How to Remove Bed Bugs From Wood Furniture?
Bed bugs are small creatures that can wreak havoc on your life. Even though most people associate them with beds in a hotel room, these pests can actually get into a lot of other areas, including in your furniture that is made of wood. If you have an old couch, for example, it is very likely that there are small holes found in the wood and/or the mattress and this is where bed bugs like to hide out the most.
What do Bed Bugs Like about Furniture?
Even if you have no holes in the wood section of your sofa, bed bugs will use that wood to move to and from the mattress and even to your body so that they can get to your blood, which is what they thrive on. Bed bugs have very flat bodies and can fit inside of spaces that are as thin as a credit card; they will hide in those cracks until they find an opportunity to climb through the mattress and reach a human to feed on.
Worst of all, bed bugs are barely noticeable and do a great job at hiding, which means that you won’t know they’re there until later on when you notice that your skin is red and itchy. If you are interested in learning how to remove bed bugs from wood furniture, the following tips may help.
There are four main ways that you can get rid of the bed bugs in your wood furniture and they include the following steps:
Bed Bug Interceptors: Bed bug interceptors can be purchased in numerous hardware and home improvement stores. The best way to use them is to place several interceptors around the feet of your furniture. Most people fill them with water so that the bed bugs drown as soon as they get inside of the interceptors but this isn’t a requirement.
The best thing to do is leave these interceptors in place for a few days, then check them to make sure that you’ve caught the bed bugs. If you find any bed bugs in the interceptors, dead or alive, either throw away the interceptors or use hot water to drown the bugs and to clean out the interceptors in case you wish to use them again.
Instead of store-bought interceptors, many people simply place small bowls of water on the floor to catch the bed bugs. This is a lot cheaper and it does the same thing, which is to catch the bed bugs so you can throw them away or flush them down the drain.
Floor Barriers: If bed bugs are unable to get into your home, they cannot get to your wood furniture. Floor barriers are a great way to accomplish this. First, use a barrier spray of some type of pesticide and spray all around your wooden floor. Make sure that you clean all of the cracks thoroughly, then spray additional pesticide inside of those cracks.
Next, if you need to, use something such as wood putty to fill up any of the cracks on your floor. Remember that bed bugs love getting inside of cracks, even small cracks, so the more cracks you fill up with putty or spray with pesticide, the less likely bed bugs are going to get inside of your home. If you do this around your entire home, you’re much less likely to suffer with these annoying and unhealthy pests.
Heat Treatment: This is not something that you can do on your own but requires a professional exterminator instead. In most cases, you can get rid of most of the bed bugs in your home on your own but an exterminator has special tools and equipment that gets rid of all bed bugs in a day or two. In fact, when it comes to getting rid of bed bugs, the heat treatment offered by exterminators is extremely efficient and very safe as well. Even though you have to pay for the service, it is always well worth it in the end.
Standard Pesticide: A pesticide made just for bed bugs is a real miracle worker but the first thing that you have to do is vacuum up all of the bed bugs from any wooden surface on or around your furniture. If you have a steamer feature, you can use that to kill any bed bugs that may remain after the vacuuming but a good vacuum cleaner should get rid of most or all of them.
Next, go ahead and put on a fumigation mask to stay safe. If you have a parquet floor, remove your carpet and spray the pesticide in all of the cracks that you see. If your wooden bed is infested, start by removing the mattress and bedding, then spray the entire construction of your bed with the bed bug spray. Don’t forget all of the cracks in the construction and the mattress as a last step.
with thanks home.howstuffworks.com/
Next, you’ll have to wait for the pesticides to be completely dry. You can check the instructions that come with the product to determine how long that will be. If you decide to give the furniture a second coat of pesticide, which isn’t a bad idea, make sure you let it dry completely the second time around. Once you’re sure the pesticide is completely dry, you’ll be able to use your wooden furniture again without worry.
Conclusion
There are numerous products on the market today that get rid of bed bugs so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a method that works best for your wood furniture. The best way to know for sure that you have bed bugs is seeing the bugs themselves, which are tiny and usually red in color. You may also find bug feces or eggs in cracks and crevices; however, for the most part, they are easy to eliminate from your furniture and your home.
If you do find any sign of bed bugs, don’t panic. Just use one of the simple methods described above, which are guaranteed to work, then keep an eye out for them from then on so that you can get rid of them quickly until they are no longer a problem.
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