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Help! the entire building has them except us!
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surrounded
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Joined: Sep '08
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Posted 4 years ago
Tue Sep 9 2008 17:27:53
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I just found out yesterday that every apartment in my 6 unit building has bedbugs. next door they have had them for a year or more, because they never exterminated when the tenants first complained. i just found out about this.
my boyfriend and i have no bites of consequence (i have had three small mosquito-like bites in the last three weeks, and there are mosquitoes in the apt. he has had none), i have checked the bed and mattress, seams and all, and see nothing. no bloodstains, nothing. i think we are clear.but how the hell do we keep them out?? its a pre-war building, no remodeling. we have gone over the edges of the rooms where there might be cracks with caulk. I've sealed a door to the hallway with caulk. we have sealed with caulk the heating pipes and radiators (as well as we can)
the exterminator is coming tomorrow. they are doing all units in the building. it is a low rent exterminator and i dont expect them to be very thorough. what can we do to ensure they dont get into our apt? or should we move?
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Marixpress
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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 11:43:04
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Don't assume you don't have them. Treat your apartment exactly as you DO have them. You could have them and never know it. My family and I don't have bites but do find bloody bbs. Thank god or else we wouldn't even know we had any.
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surrounded
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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 11:56:02
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yes that is what i am doing. i had the exterminator spray the bedframe and mattress, and couch. washed everything, got encasements, got a flashlight and have been obsessively inspecting items in the bedroom. At least if we have them we dont have them very bad, as i can find no signs whatsoever.
I specifically asked the landlord, before we moved in, if there had been any bedbug problems in the building and he said no. that was clearly a lie. unfortunately i didnt get it in writing. -
Marixpress
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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 11:57:53
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ahhh! good luck! Caulk the crap out every since room!
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Marixpress
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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 11:59:49
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oops *single room
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Itchy-Scratchy
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Posted 4 years ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 13:42:29
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Marixpress - 1 hour ago »
ahhh! good luck! Caulk the crap out every since room!Wow, Marixpress, you're starting to sound like spideyjg!
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surrounded
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Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 79offline
Posted 4 years ago
Thu Sep 11 2008 23:46:24
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we are on day 4 of this misadventure. we have done a real number on the bed, following some advice from the Cornell booklet. we have a a foam mattress on a simple wood frame, so we took the frame apart, painted it white, caulked up all holes, put it back together and gaff taped over all bolt holes, etc. then put the mattress in an encasement. i have still yet to find any signs of bugs, and i've been over everything with a magnifier and flashlight. bedframe, picture frames, candlelabras, shelves, inside and out of the nightstand, etc. radiator, where i did find some weird egg cases, but they were oval and hard brown, like a nutshell almost, very tiny and stuck in webby stuff. i think spider nests of some kind. ick. I sprayed them with Good Night. but no signs of bedbugs. so we may not even have them, but now they have less places to hide and will be easier to find if they do come creeping in. I also used caulk and microfoam to seal up a door that led from our bedroom to the hallway, and is next to the bedroom door of a VERY infested apartment. i think i will even go over that seal with another layer. and we went thru 4 bottles of caulk, sealing pipes and baseboards, etc.
whew.
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Don't assume that you don't have them.Please check for them properly as they are fast movers and one may not even guess where it may hide. Take care.
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surrounded
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Joined: Sep '08
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Posted 4 years ago
Sat Sep 13 2008 0:17:16
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yes i hear you i am not assuming i dont have them. I think it is just easier for me to deal with if i tell myself "of course we dont have them, but we need to take every possible precaution JUST IN CASE". It feels less hopeless. It would really be a miracle if they skipped us on their crusades thru the building. but i hold out hope. and every piece of furniture that is inspected and washed and caulked, is one less place they are hiding. and yes, i am inspecting properly, i think. using small flashlight, and a magnifying glass, and looking for any sign or spot. inside and out of furniture, bed etc. i shudder to imagine the closet, which is close to the bed and was sloppily built with raw wood and crevices galore. i havent dealt with it yet, aside from caulking the floor and edges. maybe i should just spray good night in there? or better yet, use a steamer? my landlord has a steamer, and i plan to borrow it this weekend.
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Adele
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Joined: May '08
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Posted 4 years ago
Sat Sep 13 2008 2:12:28
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I think the larger question is - what the heck is this guy doing to eradicate them from the building?
if the entire building is so infested everywhere - I fear you may be fighting a losing battle - or one that you may lose at some point
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surrounded
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Joined: Sep '08
Posts: 79offline
Posted 4 years ago
Sat Sep 13 2008 12:50:19
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we are already in the extermination process. the PCO has done a first visit, and treated all units at once. they are due back in two weeks. I am in the process of going thru everything in the bedroom, and either washing/caulking/spraying etc. I gave the landlord the Guidelines from Cornell University, and he is going to xerox them and give them to all tenants. He was totally ignorant about bedbugs before, but now he is terrified. He's an alright guy, and with pressure will do the right things, i hope.
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ghostbitten
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Joined: Sep '09
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Posted 3 years ago
Sat Sep 5 2009 21:57:45
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Curious about those guidelines---could you link me? I'm at the start of my own infestation and the ll is refusing to tell other units, saying I would be 'ostracized' if I did so myself. Be nice to send a copy of the guildines to him.
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cilecto
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Posted 3 years ago
Sun Sep 6 2009 0:49:59
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The Cornell IPM guidelines, among lots of other useful resources, can be found on this site's links page http://bedbugger.com/links/
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DragonFlight
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Joined: Feb '09
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Posted 3 years ago
Mon Sep 7 2009 10:37:40
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If her whole building has them, and the adjacent unit has a bad infestation. She may have isolated her self very well, she may have isolated her self to the point nothing can get in and nothing can get out. This is the positive thing but if other apartments have them, they are dropping from them because they are in there clothes etc, so she has to enter & exit the building fast when she leaves and makes sure she stays far away from those around her that have them and make sure that there are no entry points for them to get into her apartment.
Then her next stage is either stay living in the building or move out, problem is moving out she is going to have to take extra care that bed bugs outside of her unit that could fall from the other units don't get into her stuff upon moving so she can move bed bug free out of that building. Or she can stay but she will be have to be on top of it on a daily basis which is already could bring some stress to her just so that she doesn't get them.
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