Advice on treating a 3 level 5 bedroom house- Desperate

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Advice on treating a 3 level 5 bedroom house- Desperate

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losingmymindx5

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 14 2009 18:30:19
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Please Help! We first discovered bedbugs on August 6, 2009. We were leaving on a nonrefundable vacation in 5 days and were in a rush to get these rid of these bugs. We signed a contract with the only PCO that could come before we left. We have a 3 story 5,000 sq. foot house. They felt that only the master bedroom and the two rooms directly below it needed to be sprayed. We believed them. At that point we hadn't had the time to do much research and just wanted them gone. We were not given a lot of instructions before hand so we bagged and moved to a different room. They came and treated, our bedroom was bad but they saw no evidence anywhere else. The next morning before we left for vacation we started checking mattresses and found 3 in my daughter's room. They insisted we probably just carried them in there. Came back and treated our bedroom 2 weeks after initial treatment, slept there one night and bedbugs had a feast. They came back a third time. We are still sleeping in other room and finding an occasional bedbug. Then we found a few on the sofa in the room that backs up to our bedroom. Immediately called PCO out again. They thought only needed to treat 2 other bedrooms , family room and our room again. We told them we wanted the whole floor treated plus my son's room over the garage where they once again found no evidence. Just went up there and I found evidence under the sheet. They have not been back to treat two bedrooms downstairs or 3 living spaces down there. Insist there is no evidence there. We are now all living down there because we can't stand the thought of bugs eating us. I know not the best option but I am going out of my mind. We moved the dogs down, too. We gave them a bath, sprayed crate with rubbing alcohol but I have this sinking feeling they are here , too. One of our dogs has lots of bites, don't know if they are from a bed bug or not. Have I mentioned we have 5 kids? I have started washing everything and putting in ziplocs but we can't walk out the door immediately after we shower and change with 5 kids. I am really losing my mind. I don't know whether to insist they spray the whole basement or not. There is 7 of us sleeping here plus 2 dogs. If so, how do you prepare a house of this size to be treated. We have to prepare the upstairs this week because they are coming to treat it on Saturday. Not to mention we are maxing the credit cards to pay for all of this. I see no end in sight and don't know what to do next. By the way, we got a different PCO inspector to come out the second time because we didn't trust the first one. The second PCO inspector was much more thorough and brought help with him. We are still using the same company. We, also, think that the PCOs that spray are doing a really good job. Someone please give us some advice and talk me off the ledge. I don't know how much I can handle. How do you ever live normal again?
Nobugsonme

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 14 2009 18:56:47
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Thermal is an expensive option, but if you can afford it -- and it's done properly -- gets rid of the problem in one go.

I am not a pest pro so I am just speculating. There may be others who have more experience and can give much better feedback.

There may be traditional PCOs who will do a better job for you for the price your company is doing it. But it will not be gone as quickly as with thermal. It may be gone more quickly if the company does not select rooms to treat on a piecemeal basis, since it sounds like your home has a pretty widespread problem and you have a household of active pets and children.

Was the second inspector from the same company? If so, you need to be insistent that they get rid of the problem.

If not, I would go with the more thorough company.

How often are they re-treating the same area? They may need to treat (and re-treat) the whole house.

If they inspected daughter's room and then there were bed bugs on her mattress the next day, I would not assume it was due to you moving them around unless you had moved her mattress or other items in there (and obviously, you should not be exposed things around).
1aweekinlouKY

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 14 2009 19:13:47
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[quote]

Nobugsonme - 5 minutes ago »
Thermal is an expensive option, but if you can afford it -- and it's done properly -- gets rid of the problem in one go.
I am not a pest pro so I am just speculating. There may be others who have more experience and can give much better feedback.
There may be traditional PCOs who will do a better job for you for the price your company is doing it. But it will not be gone as quickly as with thermal. It may be gone more quickly if the company does not select rooms to treat on a piecemeal basis, since it sounds like your home has a pretty widespread problem and you have a household of active pets and children.
Was the second inspector from the same company? If so, you need to be insistent that they get rid of the problem.
If not, I would go with the more thorough company.
How often are they re-treating the same area? They may need to treat (and re-treat) the whole house.
If they inspected daughter's room and then there were bed bugs on her mattress the next day, I would not assume it was due to you moving them around unless you had moved her mattress or other items in there (and obviously, you should not be exposed things around).

You really should check into thermal treatment (fastest) and before you get any further regular reatment start thowing out everything in the house you do not absolutely have to have. Make this an opportunity to go minimalistic. Clothes that don't fit, stuff sitting around everywhere -in my house it is all GONE.

I have had them for 6 weeks. I tossed all but three mirrors and one photo of my son--every other wall hanging and mirror went out the door. The point is: sooner you de-clutter the house, the less places they have to hide. They are more than likely in every room of your home - I found one in my bathroom! They aren't even supposed to be in there!

I know how you feel, I really do. It is a nightmare. I have had 2 PCO inspections. The second one found bugs in my couch and chair. They went to the dump also. I now live on patio furniture with no cushions. Threw out my 25 year old hand made desk - it was wood. I probably will for the next 3 months. I did put my clothes back in closet because PCO said I could--I don't know if that was a good idea or not--guess I will find out soon enough!

My PCO said average time to get completely rid of these is 10 months. Your vehicles should be treated with Drione dust by the PCO. I self treated my home and wasn't comfortable with my skills, so that is when he came and found the ones in my couch.

I would advise against bagging anything for 18 months --I did and I regret it-now gonna have to deal with those bags in 18 months and hope nothing is alive. Buy Packtite and treat little stuff like that. Also, make sure your dryer gets to temp--mine goes to 130, wish it was higher, but hope it is killing them. I used a meat thermometer to test mine.

Hang in there, divine interevention is needed so seek it.
losingmymindx5

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 14 2009 22:01:31
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Thanks for the advice. I would like to believe they are good PCOs. I think the first one that came chose the wrong rooms to treat and we didn't know any better. Our bedroom has been treated 3 times and will be treated Saturday for the 4th time. The PCO recommended on his last visit that we treat it again. We do not pay for additional treatments. The downstairs bedrooms have only been treated once but there was never any sign of bedbugs in there. I don't think thermal is an option where we live. I haven't been able to find anyone. We have been told that our house would not withstand thermal. Don't know if that is true or not. I just wish this nightmare would end. We spent the night throwing away almost all of my 10 year old son's things. He is going to be so upset when he sees everything missing. I feel so sorry for my kids, they will never forget this time in our lives. I try very hard to hold it together around them but I can't talk without crying. We were also planning to move at the end of the school year but I am sure the value of our house just plummeted. Thanks for letting me vent. This is not something you can talk to just anyone about. I don't think a person can possibly understand until they have been through it themselves. I appreciate any advice anyone can give. We need all the help we can get. Do you think we should insist that the whole house be treated? Does anyone ever treat the garage? Once again, thank you!
spideyjg

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 14 2009 22:17:57
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What part of the country are you in?

Jim
nervousaboutbedbugs

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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 14 2009 22:25:01
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I'm certainly no expert, but it sounds like your problem is probably wide-spread in your home. De-cluttering will definitely aid any treatment (my husband and I threw away a lot of clothes, exercise mats that had 2 inches of dust, etc.), but until you get a handle on how you're going to proceed, don't throw away things that are valuable or sentimental to you. For one thing, you don't want to be walking through your house with infested items and possible dropping bedbugs as you go.

I'd recommend looking into Thermal or Vikane - Vikane is temperature sensitive, but very effective if the weather is still warm enough in your area.

Good luck.
Nobugsonme

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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 0:52:54
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I would not throw anything out if I was going to look into thermal (again, not sure that's an option).

Besides that, I am not big on throwing things out. I think most people do it more than they should.

Real hoarding situations or severe clutter, or stuff you really do not ever need or want around again are one thing, but in most cases, I think people do not need to throw out stuff they need unless a knowledgeable pro pushes them to. Smaller items absolutely not -- esp. when you have options like Packtite (yes, $289, but most people in this situation probably salvage more than that amount just by not tossing wanted things).

Regarding treatment, I hope some pros would weigh in on whether they'd simply treat a whole house if so many rooms had bed bugs.

Sounds like they have previously said rooms did not need treatment that the next day had three bed bugs spotted in them -- now, as I said, unless you dragged stuff into the room, they are may have missed something. They may have missed those bed bugs.

That's easy to do if it's a quick inspection, but (unless you are moving your stuff from room to room) I don't think they should be blaming this on you. It rather sounds like all rooms needing treatment are not getting it.
bugfreebed

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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 5:47:19
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At this point be over a month into the process and having moved where you've been sleeping the whole house needs to be done although I've never treated a garage . As hard as it is to stay in your bed I really belive when you take all host out of an area it makes the treatments that much harder . Either the BB stay hidden or start spreading out futher and futher . Thermal would be a good option if it was in your area .
losingmymindx5

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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 6:46:47
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We are in North Carolina. In the upstairs room over the garage, I only found one spot of blood on the mattress encasement after taking off the sheet. Now that we are living downstairs, I see some a couple of suspicious spots on one of the beds that has been treated but not sure. We may have carried some of this with us, I have no way to know for sure. I do believe that it was a big mistake not treating the family room that backed up to the bedrooom to begin with. I do blame that on the PCO. He should have advised us of that. We are already up to about 2,000 with the company we are currently using. They do use at least 3 different chemicals that appear to be affective in our room that has now been treated 3 times. It will probably be about another 1,000 to do the whole house. I hate to go with another company when we have already invested so much money. They don't do any other type of treatment. I think they do well with the treatment I just think the original PCO(with the same company) that inspected gave us bad advice. Our bedroom on first inspection had over 30 visible bugs in it. We were seeing bugs for awhile before I thought anything of it. Unfortunately our room was where I did laundry, stored stuff, and then sent it to the rest of the house. In the amount of time before we discovered the problem, anything is possible. Please continue to give advice. Any tips on getting out of the house with no bugs would be appreciated, too. We have seen no actual bugs on the floor we are now living on just a couple of suspicious spots that I am not sure about. We think the cars are clean, haven't seen anything in them that we thought we were bedbugs but at this point we are not sure of anything. My car was professionally cleaned this weekend with steam so we are hoping if they were any there they are now gone. Average temperatures here are now around 85 degrees so it isn't hot enough in the care anymore. Once again, thanks for any and all advice. This site manages to keep me a little more sane.
bugfreebed

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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 15:13:31
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I would say that if someone in your family that reacted to the bites was willing and able to sleep in your room ( or any other room in ?) for a night or two a week is one of the best was to test and track the progress thats being made
losingmymindx5

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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Sep 15 2009 20:52:33
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Thanks, unfortunately none of us really react until it gets bad. When our bedroom was at its worse I got lots of small rashes that constantly itched. Nobody else has every experience any reaction to bites. You would think with 7 of us that our odds would be better. So we have to rely on the visual signs. I am pretty sure they are in almost every room in the house. PCO said they would do the additional 3 large rooms, bathroom and 3 closets for 400 so we are going to treat the whole house and then try to go back and sleep in all the rooms again. Of course now I have the feeling they are in the cars, too. Don't know what to do about that yet. I keep seeing these things that I think may be casings but aren't sure.
2manybb

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Posted 3 years ago
Tue Oct 13 2009 10:29:27
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I read this post and I am living your nightmare. My story is similar, 3 kids, 1 dog. Also have a large house and now the bb are traveling around it. We were all sleeping in my room. last night my daughter got bit. She was sleeping on an air mattress in my room. I am freaking out because now where do we go. I haven't told the kids we have bb, they think the bites are hives.
got the bb in July from a boy staying with us from NYC