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Tips for dealing with bedbugs?
Hi all, I'm becoming almost certain that my apartment is dealing with a minor bedbug infestation. Do any of you have experience dealing with the things? Specifically, my unit shares a building with about 20 others, so has anybody dealt with infestations in a similar situation? I'm wondering if a heat treatment is even possible or realistic.
This is not something that can be solved on a unit by unit basis. Your landlord is almost certainly responsible for solving it.
Get them involved ASAP. Most courts do not consider bedbug-infested dwellings habitable. If your landlord knows and is not doing anything, consider reporting to housing authorities and/or consulting a lawyer.
Yeah, this sounds like great advice, and maybe some of the time it is, but my landlord told me (more or less) to suck a dick when I came to them about bedbugs. My wife brought up something about Florida law requiring landlords to treat for bedbugs, unless stated in our lease. Nothing in the lease about pests at all so we ask. Tells us that a very vague line about 'personal damages' exempts them.
We talked to a professional and he told us the same thing that everyone else is saying: treating one unit is basically a waste of time. He wouldn't even do it, and it would be very expensive if he did. He tried to talk to our landlord and that went no where.
So good luck OP. I eventually treated myself and continue to do so.
Seriously, talk to a lawyer. Many do free initial consulations and may take you up for free. Florida's summary shows that if you get everything documented properly, you can legally withold rent if landlord is not acting on it.
Unfortunately my lease does specify that, if professional pest services are required, tenants are required to pay for it.
I'm not a lawyer, don't know your state laws and such, but you really should check with your state housing authority. In PA, safe and sanitary housing laws are implied in every residential lease and trump anything else in there. Excerpt:
Landlords (as many companies) shove a whole bunch of stuff in contracts that may or may not be enforceable or legal.
Protections vary, from being legally permitted to withold rent to breaking lease scott free.
Does it require reporting in a specific amount of time? Mine stipulates that if someone has an infestation and does not report it within 72 hours of discovering it, if someone else reports it and it gets traced back to their unit, they are required to pay the costs of extermination for the whole building.
As far as my state goes, the Warranty of Habitability statues do say that pest control needs to be taken care of, but does not specify that the landlord has to pay for it and cannot pass the costs on to tenants.
I have a suspicion that that may not be legal at the end of the day, but I know I don't have the time or money to fight it in court either. But either way it may behoove you to report it ASAP, because it could get much more expensive for you if not.
Hire a professional. This should be your #1 goal. Your landlord should hire the professional, and the pro should make the right calls.
My grandma had to deal with them, then accidentally carried them across the country to my uncle in Virginia after they bombed the moving van. They handled it there by using bed bug mattress covers and diatomaceous earth, I assume by spreading it around the bed and any crevices they could hide in. The goal is to starve them in the cover, and kill them when they try to go anywhere else. This dealt with the second infestation which, fortunately, was only limited to her and my other uncle's room until they were eliminated.
Diatamaceous earth is non-toxic, and should be dusted onto surfaces (including carpet), not piled on.
When you do this, whichever outcome happens, put everything you got that is dryer-safe in the drier for a long cycle or two on high, this will cook the bugs and confirm they are dead. You'll want to do this whether or not you get a pro.
Follow the advice of everyone telling you to talk to your landlord. Bring in a professional to talk your landlord into it if you can. Treating the whole building is the best bet.
I commented about it already, but my landlord told me to suck it when we came to them for help.
If you cannot get help from your landlord treating the whole building, this is my advice. (Note: Don't pay for a professional yourself. It'll cost a lot and bed bugs will come back if it's the whole building. A professional will likely use all of the same stuff I'm going to mention.)
This YouTube Channel will be, by far, your greatest resource. All advice from here on is a paraphrase of Jason's advice. Spend like a week on that YouTube channel if you have to.
Don't use oils or diatomaceous earth, or traps or bed covers or interceptors. All of that is a waste of time, and money. Bedbugs can live a year without eating. Only pesticides and heat kill bedbugs (or commercial grade vacuum sealing equipment.)
Buy a 1 gallon sprayer, it doesn't have to be a really nice one. A plastic garden sprayer will be fine. (I have this one.) Then get a bottle of crossfire. It's a bit pricey, but this shit is totally worth it. 1 bottle mixes with a single gallon of water, should cover around 1000 sqft. (Although I get away with a bit more with only one queen size mattress.) If you have more than one bed, or 1000 sqft, budget for two bottles. You'll likely want to spray again, so probably get a few bottles even if you only need one. Crossfire will kill live bugs and eggs.
While you're waiting for the crossfire to come through, clean everything. Make every crack and crevice in your home, especially your bedrooms, available. Clear everything from the floors, move all of your furniture so you can spray behind and around it. Clear your doorways so that you can spray the frames and hinges.
With your house cleaned up, it's time to vacuum and do laundry. If you have a bagged vacuum, that's best because it'll more easily trap bugs when you vacuum them. Here I'll give some leeway and say you can spread DE over the ground AND THEN vacuum it up with the bugs. This'll trap the bugs with the DE potentially kill them. DE doesn't work because bed bugs can just navigate around it. Empty your vacuum cleaner container/bag immediately. If you have a bag and want to save it, store it in a vacuum sealed container. That won't kill any bugs, but it'll stop them from getting out. Launder everything, and make sure you get it all hot in the dryer. Even clothes you haven't worn in a while; especially clothes you haven't worn in a while (although you can probably just put them in the dryer, at the hottest temp they can be dried at, for 15-30 minutes.) Any bed related items are, of course, the most important to be laundered.
Once you have the crossfire, spend some time checking all around your home and make sure you can reach the molding on the floor in every room. Take your beds off their frames so they can be sprayed separately (Crossfire can be sprayed on mattresses, but you must let it dry completely before using it again.) Wear shoes, pants, a jacket, gloves, a mask (N95 if you can get one) and maybe some goggles (if they don't interfere with the mask) and also keep a change of clothes around for when you're done. Fill your gallon container up half way, pour in the crossfire, fill the rest of the way up to the 1 gallon mark (which isn't the top) and shake. Build up some pressure and test your spray nozzle somewhere you don't mind getting a little extra wet. You want a spray that's not very wide, but not too fine either. You also don't want it to be a stream. To give you some numbers, from six inches away the width should be 3-4 inches (keep in mind, I'm also not an expert, but this is the setting I use.)
Note: If you leave the mixed solution alone for a few minutes, give it another good shake. Crossfire will separate from water quickly. Shake it up while you're walking around too for good measure.
FUCKIN SPRAY EVERY CREVICE AND CORNER YOU CAN FIND. Spray your baseboards, spray every nook and cranny of your bed frame. Spray the top, bottom, and sides of your mattress (although be careful not to overspray, it'll take a long time to dry.) Spray behind your dresser and around its feet (if you have one). Spray the door frame of your rooms, spray the door frame of your closet, spray the baseboards of your closets. Spray where molding of your baseboards meet. Spray the baseboards of your whole house. Spray under your upholstered chairs and couches. spray under cushions and inside of chairs and couches. Spray around stuff that touches the floor. Spray around your windows.
DON'T SPRAY IN YOUR KITCHEN. Crossfire states this on its label, but I'll say it here too.
Lastly, spray around the door that goes into your unit. If you can swing it, spray the crevices outside of your apartment too, but note that Crossfire isn't supposed to be used outside.
Spray at least once every 60 days, maybe every 30 if you can afford it. After 6 months buy another sprayer and switch to Alpine WSG for six months. Don't mix different chemicals in the same sprayer. Alpine WSG is much cheaper than Crossfire (and treats for other bugs as well, but it's not nearly as good when it comes to bedbugs. Alpine WSG can't be sprayed on your mattress, for instance), this amount can do between 7-20 treatments depending on how you mix it. Principles are the same with WSG, but you can spray it in your kitchen and outdoors (but not on your mattresses, although still on bed frames.)
I would suggest looking into essential oils as a solution. It has worked for me and my spouse for bed bugs as well as mosquitoes and other pests.
https://www.themiracleofessentialoils.com/essential-oils-for-bed-bugs/
I have to say, anything from "miracleofessentialoils.com" I read with great skepticism, but after researching it more, apparently some essential oils actually can be effective pesticide for bed bugs.
See this paper, for instance: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285620598_Efficacy_of_an_Essential_Oil-Based_Pesticide_for_Controlling_Bed_Bug_Cimex_lectularius_Infestations_in_Apartment_Buildings
Guess that makes sense in retrospect, plants have a vested interest in producing natural pesticide. Caffeine & coffee is another example.
Haha yes thank you for linking a better source. I was on mobile and was thinking “oh god I might get nuked for this”. But I was short on time.
If it's in the building they will just visit your neighbors for a while and come back. But there are things that will help. I would recommend bagging your mattress, keeping your place extremely clean and clear of clutter, empty the vaccuum after each use and throw the bags contents in a trash outside immediately, wash your clothes on high heat and keep dirty clothes in a sealed plastic bag until you wash it (throw the bag away with each load). It basically amounts to do everything you can to make it is as hard for them as possible. Contact your landlord they should be taking take of this. And if they don't do shit hire an attorney and look to get out of your lease.
We had a professional come in twice and still had them. I started creating perimeters to contain them and it did the trick.
Got floor traps for every piece of furniture, mattress covers, caulked the baseboards, and created a thick perimeter of diatomaceous earth in each room along with an air gap. Meanwhile put everything we owned through the dryer at high heat and packed it away in plastic.
Took some time but we made it work. I think we got it from the neighbours, so the layer of perimeters were actually protecting us from their shitty measures.