55 day rule... or what my PCO says? « Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums

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55 day rule... or what my PCO says?

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amysee

newbite
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 4

Posted 5 months ago
Wed Jun 24 2009 11:06:20
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Hello fellow bedbuggers!

I'm in a bit of a quandary and I was hoping those of you with some experience and success could weigh in.

I have bed bugs in my apartment in Seattle (a city where bed bugs are not widely understood). Found a PCO (Bug Busters) who seem to know their stuff, at least by local standards.

Their treatment plan is pretty intense: four treatment visits spaced two weeks apart, and they require clients to do the full prep with linens, take everything out of bookshelves and drawers so they can spray furniture, vacuum weekly, wash linens every three days, bag up the mattress and box spring, etc. I don't know all the chemicals they're using (though if it's helpful, I can ask!), but I do know they left several Gentrol disks around the apartment and told me to leave them there for 90 days, and they are also spraying with something at each of the 4 treatments.

PCO tells me that after the third treatment, I can take everything out of bags and put my apartment back together again. But I read here that the rule of thumb is that we should be re-assembling our lives only after 55 days without a bite-- and at Treatment 3, I will only be 14 days bite-free, assuming I'm not bit again, like, tonight.

Here I finally ask my question: Which do I believe? 55 days, or Treatment 3?

Of course, my number one concern is to do whatever it takes to ensure that the bed bugs are gone for good (until of course I accidently bring them in from somewhere else. Ha-ha. Just kidding. Right?). I also don't think my infestation is particularly bad. Even during the Serious Biting/Totally In Denial and Pretending We Had Fleas phase, neither I nor my boyfriend were getting eaten up that much, and after reading some horror stories here I can tell you, my situation could be a lot worse. In addition, I bought a PackTite and our plan is to cook absolutely everything before we put it back in drawers and on shelves, just to be certain; and we are regularly dousing our couch (the only remaining fabric item not encased in plastic!) in 91% rubbing alcohol. I am also considering some serious baseboard/wall crack caulking in the bedroom.

However, as I'm sure you understand, about 2/3 of my apartment is just storage right now, and 1/3 is livable space. Which in my case means just over 200 square feet. So my second concern is that seriously, if we can't unpack all this stuff soon, my boyfriend and I will probably murder one another. Many of you can relate to this I'm sure.

So... thoughts? I appreciate any input you have on my situation!
buggyinsocal

oldtimer
Joined: Jun '08
Posts: 1,130

Posted 5 months ago
Wed Jun 24 2009 11:26:53
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I have very little advice for you, but I can tell you what worked for me.

Bed bugs made me temporarily crazy. I think anyone with any tendencies toward anxiety or OCD can be driven to extreme lengths. I still get a little twitchy after I fly, worried at the statistically highly unlikely possibility that in the hold of the plane or an overhead bin, my bag could pick up a hitch hiker or two of the bed bug variety.

Once you've done all that prep work, you want to go back to normal, but you also don't want to reintroduce bugs.

So, what would I do after treatment #3? I think what you're asking is what's a reasonable line to draw. After all, we could all live in ziplocks forever, but really, that would suck.

Well, after treatment #3, I would put anything that wasn't launderable back in its place. Why? Taking books off of book shelves allows the PCOs easy access. It doesn't contribute to treatment in any other way and/or allow you to avoid much labor (beyond having to move them again if the PCOs need to do an additional treatment.) Except perhaps to provide fewer harborages, but the thing is? You're going to have those books on the shelves for the rest of your post bed bug lives, right? So, yeah. After treatment #3, put the non launderable items back.

I found it helpful while I had a bed bug infestation to pull out a certain subset of clothes that I wore during treatment. I chose items that could be washed and dried in hot temps, and I bought three cheap outfits to wear in the house that even if the labels didn't say that they could handle the heat, I wouldn't care if they got trashed. I just wore those three outfits in the house. (I was doing a staggering frequent amount of laundry anyway, so that wasn't an issue.) I had some work clothes set aside, but here's how I handled those. They would get laundered and put into sealed clean bags. I would shower in the morning, put those clothes on immediately after showering (I just took the ziplocks into the bathroom), and then immediately leave the house without sitting down. When I got home at the end of the work day, I stripped those clothes off and put them immediately into clean bags, and then changed into my "house clothes." I think a lot of people use some variation on that during treatment.

However, after treatment #3, I would not put all my launderable items back in their spots, at least not without keeping the ones you are not currently using bagged. Here's my rationale for that. Moving items in and out of furniture or closets is work, but it's not work that costs you any money.

If after treatment #3 you find you still have bugs, or after treatment #4, you'll have to have the PCO in again. The PCO may or may not want you to go back to pretreatment everything isolated stage. But simply moving bags of fabric items or books or pots and pans or what have you out of cabinets, closets, and furniture is a pain in the ass, but it doesn't cost you anything.

I don't know about you, but a lot of my clothes aren't supposed to be washed in warm or hot or dried on anything other than low. As a result, I didn't want to have to rewash items. Leaving the items you're not wearing/using bagged will cut down dramatically on how much laundry you would have to redo if you're not clear after treatment #3.

That's why I wouldn't leave any items, fabric or otherwise, bagged past the end of treatment if the items in those bags hadn't been treated in some way. That is to say, if you bagged up and sealed books that hadn't been Packtited, unbag those as soon as the PCO tells you to. If there are stragglers in there, they need to be lured out and cross the residual chemicals while you're still being treated.

But keeping the fabric items you're not using bagged, even if you put them back into your drawers in bags, will mean not having to redo the laundering that costs money and is such a hassle.

Caulking can be a useful tool, but I wouldn't do that until you're sure you're bed bug free, as caulking while you have bugs can make them harder to treat.

The other thing to consider is passive monitors and/or a good bed bug K9 team once you think you're clear and the last treatment is done. The heart of your question is basically how do you know the bugs are gone, and that's the question that all of us ask. Passive monitoring devices once you're clear and/or an inspection from a K9 team might help you make that decision sooner.

Hope that helps.
amysee

newbite
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 4

Posted 5 months ago
Wed Jun 24 2009 11:36:31
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Thanks, buggyinsocal. You make a lot of sense-- let the stragglers out of our books etc. to come into contact with the chemicals (unless I've already killed them with the PackTite first... which is nice to think about ;) ), but keep the non-essential fabrics encased until I'm absolutely sure.

My boyfriend and I definitely followed the advice of many folks here and isolated just a few clothes to wear during this process, so I think we will be comfortable continuing to live that way essentially until summer's over and we need to dig out our sweaters again.

Have you used a passive monitoring device that you would recommend?