Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » General Topics
Questions on moving?
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ineedhelp
newbite
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 29offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 26 2011 13:22:10
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Hey everyone, im the latest bed bug statistic and have a few questions. Ive been planning on moving my flat for sometime coming up, and now having realized i have bed bugs i really plan on moving, and fast. My biggest concern is taking one or some with me. I am going to wash/dry my clothes(put them in ziplock bags or airtight bags, put inside plastic containers),and throw away the things i dont need.
My question is when it comes to things like electronics (lap top, tv, speakers, dvds, dvd players, little heater) and my guitar (and guitar case) how do i go about making sure there are no bed bugs?! Obviously i cant put them inside a dryer, and we do not have the pack tite like the USA unfortunately. (In England). Anyone have any experience with this? and moving itself? I going to rent another room and move slowly over period of a few weeks(so i can hopefully thoroughly check things)
As for normal things/clothes and such hot water and dryer (maybe twice each) should be sufficient yeah?
What ive done...ive had an exterminator out few days ago, sprayed my room, however supposed to stay here at night for few weeks, me being the host(food), which is mentally "eating me alive" both ways. One second im ok, next im completely freaking out. I am going to re-tape my bed with double sided tape tonight and try to get through next week. I am hoping this 1st treatment will be enough, and having a professional cleaner come out in 2 weeks time. I do want out of this place even more now, its lost its home feel to me (even if the matter was fixed). This is really hard mentally, and lack of sleep is not helping. I am sorry anyone has to go through this, complete nightmare..i feel so isolated.
Any feedback, tips, advice, kind words, and moving stories (especially with electronics) would be hugely appreciated. Many thanks, wih you all the best.
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 13,713offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 26 2011 13:26:18
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It is really easy to move bed bugs.
Do you rent a furnished flat or does any of your furniture come with you? If the bed or other furniture is coming with you, this is probably the most risky area.
In many cases, it might be better to get treatment before you move, and try to get rid of them, even if you want to move anyway.
It is possible to have bed bugs in electronic items, but it does not seem to be that common. Click the "electronics" tag for more discussions on this. (Or click here.)
A hot dryer will kill bed bugs in clean clothing, which should then be sealed airtight in a fresh plastic bag.
Items which can't be washed and dried are difficult to treat, but need to be dealt with to avoid spreading the problem.
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Zooi
newbite
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 26 2011 18:32:05
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Hello - I also have questions and concerns about moving.
First off, I would like to say that this site and forum have been tremendously helpful in providing great information of how to deal with bed bugs - thank you!
This is how it started...
We discovered we had bed bugs back in early December 2010 after my husband was bitten a few times (I may have been bitten, but did not show any visible marks) and we found small amounts of blood and black fecal spots on our linens. We found and captures 3 bed bugs on our bed and in the bathroom and had them inspected by a PCO (a company in NYC that was well reviewed on this site). They confirmed they were bed bugs and gave us options on how to proceed. We immediately contacted our super (we are in a rental in NYC). He contacted a PCO, who in turn got in contact with us to set-up a treatment schedule and provide us with instructions of how to prepare for the treatments. The company was very helpful and answered all my questions. We followed all the necessary steps regarding the cleaning and storage of clothing and personal items and how to prepare the apartment for treatment. It was a challenge! We followed steps provided by the PCO as well as recommendations from this site (such as the large zip-top bags which have been great!).We're not sure how we got the bugs, but at one point, we suspected they may be coming from another unit - we did find them in the bathroom which may be an indication of travel along the pipes between units.
The individual who came to treat our apartment the first time was wonderful. He took the time to answer all my questions. A second treatment was done within 3 or 4 weeks of the first treatment. We continued to follow all the PCO's recommendations post treatment. We did not return items to the bedroom and changed the DE every week. We sealed all the baseboard and cracks in the bedroom and sealed cracks around the pipes in the bathroom. We shellacked the floor in the bedroom and into the hallway. Basically tried to eliminate possible hiding spaces or points of entry. There was one corner in the bedroom we could not reach (because of the hot water pipe and radiator) and covers around the water pipes in the bedroom and bathroom are always loose. In the past few weeks, I noticed black spots on the linen but it was hard to tell if they were new. I thought they were, but in all honesty, I also thought I might be imagining it. My husband was convinced they were old. Everyday, I would check every inch of the bed looking for traces of bed bug activity. We lived out of zip-top bags until last week (March 19) at which point we returned items to our bedroom. No new bites, no blood, no bugs spotted (but those darn black spots looked suspicious).
Today, we found a bed bug. We feel completed defeated! We were so careful. We have no idea if this is a critter that survived the two treatments or if this is a bug that has travelled from another unit. We realized recently that there are a lot of empty units in our building (the building is not very well maintained, which is why we were planning to leave)...maybe they also had bug problems (?). We know that other units have had problems because our super informed us.
Anyways, we were planning to move in a year or so, but now, we want to move out as soon as soon as our lease it up (May 15). Although we are happy that our super fulfilled his legal obligation to pay for the treatment, the super does not maintain the building well at all and has not been very honesty with the building's community regarding bed bugs. We have spoken to neighbors about our experience and this was all news to them. Our super never informed tenants of adjacent apartments regarding our situation. It's possible that there may be a beg bug problem in the building, but I cannot confirm that (The PCO person did hint that there may be problem in other units if bug are coming through the bathroom).
I have read the information posted on the forum regarding moving. It looks like our best option is the fumigation in the moving truck and that the company "Moving Right Along" may provide the best options/opportunities. It is very expensive, but we may be willing to pay the money for peace of mind.
I am seeking advice/information/ideas about moving:
1. should we get our apartment treated again before we move?
2. Or should we just go for the fumigation in the moving truck instead?
3. Or a combination of both (which would be less than ideal money wise)?
4. Can anything be fumigated in the moving truck (I will also ask the moving company this question)?Anything we should consider? We really don't want to bring bugs with us and are so frustrated with the situation!
Thank you in advance for your help/assistance.
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 13,713offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 26 2011 20:29:36
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Zooi,
I would suggest a combination of both continued treatments (which should not be your responsibility) and treating items en route to the new home (Vikane or heat treatment of truck or pallet).
If you are sure the bug you found is a bed bug (?), then your landlord needs to start treating again. Did you save the evidence?
The law in NYC is that landlords have to get rid of bed bugs, not that they have to pay for a treatment or two. If more treatments are needed, they don't now become your responsibility.
You said you had one treatment and another 3-4 weeks later. Is that it?
Experts generally recommend retreatment within 10-14 days and most PCOs seem to do this. Some wait three weeks.
Traditional treatments with sprays and dusts don't tend to kill the eggs, which hatch after treatment. This is the reason multiple treatments are standard. It's also a reason for not waiting too long to get the next treatment.
It can often take more than two treatments, and so seeing a bed bug after two treatments does not mean they necessarily came from next door (though that's possible). It can also mean you did not get them all.
Passive monitors can be used to determine whether they're gone during the treatment process.
It sounds like you have reacted to bites in the past, but it's possible you were not reacting to them all or were reacting to larger numbers of bites at once.
You said,
We lived out of zip-top bags until last week (March 19) at which point we returned items to our bedroom.
Was anything sealed in bags that was not treated? (By treatment, I mean reliable methods like running clothing through a hot dryer, or putting items through a Packtite.)
Check your apartment in the NYC HPD website to see if others have complained about bed bugs to the city. Most probably don't even if they have them, so this is hardly definitive, but if anyone has, you can see the record.
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Zooi
newbite
Joined: Mar '11
Posts: 2offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 26 2011 21:35:13
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Hello Nobugsonme,
Thank you very much for your feedback and questions.
Yes, I did collect the bug using the same method (tape and paper) I had used to collect/catch the 4 previous bed bugs from our bedroom and bathroom in December. The original 4 samples were looked at by an exterminator and he confirmed they were bed bugs. This seems to be the same (although I should have it examined/confirmed).
We will inform our super immediately so that he can take action..which means we need to get back into bedbug treatment mode (urgh!). I may have been mistaken about the amount of time between treatments. Our first treatment was on December 29th and our second was on January 12th or 13th...which fits with the 10 to 14 days timeline recommended by experts. I guess I didn't realize that we would need more than 2 treatments; we were told two treatments would be good enough. What types of passive monitors would be use?
My husband reacted to bites, but I never found any bites on me or didn't reacted t bites, so I am not a good bed bug "litmus test". We treated all clothing with the clean and very high heat dry method, getting rid of the trash bags we used to carry the contaminated clothing and using new bags (the zip-top bags) to store clean clothing. Other items were treated using a rubbing alcohol solution or vacuuming and sealed in plastic bags, which I opened for the first time (since being sealed in December) last week and placed the content in plastic containers. We decided to store all loose items in containers and all linens in thick plastic containers with handles (VERY happy I decided to investment in these containers - my just in case measures). However, it is possible that bags in which we stored papers that were not "treated" with heat or rubbing alcohol may have contained bugs? Is that possible? How does one treat papers and books? (Freezer?).
I'm going to look into getting a packtite which looks like a great option/tool in dealing with bed bugs.
I will be making some calls on Monday to get more information about our options, but thank you kindly for all the information made available through this forum. It's helped us not "freak-out" completely again!
But we're still worried/frustrated.
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your host
Joined: Mar '07
Posts: 13,713offline
Posted 2 years ago
Sat Mar 26 2011 21:43:24
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Other items were treated using a rubbing alcohol solution or vacuuming and sealed in plastic bags, which I opened for the first time (since being sealed in December) last week and placed the content in plastic containers. We decided to store all loose items in containers and all linens in thick plastic containers with handles (VERY happy I decided to investment in these containers - my just in case measures). However, it is possible that bags in which we stored papers that were not "treated" with heat or rubbing alcohol may have contained bugs? Is that possible? How does one treat papers and books? (Freezer?).
Packtites can be used to treat papers and books.
Papers and books can contain bed bugs. It really depends on the individual situation.
Even items sprayed with alcohol or vacuumed may still contain bed bugs. Alcohol is a contact killer and will only kill bed bugs sprayed directly. Vacuuming is not entirely reliable and may leave eggs behind or bugs which did not come into direct contact with the vacuum.
Also, note the rubbermaid style plastic containers don't seal in an airtight manner. Was that the case with the ones you used?
You can read about passive monitors in the monitors FAQ and in the detection FAQ.
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trash-aint-treasure
junior member
Joined: Dec '11
Posts: 36offline
Posted 1 year ago
Wed Dec 14 2011 0:56:44
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What is the reason for changing the de every week?
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jrbtnyc
Member
Joined: Sep '10
Posts: 1,001offline
Posted 1 year ago
Wed Dec 14 2011 11:36:50
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Everyone please note this thread is nine months old, just so you realize at the outset before you start to read the fairly long and involved posts. I forgot to check, myself, so was reading for twenty minutes considering whether I could make any helpful suggestions to ineedhelp and Zooi, in addition to suggestions nobugsonme was already making.
Then I finally noticed, whoops, March 2011 so they may have long since resolved their situations.
In fact is that the case? If ineedhelp and Zooi have now successfully moved and beaten the bugs would they be interested in revisiting this thread to report?
Checking the individuals' post histories, I see ineedhelp last posted in April, just after moving...
http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/moving-questions-1
http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/bitten-and-unsure#post-106228
...whereas Zooi has not posted any more at all.
Because neither individual has posted in eight or nine months, I suspect they may no longer be visiting bedbugger.com so we may not hear from them to let us know how things have turned out for them.
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