How to get rid of bed bugs and keep them out of your home
A hand-held vacuum or the attachment on your machine will allow you to get into every seam and crevice of a potentially affected mattress. Dyson hand-held and stick machines from €249, dyson.ie.
So, with Christmas around the corner, we are all looking forward to reuniting with family. How and ever, have you considered what extra tiny gifts they may arrive with together with the screw-top duty-free wine and food allergies? Just a couple of months ago an army of 40,000 Irish rugby fans went over to sop up the atmosphere of a live game. With the streets of Paris still heaving with dumped mattresses, chances are many of our returning heroes are likely to have brought some important French hitchhikers back with them. Bed bugs!
Searches on Google regarding the little blighters have soared 24000% in recent weeks, and according to one expert interviewed on Irish radio, bedbug levels (at least the ones we are admitting to by calling in the pros) are six times the norm. I was changing the sheets at a home I was staying in and found a little lighter.
There was no mistaking it, but I crushed him under my heel and didn’t open my mouth.
How do you couch that with an air kiss? “Thanks for the fantastic meal and the overnight, and by the way — your home is infested! Good luck with your Cimex lectularius! Bye-bye!”
Bugs are not funny at all. They can at the very least leave bites on the body that will swell and itch. Let’s consider the unlikely event that you and yours have bugs meandering around the Turkish sheets.
It’s horrible I know, but unlike dust mites, they are visible to the eye at 2mm to 4.5mm, and relatively easy to ID.
Rentokil Ireland advises, “It isn’t always easy to identify bed bugs or know there’s a problem. They remain hidden in tiny cracks and crevices during the daytime. Often the first sign of bed bugs is bites that appear on your body after you wake up.” In the States, some specialist companies have bug sniffer dogs.
Charming. If you’re not sure. Have the inmate with the strongest stomach lift up the mattress at the edges and use a small torch and magnifying glass. Whoever brought them in (don’t cruelly eyeball those sportsmen, they may not be the culprits after all) this is a problem we have to run towards, not away from.
Bugs may be picked up in a hotel or on public transport and then enter our homes with us. If you go away to the continent or London (a hotspot including the Tube), keep your luggage up off the floor on the suitcase rack, even if you’re assured there’s no problem at that establishment. When you get home, empty the bags in the garage, don’t bring them into your home immediately. Shake clothes and outerwear out thoroughly, stick them into a big plastic bag and throw them into the washing machine at the first opportunity for a good 60C wash.
How can we clean around the bed to dissuade bed bugs or deal with the area after an infestation?
Following treatment with dust, traps (based on sexy bed bug pheromone lures) or a bug bomb suited to the job, microbiologists at vacuum maker Dyson advise the following:
Washing sheets and blankets on a 140F or 195F wash will help to break down and reduce allergens and kill off bed bugs and dust mites. While you may vacuum your mattress only a few times a year, it's recommended that you launder and change your bedding once a week to remove microscopic skin flakes and keep dust and allergens at bay.
Many bed bugs on the surface may be removed through vacuuming alone, but you will need a deeper treatment to ensure complete eradication. In any case, vacuuming your mattress regularly throughout the year is important.
Other nasties like dust mites can live in our mattresses — they might be microscopic, but they’re tenacious. Using a vacuum with a high-power or Boost mode will deliver the suction you need to remove as many mites, skin flakes and allergens as possible. Attachments with stiff nylon bristles can agitate the fibres in your mattress and loosen dust and debris. Make sure that the vacuum you’re using has a fully sealed filtration system to avoid allergens or debris being expelled back into your face as you clean.
Once you’ve deep cleaned the surface of your mattress, pay attention to any crevices or folds where dust and allergens can gather. For cleaning around the edge of your mattress where there may be a seam, use a crevice tool in handheld mode to remove any hidden dust. Don’t forget under your bed as well, as dust mites thrive in dark, warm and humid areas with plenty of skin flakes that often remain undisturbed, and bed bugs like dark, untouched locations where they can hide. Regular vacuuming can make these places less hospitable.
Flip your mattress over and vacuum the other side too to keep concentrations of invisible allergens low. You may want to consider using a mattress protector which will absorb excess sweat and dust flakes and can be more easily washed.
Keep watch for any signs of bed bug infestation — bed bugs spread quickly so taking action in the early days of an infestation is important. Look for any spots of blood in the bed, exoskeletons or small brown debris (their faeces). A sweet or musty smell might also be a sign of infestation.
Try to remove clutter around the bedroom to provide fewer opportunities for bed bugs to hide. Keep the space around and under the bed clear and regularly vacuum these areas.
I would add here that many of us will simply want to get rid of the sheets, blankets and even the headboard attached to a bed bug infestation, and that’s completely understandable. You can find bugs parked behind everything from peeling wallpaper to tracing the trim of your new bed-topper and it’s the sort of thing that could play with your sense of physical safety and mental health.
Some layered pieces like old ottomans and deep buttoning will be hard to get into with a treatment solution. If the mattress is older than 10 years, there’s a good argument for changing it out together with any supporting enclosed divan, which will have received equal wear and could, conceivably be harbouring some latent nasty surprises that could frolic out some January night.
Don’t forget to treat or replace pet beds and to pay attention to all carpeting and soft furnishings around the home.
