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Throw out my Broom?

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bunnybedbug

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Joined: May '09
Posts: 60

Posted 9 months ago
Thu Jun 11 2009 14:19:36
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Hi, Team -

Wondering today about my brooms(s). Seems like a good place for BB to hide. Here's what I found from 2 yrs ago:

"One more thing HighNoon: Spray the bottom of your broom. Pestaway here in NYC has learned at a big convention for PCO's...that using a broom or a vacuum cleaner head with a brush on it..actually spreads bugs and eggs! YES. Isnt that disgusting? So my advice...spray the broom before and after sweeping."

Spray it with what? or just toss them and rely on Vac?

thanks
bbb
lil_bit_obsessed

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Joined: Dec '07
Posts: 495

Posted 9 months ago
Thu Jun 11 2009 15:05:42
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maybe this is just because i'm not a huge fan of pesticide - but i'm thinking that it might be easier (and maybe even more effective) to just soak your broom in a tub of steaming hot water every once in awhile. if it's plastic (as most are) then it should have no trouble standing up to repeated soakings.

this could potentially be a better approach in two ways:
1) reduces the amount of pesticide you have to spray
2) steaming hot water has the potential to kill BOTH bugs and eggs, while pesticide *usually* only kills the bugs, and not the eggs.
bunnybedbug

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Posted 9 months ago
Thu Jun 11 2009 15:21:17
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good idea
how long to soak?

bbb
lil_bit_obsessed

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Posted 9 months ago
Thu Jun 11 2009 22:23:13
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good question. personally when i soaked things in the tub i would use steaming hot water (be careful you don't burn yourself!). when the water had cooled enough that i could easily put my hand into it, i would take the items out. then i would refill the tub with steaming water all over again and soak another item. not sure how long the items would have been there, perhaps a half hour? i imagine that it was a bit of overkill. but it made me feel better. :)
losingit

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Posts: 292

Posted 9 months ago
Fri Jun 12 2009 8:38:28
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I have a cheapie old metal bedframe and once every couple of weeks, (as a precaution, I've never had bb in my apt), I fold it up, place it in a plastic bucket in my bathtub, the top parts rest against the wall of the shower, and pour several pots of freshly boiled water over it from top to bottom. The metal gets so hot I can't touch it, so I'd sure it would kill anything hiding.

Reminds me of the medieval days when they used boiling oil to protect the walls of their castles!
lil_bit_obsessed

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Posts: 495

Posted 9 months ago
Fri Jun 12 2009 13:26:13
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losingit - i have heard of this approach before! (the boiling water on bedframe, that is)

apparently in the early 1900s this was a common way of treating items that were infested.

i would hesitate to use boiling water on wooden furniture items though, might damage them, wouldn't you think? when i had to decontaminate items several years ago i used steaming hot water on plastic/metal items (completely submurged in the tub) and murphy's oil soap on wooden items (a thorough spray, even into the cracks, and turned the furniture upside down to clean the undersides and insides as well) . my pco at the time told me that murphy's oil soap kills bbs by suffocating them. (apparently they get oxygen through their shells or something, and it coats the shell)
losingit

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Posted 9 months ago
Fri Jun 12 2009 13:36:47
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Yeah, I'd never use boiling water on wood or anything 'damageable'.

I've read that in warmer climates, years ago, people would drag their mattresses out of their homes and do the boiling water thing all over them and leave them to dry in the hot sun. Not something you could do in a major city today, I guess:(
lil_bit_obsessed

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Posted 9 months ago
Fri Jun 12 2009 13:47:50
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yeesh. and imagine the mold!?! it would have to be a seriously hot day to thoroughly dry the mattress. drysteam would be a much safer approach, i imagine.

it's so interesting to read about what people did in centuries past to deal with bbs. there are a few pdfs of old manuscripts to this effect floating around online, i do believe.