I'm Moving -- Question about books, dishes and a few other things

Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Reader questions (do not fit into other categories)

I'm Moving -- Question about books, dishes and a few other things

(7 posts)

Tags:

tiredinithaca

junior member
Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 42
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Tue Jul 21 2009 12:51:26
#

Login to Send PM

Hello All!

I'm finally in the process of moving to a new, hopefully bedbug free apartment! I am moving slowly, over the course of the next week, so that I can be very careful and deliberate about hauling my stuff into the new apartment. This is especially convenient, because the new apartment is about 1.5 blocks away. So for example, I am washing and drying all of my clothes in the old apartment, putting them into ziploc bags, carrying the bags over one by one (or two by two, if I can handle it), going to the wash room and drying them yet again for 30-60 minutes -- JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.

Question Number 1: Assuming the new place is bedbug free (an assumption I will never ever make again, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed), do I need to bag these de-bugged clothes, or can they go in the closet? I assume they can go in the closet.

Question Number 2: There's been some recent posts about vikaning or heat treating dishware. Is that really necessary? I mean, dishware seems easy enough to inspect for eggs, and I'm assuming it's easy enough to get rid of nymphs and adults with a good washing. Am I being lazy here? Would they really want to lay eggs on dishes, and in the odd case that they did, why wouldn't a visual inspection of plates and bowls be enough?

Question Number 3: Books
The hardest part of this move are books. Given the recent tests of tightly packed suitcases in the Packtite that did not seem to get internal temps up to 120 degrees quickly enough in the 4-hour period, I'm getting concerned that the books I'm treating in the packtite might also have some cool spots. The books (inside and outside) get pretty hot to the touch after 4 hours, and the thermometer registers upwards of 140 degrees after 4 hours. Even though paper is an insulater, I think that once it reaches a certain temperature, because the books are solids, they get pretty hot all throughout. But who can I be sure? I'm thinking about heat treating, but then putting into ziploc bags, putting the bags into rubbermaid containers and duct-taping the containers shut for 18 months. The books are precious to me, but I won't need to read any of them in the next 2 years, since I've already read most of them.
gotbugs

newbite
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 6
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Tue Jul 21 2009 15:58:11
#

Login to Send PM

I brought two bags of clothes at a time to the new place, washed and dried them again. I still stored them in bags just to be safe.

For dishware, I boiled water then poured it into the sink which had all the dishes and plates. Then I took them out and stored them in plastic bins.

It's been 4 weeks for me & I did not get any bites.
ThisSucksButWillWin

newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 6
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Fri Jul 31 2009 12:25:18
#

Login to Send PM

Hey, I'm going through the same thing! I'm moving and getting rid of everything. No dishes for me to worry about. However, I have electronics. I I just got a new laptop and it has sit on my bed. I believe anything is a form of travel for these little creatures! Anyway. The laptop is bagged for now and I have a month to move. So I am buying all new stuff at ikea(bed desk) and taking all my clothes the the laundrymat near my new place. I will then wash and dry very hit and long hen rebag in plastic. I am going into this new place fresh. I hav a drumset and a guitar amp hat I may just get rid of. I need this problem to be done. And a close inspection on my laptop will hav to do. I hate to open it up to check the key board, but those little buggers could be in there. Keep me posted on your progress please
cincybug

newbite
Joined: Jul '08
Posts: 19
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Sat Aug 1 2009 21:35:15
#

Login to Send PM

I'm moving and planning to use the boiling water or rubbing alcohol to spray down all dishes before packing them. I have all my clothes bagged up now and I'm going to put each ziplock through my Packtite before putting it directly into my car. It will take much longer to pack, but I think this is a good way to be sure they're not travelling with me.

As far as clothes, I plan to rewash or packtite anything I take out of ziplock bags just to be safe and then to put small batches into my new closet. No need to unpack everything all at once if you're not going to use it. I say, leave it in the bags as long as you can. I plan to put my dirty laundry in ziplocks too. I have tons of them, after all, and don't think I'll ever feel safe with clothes on the floor again!

I'd love to hear comments from others about moving precautions. Seems we never can be careful enough, though I often feel OCD taking so many precautions.
ThisSucksButWillWin

newbite
Joined: Jul '09
Posts: 6
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Tue Aug 4 2009 17:08:50
#

Login to Send PM

Wow. I'm going to one one straight wash and extra long hot dry followed by inspection fold then pack clothes into clean new clear plastic bags. Laundrymat is near new apartment. No packtite for me as I can't afford it now. I am going to pour boiling hot water over my flip flops, which I have inspected to satisfaction, before zip lock bagging and rebagging. If you visually inspect each dish how could there be a bug . I mean, they are not invisible, no?
tiredinithaca

junior member
Joined: Dec '08
Posts: 42
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Tue Aug 4 2009 17:48:30
#

Login to Send PM

So, I am also in the process of moving from my apartment to a new one. I decided to have a K9 inspection of my new place once most of my stuff was moved over, to see if I brought anything, or whether anything was there waiting for me.

Here were my procedures. I'll give the results at the end... :o(

1. Books and work files were put in batches through a packtite for 6 hours. I found that it took about 2-3 hours to get books up to 130 degrees and by 6 hours they were 150 degrees. Of course, I wasn't very sure whether there might not be a cold spot deep inside somewhere, so I then bagged the books and files into a ziploc. My new apartment is a block away, and my leases overlapped by 1 week, so I was moving them in batches. Once I had the books all done, for instance, I carried them down to the parking lot of my current building, which is a pretty secure place. I then went back upstairs, showered, changed into freshly dried clothes that were in a ziploc, went to the new apartment, picked up a couple boxes of XL Ziploc bags, came back to the parking lot, and re-bagged everything. That way, the books and files came in fresh Ziploc bags that had never been in my old apartment.

2. I did the same thing with two large, framed photographs I received as gifts from a photographer friend of mine. Other posters, I threw out....

3. I put my cd's (about 300) through my packtite. I opened each jewel case, put them back to back in the packtite, and heated for about 1.5 hours. I found that the cd cases and the cds got hot pretty quickly. I slipped the temperature probe of the thermometer inside one cd jewel case, that I popped apart and then closed as much as possible around the temperature probe. The cd's hit 130 degrees in about 30 minutes, and I let them cook for another 30-60 minutes. I was able to do them in batches of about 50 at a time, which meant about 6 batches. LIke the books, I put the baked cd's into XL Ziploc bags, took the bags downstairs to the parking lot, re-bagged, brought to the new apartment, and then double bagged.

4. Did the same thing with clothes, but used a dryer for 2 hours instead.

5. I then put all those Ziploc bags (except those with clothes) into BugZip liners (mediums). I used gorilla tape (better than duct tape) to tape the zipper at the far end.

6. I then put all those BugZip liners into extra bedbug proof mattress encasements. This is my final line of defense against any lingering eggs/bugs.

7. Finally, I boiled metal and glass nicknacks, dishes, silverware.

8. The clothes are bagged and standing in my bedroom. I haven't decided what to do yet. I'll probably dry them again, just to make sure... But I would GUESS that once I've taken those precautions, they should be fine and can go in the closet.

RESULTS:

The K9 inspected my new apartment and found no signs of bedbugs in the infrastructure of the apartment itself -- nothing in closets, along the walls, etc. He DID however alert twice to things I had brought over: One bag filled with papers and files that I did NOT put into a mattress encasement because I need those papers for my ongoing work projects, and he alerted to something in the mattress encasement. Because the mattress encasement is closed, and I don't want to open it, I'm not certain which items were in the mattress encasement at the location where the dog alerted. The two mattress encasements are twin sized, and the dog alerted at one end of one of the encasements. I think at that end were either cd's or books. Sooooo... it seems that despite my preparations, I did bring something into the new apartment.

Fortunately, most of the stuff I brought I don't really need for 18 months. I have a lot of music on my laptop, the books I can get in the library, and old personal files (tax forms, receipts, photo albums) aren't terribly urgent. Books, cds, photo albums, and files are the things I put into the Ziplocs, then into the BugZip liners and then into the mattress encasements, along with the two framed photographs. There they will remain in storage for 18 months minimum. My fear is the Ziploc bag of files that I need for my current research. They are currently in my living room, double bagged. I may put them through the Packtite again, but in smaller batches for a longer period of time. The K9 handler suggested microwaving the papers, but I don't have a microwave. I might freeze them, but I'm worried about the mixed reviews regarding freezing as a technique to kill bedbugs.

And of course, I'm afraid that the dog might have missed bugs in other things I brought over.

And then, there is the story of my work office... The dog swept the office 4 times and alerted to nothing. But then, on a 5th sweep, he alerted to two cardboard boxes filled with files and books. The handler unpacked one of the boxes, quickly examining the books and files. I put those directly into a Ziploc bag. He then examined the cardboard box, inside and out. We saw nothing -- no fecal matter/spots, no bugs, no cast skins. But then we broke the box down and put into another Ziploc bag, and the dog once again alerted to that bag.... Bug or no bug???? The dog was definitely getting tired at that point, so was he alerting mostly because of fatigue and hunger?

So though I am 80% confident that my apartment situation is contained or containable, I am totally unsure about the situation of my office... :o(
OutOutDarnBugs

member
Joined: Feb '09
Posts: 188
offline

Posted 3 years ago
Tue Aug 4 2009 18:01:46
#

Login to Send PM

I've heard that when a dog does a sweep of a room over and over again (like with your office), there's the potential for false alerts. Correct me if I'm wrong, those of you who know k9s better than I, but it's possible that, since the handler kept bringing the dog around, the dog begins to wonder whether or not s/he SHOULD be alerting to something.

I could totally be off... it's just something I heard along the way, and maybe something to think about. If the smell was there in the box, wouldn't it have alerted before the 5th time around your office?