Bed bugs
Bed Bugs in Whetstone's Flats
Bed bugs have nothing to do with gardens or the brook, which is the subject of Pest Control Whetstone; they travel with people. In N20 that makes the flats the place they cause most trouble: rooms are close together, walls and floors are shared, and people move in and out more often than in a family house.
Flats above the High Road shops
A flat over a shop often shares a staircase or entrance with one or two others, and the floors and walls between them carry pipes and cables. Bed bugs usually spread within a flat first, from the bedroom outwards, but in a heavy or long-running infestation they can move through gaps round pipes and skirting into the flat next door or upstairs. Whether bed bugs spread between flats describes the routes they take through a building like this.
Converted houses
Older houses split into two or three flats have timber floors and shared stairs, and a bed frame backing onto a partition wall, with a neighbour's bed on the other side, is a common arrangement. If you find bed bugs, tell the neighbours, because early checks on both sides of the wall help.
How they arrive
Most come in with luggage after a trip away, on clothing, or inside second-hand furniture, particularly beds, mattresses, sofas and bedside tables. Much of N20 is a short walk from Totteridge & Whetstone station, and bed bugs can hitch a ride on bags and coats wherever people sit close together. How bed bugs got into your home looks at the usual routes.
Signs in the Bedroom
- Small dark spots on mattress seams, the bed frame or behind the headboard
- Tiny pale eggs or pale shed skins in the crevices of the frame
- Live insects, flat and brown, the adults about the size of an apple seed
- Bites in lines or clusters on skin exposed during sleep, although some people do not react at all
- A faint sweet, musty smell in a heavily affected room
The first signs of bed bugs explains what to look for. Bites mainly round the ankles after walking across a carpet are more likely to be fleas.
What to Do, and What Not to Do
- Leave the bed where it is and do not move to the sofa or another room
- Do not throw the mattress out before treatment; carrying it down a shared staircase can spread bugs
- Avoid shop sprays and foggers, which can scatter bed bugs into walls and neighbouring rooms
- Wash and tumble-dry bedding on a hot setting, then bag it until the visit
- If you rent, tell your landlord or letting agent straight away; if you own a leasehold flat, let the freeholder or managing agent know
Rooms, Pricing and Booking
Treatment is priced by room. In a two-bedroom flat where both bedrooms and the living room are affected, that is three rooms: £220 plus £120 plus £120, £460 in all. The hall and landing are not counted. When you book bed bug control, tell us how many rooms have signs, whether it is a flat or a house, and whether the neighbours know. How to prepare a room for bed bug treatment covers getting ready, and the technician will tell you anything else needed. Some activity can carry on for a while afterwards; why you may still see bed bugs after treatment explains when to call back.
Buying Second-Hand in N20
Checking before you buy is the best prevention. Look along the seams, joints and screw holes of any second-hand bed, sofa or bedside table before it comes into the flat, and be wary of furniture left out on the pavement. After a trip, unpack on a hard floor and put clothes through a hot wash. Whether bed bugs live in sofas and furniture covers what to check, and Bed Bug Control Barnet has the borough-wide page. In neighbouring Friern Barnet, with its large converted buildings, the same care pays off.
