Bed Bugs in the flat :(

[piggeh]

Bloody (sic) annoying things they are too.

Moved into this flat in August, got the occassional bite but nothing major, expected it to be mosquitoes or something as the flat has two patio doors onto the balcony. Anyway more recently I've been bitten LOADS. Got about 30 bites on each foot, last night got bitten on my hand 15 times or so (I tried using a sleeping bag to stop them biting my feet for the night!). The biggest one I've found so far has been about 5mm long, which wasn't pretty. Nice to see what is crawling over you at night. I woke up at 6am and managed to kill about 12 of the blighters. I'm sure there's plenty more ready to take their place though. Here's some I drowned earlier..

Usual advice being taken - wash everything at high temps, hoover lots, continuously change bedding, ordered sprays, powders, will be ordeirng mattress encasement, etc.

My sticking point is that the flat is rented. I phoned the managing agent to ask them to replace the mattress, and they refused to do anything, saying I should have reported it earlier and that they could not be sure I hadn't brought it in. My tenancy agreement states the tenant should sort any infestation unless it was there prior to tenancy starting, which I believe it was, just not as severe.

Any advice on what to do? The flat itself is nice otherwise and probably about £100 lower a month than a similar sized flat in the local area.

 

[piggeh]

Forget taking advice and tipps from here and there, if you value your health catch a few of the blighters and get yourself down to environmental health asap. Doesn't matter wether your a tennant or your status have seen unbelieveable infections and complications from just "a few bites"

I did catch a few, that's why they're currently living at the bottom of a bowl of water. Oh and I squashed the others I found - they leave ghastly blood smears though..

I guess I will try and treat with what I have on order and get Environmental Health involved. I heard they can easily travel throughout a block of flats. I'd imagine if I moved I'd have to dump half my clothes as well to avoid the chance of any travelling.. and that traumatic insemination thing sounds lovely.

Anything I can do to minimise it in the meanwhile?

 

[piggeh]

.... am itchy now

yeah, same here

Got some benadryl and a Eurax lotion. Lotion doesnt seem to be too effective, benadryl helps though.

 

[piggeh]

They love soft furnishings. Treat them first if you have bought stuff for it already. Bear in mind that the professional chemicals used to treat bed bugs mean you can not be in the room for 24 plus hours (more like 48 plus). So you may need to seek alternative accomodation while fumigation is being carried out.

24 hours?! Blimey. I guess I can find somewhere to stay for a few nights though. Cheers.

 

[piggeh]

Thanks freebooter. I'll add that to my 'book of happy thoughts' for tomorrow

 

[piggeh]

Just found these, unfortunately can only find a US store who charge $155 POSTAGE. :/

Anyone know if this sort of thing is available in the UK? Would help in the meanwhile..

http://www.mattresssafe.com/NiteSafe-sup-TM-sup-Sleep-System-p/ns-tent.htm

 

[piggeh]

Never had a problem with bed bugs myself, but my mum worked as a nurse/carer in few places where fumigations were required.

If you are tempted to try and eradicate bed bugs yourself (landlord dragging their feet etc) you can try and use bug bombs (flea bombs/foggers) and sprays. I don't think you can get proper chloride solutions or something "industrial" like sulfuryl fluoride stuff over the counter in UK, so permethrin and variations is your only solution.
You will need something better than the small carton boxed Bob Martin's ones and a lot more of it than for flea infestations. Use both spray foggers and candle type smoke foggers. If you have glued/nailed/wall to wall carpets, rent a steam carpet cleaner first and steam clean the entire carpet (all furniture lifted and moved) and bed. Make sure all furniture is moved away from the walls, position spray fog canisters in corners, few candle bombs in the middle, low enough to reach everywhere under furniture. If you have box type bed base, lift it up and put it on top of chairs, so fog and spray can reach it from all directions. Gas mask on, light it all up, leave the room for 3 hours, then come back and open all windows and leave for another hour. Spray all corners with good bug killer - something strong with at least 0.4% w/w - Rentokil Insectrol or Pest Expert Formula stuff. Move to another room, do the same. In entire flat, regardless of whether the problem is present there or not.

Repeat week later.

It will cost few hundred quid quite easily and it has to be all-or-nothing blitkrieg attack - if you screw it up, bed bugs will move under floor/into the walls and they will spread everywhere.

Bleedin' hell :O

Environmental Health and departing for a few days seems easier!

 

[piggeh]

I missed out a glaringly obvious point earlier. You moved into the flat in August. These are adult bed bugs so the problem has been there for at least a year. Your landlord has a legal obligation to get it sorted. They will have nested and nests can lay dormant for some time. So you will probably have to get at least 1 repeat visit.

Thanks, that's a good point, will bring it up Any source to this please?

I have wrote to Environmental Health and the LL this lunchtime to try and get it resolved.

 

[piggeh]

Well at least you don't sit there at 10pm at night thinking about the night's sleep ahead of you knowing these things are going to be crawling over you. Absolutely dread going to bed.

Only found 6 this morning, which was a positive.

 

[piggeh]

Got a quote of £190 from the local council. Is it best to take these amounts off the rent or better to try and claim from the managing agent separately? Shame they cant even do initial inspection until 9th Jan

 

[piggeh]

£190 is pretty cheap. It would cost in the region of £300 if done privately. That's only for 1 visit so the cost *could* go up. Your landlord should be sorting this out. Not you.

It's for 2 visits plus an initial inspection/survey. Pretty good really.

How much would it cost for a solicitor to draw something up though? I might just sort it, ask for the money, send letter before action, raise claim through small claims court? That's my current thinking anyway, it's probably the quickest way to sort the problem and I would imagine they'd come to an agreement without going to court over it (no one likes going to court eh).

 

[piggeh]

bed & mattress encasement Hoping it stops at least some of them!

Deadly water moat so they cant climb from carpet to bed

Needed to do something.. I do seem to have overlooked that the middle two legs (under the bed) are a weak point in my defences..

Setting off the fumers tomorrow.

 

[piggeh]

I have tried sleeping on the sofa, got about 3 hours sleep each night and feel knackered. Plus, they apparently are quite adept at tracking you down if you change rooms.

Its worth it if it works.

I have also addressed the weak point by surrounding it with insecticide powder, so hopefully all sorted now

You're not called Dexter are you?

I can see why he uses heavy guage polythene, seems to tear quite easily! :s

 

[piggeh]

Landlord has agreed to pay for all pest control treatments and replace Bed/Mattress.

MUCH SUCCESS

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[piggeh]

Got the place sprayed today. The Pest Control person reckons I should sleep in the bed and let them bite me until the 2nd treatment in two weeks' time, as it will help the treatment :/ Don't see the logic, unfortunately I had to remove all the plastic etc for the treatment and dont have any to re-cover the bed, so I wont have a choice this evening.

House is covered in pesticide residues, if I start having convulsions and vomiting I will at least know what the cause is..

Managing agent has gone strangely quiet snce they agreed to reimburse me for the costs of the treatment. Maybe I will save a few of the bugs and send them in the post so they can share in the experience.

 

[piggeh]

Well, found 5 or so this morning. More worryingly I've been throwing up this morning. I guess they've won. Goodbye world. Toxic poisoning wasnt how I imagined I'd be leaving this mortal plane but I guess it's good to get out before they take over the planet completely.