The Nightmare

"Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite."

 

We found bedbugs in our master bedroom after discovering some rust-colored spotting on our sheets. Naturally, we wondered "How the heck did these things get here?!" We inspected the rest of the bedrooms and found none anywhere else. We checked the couch: nothing. While we were relieved that they hadn't spread, we were also perplexed at how they got in. 

It's not common knowledge. The point here is to empower you with knowledge. My lips to God's ear: I wouldn't wish this Nightmare on my worst enemy.

First and foremost: DO NOT BE ASHAMED. Bedbugs do not move in with you because you are dirty. They move in with you because they are blood-sucking vampires and you are full of warm, delicious blood.

Bedbugs can creep into your home through a number of ways. The more common ways are by bringing in second-hand furniture that has been infested or by staying in a hotel that has bed ugs. The parasites adhere their eggs to the suitcase you threw onto the bed at the hotel and move in with you when you go home. But they can find other, less-conspicuous ways in. Libraries and schools nationwide (in the US) are beginning to see a rise of infestation. An innocent trip to borrow a book can lead to a problem that takes thousands of dollars to eradicate. In our case, the bedbug problem with our upstairs neighbor had gotten so out of control, the blood suckers migrated into our home in search of new food sources. 

They are in, so now what? Common, yet misguided advice is "throw out that mattress." In cases of serious infestation, this might be true. But even if you do throw it out, that is not going to be enough to rid your home of these pests. I cannot emphasize this next statement enough:

Call a professional.

If you rent, you actually ought to call your property owner first. Bedbug infestations in apartment complexes can be incredibly difficult and insanely expensive to resolve. Laws are going to vary by state and as of right now, I have been unable to find much information online regarding the laws where bedbug infestations are concerned. I did find this blog (since abandoned) that talks about NYC laws.

Our landlord hired a local pest control company (hereafter referred to as RPCC or Reputable Pest Control Company) to come out and inspect. Then the inspector called the landlord and received approval for the job at the price he quoted: $1500 for traditional chemical treatment Read that again. That's a lot of bread.

If that's not bad enough, RPCC may tell you that some of your furniture is unrecoverable and must be thrown out. They also told us that we would need to:

- Bedding: mattresses and box springs that cannot be treated should be discarded. This may not necessarily be true. Mattress encasements may be worth investigating and investing in and far cheaper than new mattress and box spring. Please watch these 3 videos carefully: LINK 1 LINK 2 LINK 3 All bed clothes - pillows, pillow cases, dust ruffles, bed skirts, the whole shebang - must be removed and laundered, preferably in hot water and dried in high heat. Before you start, please continuing reading.

- Launder absolutely everything: clothes, blankets, coats, stuffed animals, etc. Preferably in hot water and dried in high heat. Then place all freshly laundered items into plastic garbage bags and seal. If you want to be extra paranoid about it (like I am), you will take garbage bags to clothes, place clothes in bag then take clothes to washing machine. Because those clothes might be contaminated with bedbugs or their eggs and I take no chance at dispersing more of it throughout my house.

- Furniture: upholstered furniture infested must be discarded. Dressers, closets, nightstands, etc. must be emptied of personal belongings.

- Declutter everything. If anything looks suspicious at all as if there might have been any bedbug activity on it, it must be thrown out or sealed in an airtight container and quarantined for 18 months. Read that again. That's a long, long time. If it can be washed or otherwise treated, it must be done and packed away in an airtight container. Boxes taped completely shut is sufficient. If bedbugs have possibly contaminated books, there may be a way to treat them without having to throw them out or quarantine them. Stay tuned.

- Food, medicine, medical supplies must all be sealed tightly.

- Floors must be vacuumed and extreme care must be made to carefully remove vacuum contents from the premises, as it may (and hopefully does!) contain bedbugs or their eggs. It is highly preferable to use a vacuum cleaner with bags, but if (like me) you own a bagless vacuum cleaner, remove the entire appliance outdoors, empty contents into garbage bag, seal and thoroughly clean all vacuum cleaner parts with 91% isopropyl alcohol.

- RPCC reserves the right to not treat if home is not properly prepared.

At the present time, RPCC is so booked up with bedbug treatments that from the day our property owner authorized the treatment (Thursday July 22) through the first day of treatment  (Wednesday Aug 4) - oh yes, there will be more than one treatment - is approximately 14 days. Barely enough time for preparation and an awful long time to sleep in a bed that has blood-sucking vampires eager to feast.

We researched heat treatment, which requires far less diligent preparation on our part, but it costs $4000 for the entire building (our apartment is on the first floor, there is a second floor apartment and we have an unfinished basement, approximately 2500 sq ft). Four thousand dollars!

Since July 22, we have :

- Completely dismantled our Sleep Number bed, box spring (which is made completely of plastic and looks like this, and bed frame, disinfected the entirety of it with alcohol, laundered the bed clothes and the box spring cover

- Purchased mattress encasements for every bed and box spring in our home and sealed the zipper with a carefully applied layer of duct tape. If you watched the videos linked above, you'd know why.

- Boxed and sealed all personal belongings in the master bedroom. Emptied out the his-and-her closets. Many items suspected of possible contamination have been sealed for quarantine, dated and removed to the garage.

- The entire living room has been packed up.

- All household members (four us of) have our own personal computers on our own desks. These are mostly processed. My husband is the last hold-out.

- Roughly 50 loads of laundry have been completed. Have approximately 20 more.

...And there is still so much to do.

With luck, 2 online friends and fellow bedbug-survivors will join my quest in spreading the word to prevent the spreading of bedbugs. Please stay tuned for posts on prevention and unconventional methods to save your stuff.