Will it then be placed somewhere else until the room is bed bug free and all the contents are as well?

It’s essential to remember that rooms, as well as furniture and other “stuff,” are infested with bed bugs. Returning uninfested items to an apartment where the structure or other remaining furniture or other items still contain bed bugs would simply mean those decontaminated items can be reinfested.

However, RainCity seems to be on top of their game, and so I assume all of this has been worked out by those doing the planning. It is a great idea to provide this kind of service, and with some forethought and education of tenants, this building is has the potential to deal with bed bugs more efficiently than many others.

I am especially excited that RainCity Housing is leading the way by being the first we know of to install a decontamination room in an apartment building. According to their website, they provide housing to people who are homeless, in transition, have mental health or drug issues, and other challenges. They believe everyone should have a home, and clearly, they believe everyone deserves a home without bed bugs. Bravo, RainCity!

As a side note, kudos are also due to the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, which is taking steps to help stop the spread of bed bugs. The article reminds us that:

The agency also educates landlords, outreach workers and housing agencies about bedbug control and provides some health care workers with “bedbug kits” that include an oversized Ziploc-type bag to hold briefcases and laptops to prevent bedbugs from hitching a ride from an infested site.

These are the kinds of small steps that can make a huge difference: a little knowledge and a cheap, reclosable ziploc. How expensive or hard is that?

I hope agencies in other cities (hello, New York!) will follow suit.Similar Posts:

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WPRI 12 News on bed bugs, pesticide resistance, and alternative bed bug treatments

nobugsonme — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:20:34 +0000

This item from WPRI 12 Eyewitness News takes a spin down the “pesticide resistance” road, with sound bites from a woman with bed bugs, Dr. Michael Potter (whose unofficial fan club is housed right here), an unnamed ThermaPure Heat representative talking about that technology, and Douglas Stern talking about Cryonite.

Stern stresses the need for a residual placed down after Cryonite in order to deal with bed bugs not knocked down by the process; one person in the forums has claimed to have had multiple Cryonite treatments and a persistent infestation.

Some additional non-pesticide options not mentioned are Vikane gas and the careful and diligent use of a steamer (preferably a dry steamer, to avoid mold and fungus growth). Steam is a lot of work, and most effective in experienced hands, but can seriously reduce your bed bug population. Coupled with dusts and pesticides, it is a viable option.

Thanks to the anonymous Bedbugger who pointed us to this video.

Click here to watch the film.
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Bed bugs in Detroit and Troy, Michigan

nobugsonme — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:33:07 +0000

Neal Rubin writes in a Detroit News Op-Ed column today that

At Rose Pest Solutions in Troy [Michigan], where Sheperdigian reigns as vice president for technical services, the number of bedbug jobs has risen from one or two in 2001 to about 160 last year, with continued rapid growth expected in 2008.

The article goes beyond the standard “bed bugs are in our area now” articles which are popping up weekly, delving into the origins of the problem, as well as various ways to get rid of bed bugs.

Interestingly, Rubin cites Sheperdigian as challenging the theory that bed bugs came back due to increased travel:

One theory says that bedbugs have reemerged because Americans are traveling more to countries where they never quite went away. The problem is, Sheperdigian says, his research shows we were traveling more in the ’80s and ’90s.

“This isn’t a matter of reintroduction,” he says. “There’s something deeper happening that we don’t understand.”

Rubin also cites Sheperdigian’s opinion on Cryonite:

. . . Sheperdigian’s opinion of one of the trendy new methods of bedbug-whacking, an icy carbon dioxide spray that’s supposed to freeze them in their creepy little tracks. He says it mostly blows them around.

As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on Cryonite, but I have not personally seen any effectiveness studies yet.

For good measure, the article also notes that, as far as treatment is concerned,

Rose Pest Solutions uses a combination of vacuums, steam and insecticides. Others favor bedbug-sniffing dogs or the equivalent of gigantic hair dryers.

None are foolproof.

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The Wall Street Journal on “new” bed bug-fighting tactics

nobugsonme — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:28:30 +0000

The Wall Street Journal published an article today mentioning some of the “new” methods of fighting bed bugs. The WSJ mentions Stern’s new Cryonite method, ThermaPure’s heat treatment, Bed Bugs and Beyond’s “poisonous gas,” and Advanced K9’s bed bug dogs.

We’re all familiar with all of these options, and in some cases, with other providers of heat, Vikane gas, and bed bug dog services. Nothing really “new” to us there.

However, I don’t think we were aware that

. . . researchers at the University of Minnesota are studying bedbugs’ behavior in an attempt to develop a trap that simulates a typical victim — a sleeping human.

Bring it on, University of Minnesota!

We do know that newbites (what we call Bedbuggers with newly detected bed bug problems) often jump on the latest treatments or the latest, flavor-of-the-month PCO that the last guy just mentioned “discovering.” And sometimes those are good choices. But it helps to be skeptical: we’ve learned grand claims of success should be taken with a grain of salt:

Companies pitching the latest eradication methods — such as heat or icy sprays — say they are more effective as well as more palatable for people worried about using pesticides. Yet entomologists caution there still are drawbacks: The cold spray might not reach every bug; dogs can miss hiding places high up in a room; and heating might cause bugs to flee to a cooler place in the home. Except for heating, the latest methods usually require the homeowner to go through the onerous process of clearing out rooms, drawers and closets, and washing or dry cleaning all clothing and linens.

“We don’t have any easy method of elimination,” says Michael Potter, a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky who has observed an increase in bedbugs through his research and work with pest-control companies. “We are looking for the silver bullet.”

And so far, there isn’t one.

More expensive options can be very successful. But the amount of money you pay does not necessarily correlate to the most effective treatment.
Vikane gas can be very effective if applied to a single-family home, but we’ve heard of one case where it had to be repeated (and, of course, we don’t know what went wrong in that case). Having one’s belongings professionally gassed and moving can also be effective, but be cautious: if everything isn’t gassed and a bed bug gets moved, or the new home has bed bugs, or one is still being exposed to bed bugs, then you’ve spent a lot of money only to re-treat later.

Of thermal and freezing, two other professional options that are on the more costly end of the spectrum, WSJ said:

Another solution is killing the bugs and their eggs by heating a room to between 120 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit for several hours. ThermaPure uses infrared heaters to uniformly heat the room, says President and Chief Executive David Hedman. Treatment costs between $500 and $1,000 per room. (Easily melted items like candles and lipstick must first be removed.)

At the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, Cryonite, made by CTS Technologies, a unit of Venteco PLC in London, aims to eradicate the bugs by dousing them with a snowy spray of carbon dioxide. A drawback: Some bugs can survive if they aren’t directly hit by the spray. Treatments cost between $600 to $700 per room, or as much as 50% more than a conventional chemical treatment, says Douglas Stern, managing partner of Stern Environmental, one of the companies using the method.

Different options are better for one person vs. another, one living situation vs. another, but the bottom line is: if the provider is claiming their method works well, ask to see research studies, and ask for a guarantee.

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