More than half of people living with bedbugs may not even know it. This fact is confirmed by relevant studies. As a rule, people are deprived good sleep exactly . But not everyone is susceptible to these bites, so detecting bedbugs in time is not always easy. The following are signs that can 100% confirm that your sofa is infested with bedbugs:
- Blood marks and stains on the sheets. If bedbugs bite you at night, then there are probably such stains and stains on your bed.
- Blackheads on wallpaper, on a sofa frame and in other places at a distance of 3-5 meters from sleeping place. These points are bedbug excrement.
- The presence of characteristic bites.
- Specific smell indoors, localized near the sofa or bed. Appears in rooms where the number of bedbugs is higher than average. The smell is perceived in each case subjectively and ambiguously. Some say it resembles almonds, while others find it overly cloying and sweet, reminiscent of spoiled wild raspberries.
If you have at least one of the above signs, most likely your sleeping area is infested with bed bugs.
You can also get out of bed between 3-5 am, turn on the lights and carefully examine the sofa. It is very likely that you will see bedbugs hurrying to hide.
Reasons
There may be several reasons why there may be bedbugs in your sofa:
- your home was visited by a person who brought in bedbugs from things, boxes, etc., which were located next to or on the sofa for some time;
- escape of hungry bedbugs from any neighboring apartment of your house, through ventilation, through holes ( electrical sockets and switches located in adjacent apartments in one place), etc.;
- import of contaminated used or;
- introduction of bedbugs along with luggage, suitcases, bags, etc.
No matter how bedbugs get into your apartment, they will definitely try to find a refuge closer to humans. They can penetrate from anywhere, but usually begin in a sleeping area or in close proximity to it - a sofa bed, armchair, sofa, ottoman, crib, etc.
The next step after finding bedbugs is to remove them from the sofa.
How to get rid of bedbugs in a sofa
If you are convinced that there is something in your sofa or crib, then the first aid in dealing with them will be to follow the following recommendations:
- To avoid subsequent incidents, leave the sleeping area and no longer use it for rest and sleep (if possible).
- Move the sofa (crib) away from the wall (you can move it to the middle of the room).
- Seams and folds of the sofa (cracks in the crib);
- To clean upholstered furniture, it is best to use a vacuum cleaner; but if it is not there, then the sofa or mattress can be knocked out.
- Clean with a clothes brush internal surfaces sofas, linen drawers, etc.
- The main nesting place for bedbugs in a sofa is the back. Often behind the rear outer trim (fabric nailed to staples), bedbugs hide behind nailed fiberboard, in grooves, joints of bars, etc. If the number of bedbugs is above average, then 70-80% of the individuals will be located there. Therefore, before tearing off and removing the sofa upholstery, you should prepare and be fully prepared, i.e. Have at least a vacuum cleaner, rags and, if possible, a working insecticide solution on hand so that the bedbugs do not have time to spread throughout the apartment.
- Use whenever possible
Many people believe that bedbugs can only live in unkempt apartments. But, as practice shows, bedbugs do not care at all how carefully you monitor the cleanliness of your homes.
Bedbugs can get through ventilation
Bed bugs love to travel and can get into your apartment in many ways.
They may come to you from neighbors or even in a bag from a clothing market, store or work. Sometimes they infect new furniture.
There are several signs of the presence of bedbugs in your sofa and your apartment:
— there is an unpleasant sweet-tart smell of cognac, stale raspberries or almonds in the apartment;
— dark dots appeared on furniture and textiles, these are traces of bedbugs;
— identification of the chitinous shell of insects;
There are bite marks on the body, which are accompanied by itchy skin;
— there are smeared blood stains on the sleeping place. A person can turn around in his sleep and crush a bug that has drunk blood.
One of the favorite places for bedbugs to be located is the sofa. Why?
Most people use chemicals to control pests, for example karbofos, but in order to get rid of bedbugs, they must be labeled as having an effect on these reptiles as well.
However, if their numbers are small, you can use popular advice.
The smell of fresh branches of wormwood and tansy placed in the house will repel insects. You can pour crushed grass into cracks and folds in furniture.
Bed bugs do not like high temperatures. At a temperature of 45, or preferably 48 degrees C, they die.
You can reduce the population using a steam generator by treating their places of residence with steam. This will help get rid of both adult insects and larvae.
Vinegar can help too. Mix vinegar with denatured alcohol and naphthalene in equal parts. Treat surfaces once every two days.
By adding vinegar to a strong decoction of wormwood, also treat the surfaces. This will repel insects.
Try our grandmothers' recipe. Aviation fluid or kerosene was used to kill bedbugs. For the same purposes, a mixture of alcohol, peroxide and salted water was used.
And finally, don’t accumulate unnecessary things at home, keep it clean and be healthy!
Such bugs are called bed bugs. The individuals who live in sofas are popularly called sofa bugs. They reproduce very quickly; it is enough to bring one female into a house or apartment, which will immediately choose a secluded place and begin to actively lay larvae. Even if you bought new furniture, this does not mean that it is not infected. The question arises: how did bedbugs appear on the sofa?
Causes of sofa bugs
- There is a chance of insects entering the home with new furniture. Sofas can stand long time in a warehouse where the necessary sanitary standards are not observed. Therefore, carefully inspect furniture for bedbugs before purchasing.
- Pests escape from neighbors through sockets and cracks in walls. Even the owner of the house himself can bring several bloodsuckers on himself by staying in an apartment where these insects live.
- They can also get into the apartment during repairs; workers can bring them with them.
- People can bring pests home in their own suitcases and bags from business trips and tourist trips.
Signs of sofa bugs
- The smell of spoiled raspberries or low-quality cognac emanating from the furniture.
- Bites on the body of the victims, located one after another.
- Traces of blood on the sheets.
First of all, you should check other habitats of bedbugs: beds, baseboards, electrical appliances. If possible, it is better to inspect the entire apartment, paying attention to hard-to-reach places.
Bedbug habitats
How to get bedbugs out of a sofa?
These insects are afraid of the cold, so people living in private houses can take an infested sofa outside in severe frost for two days. Some use boiling water or hot steam treatment to control pests. But these methods are not suitable for new furniture, which will lose its appearance after such procedures.
Supporters folk remedies Those who fight bedbugs try to get rid of them on their own with the help of plants such as tansy or wild rosemary. You can put a few branches in the sofa or prepare a decoction based on them. The smells of these plants repel pests and force them to flee from their habitat. However, if bedbugs live only in the sofa, having escaped from there, they will find a new place of residence in your apartment. In addition, these plants must be handled with care, as they can be dangerous to humans.
Chalk "Mashenka"
- The product effectively destroys bedbugs and their eggs;
- is a spray that is famous for its effectiveness and efficiency. One bottle can treat a three-room apartment. However, it is toxic, so all necessary safety precautions should be observed when using it;
- – a slightly toxic drug. Processing must be carried out at closed windows, since its active substance decomposes in fresh air.
Important! Before using toxic drugs, it is necessary to evacuate residents and pets from the apartment. Should not be neglected by special means safety equipment such as a protective suit, respirator, gloves and goggles.
The product must be applied to the entire sofa, especially to those places where bedbugs and their larvae were previously found. The drug must also be applied to doorways, floor joints, ventilation grilles in order to avoid the relocation of bedbugs to neighbors, from where they can return back to you. A few hours after treatment, it is necessary to wash off the product from all surfaces, and it is also necessary to wash the dishes used for cooking.
Capes, bed linen, blankets that were on the sofa must be washed at maximum high temperature or take it to the dry cleaner. Then they need to be ironed. It is advisable to wash curtains and treat carpets if they are in close proximity to the sofa.
After processing chemicals It is not recommended to clean the sofa for two days. After this time, you should remove the corpses of pests using a vacuum cleaner and a damp cloth soaked in a solution of soda and water.
In this material we will share some secrets of how to get rid of bedbugs on your sofa yourself, but it should immediately be noted that there are no easy ways. The entire process may take more than one day, depending on the total number of workers and the size of the area being processed. So, it’s eight o’clock in the morning, it’s a day off, let’s get to work.
What causes bedbugs in the sofa
A common problem for many homeowners who have suffered from a bedbug infestation is that they mistakenly believe that bedbugs, if infested, are localized exclusively in sofas or beds. Thus, it will be enough to remove them from the indicated sleeping places and the problem will be resolved.
Thus, several sources of bedbugs can be identified:
How to detect bedbugs in a sofa?
If you suspect that there are bedbugs in the sleeping area, you need to thoroughly check this fact, since the first signs that may result from bedbug bites do not always arise for this very reason.
You need to look in the most hidden places of furniture, where access is most limited. To do this, you need to remove all the things, if any, in the sofa, place them in sealed plastic bags and make sure that they do not spill bedbugs with their eggs throughout the apartment. It’s convenient to take it all into the bathroom, take it out, clean it, treat some with anti-bedbug chemicals, and wash some in hot water. Bedbugs begin to die en masse at temperatures above 60 degrees.
Step 1. Preliminary preparation
The sofa is completely freed from everything that can be removed from it - the contents of the drawers, covers, pillows and everything else. As already stated, this will require additional processing, either chemistry or temperature.
Step 2. Treating the floor under the sofa
The first thing that needs to be done is to free up the floor and wall area where the sofa was previously located, provided that the furniture is then planned to be returned to where it was. Or you need to treat in a similar way the place in the room where the sofa will be located in the future. By the way, the second option is much more practical, since there are fewer physical costs.
At the same time, we tear off all loose wallpaper from the wall, if any. If the peeled sheets are too large, you will have to glue them back by generously moistening them with wallpaper glue. If a large number of scattering bedbugs are noticed, they need to be picked up with a vacuum cleaner. Pour the contents of the bucket strictly into the toilet, flushing well. Water is also sent there after rinsing the rag with which the treatment was carried out.
Once the floor is completely dry, it's time to vacuum. At the highest possible speed, with a hard nozzle without a brush, you need to process every centimeter of the floor and walls as thoroughly as possible. Special attention you need to pay attention to cracks and crevices, of which there are actually a lot. As already noted, it is better to use a disposable bag for collecting dust, which will then need to be burned.
The next step is to treat the floor and walls with chemical insecticides. Many people recommend using hot steam treatment, but this method is fraught with damage to surfaces, especially for linoleum, glued materials, and glued wallpaper is out of the question. Although I must say that this option is quite effective.
From chemistry, you can use any products that contain permethrins in their composition. These insecticides are very effective against insects and are safe for warm-blooded animals, which include humans and domestic animals - cats, dogs, rats, hamsters and so on.
Permethrins are insecticides of plant origin obtained from chrysanthemum flowers. Treatment with products is carried out strictly in accordance with the instructions for the specific drug. If you go beyond its limits, you may not achieve the desired effect and harm your health.
Step 3. Treating the sofa
In no case should all work to rid the sofa of bedbugs be carried out on an already cleaned square of the room in order to avoid its contamination with live insects and eggs. Therefore, we process the sofa on the side and only then put it on a clean square.
- Vacuum cleaning is similar to floor cleaning, but for fabric surfaces it is better to use a brush attachment.
- Treatment with chemicals or hot steam. The second option in this case is more reliable and harmless. For this purpose, you can purchase the appropriate equipment in stores - household steam generators.
- After treatment, vacuum again.
Step 4. Prevention of relapse
To prevent the re-infestation of bed bugs in treated furniture, it must be protected. Bedbug traps and duct tape are very useful for this. It is recommended to cover the entire perimeter of the floor around the sofa with tape. It is better not to lean the back against the wall.
It is worth considering that, no matter how well the sofa is treated for bedbugs, sooner or later they will appear there again, since there are plenty of them in other secluded places in the room, although it does not seem so at first glance. Therefore, there is no need to delay further processing of the room.
Why do bedbugs appear in a new sofa?
At the end of the article, I would like to answer one interesting question about where bedbugs come from in a new sofa. In fact, a sofa, bed and similar sleeping places become interesting for bedbugs only if a person has slept or continues to sleep there. Otherwise, such a sofa for a bedbug will be no different from desk. It's all about the secrets of the sebaceous and sweat glands that a person leaves behind. For a bug, it’s like the smell of grilling kebab on an empty stomach.
Therefore, if you showed up at home new sofa, and immediately after that there are bedbugs, there is every chance to suspect that the sofa is actually not that new. But before making a complaint against someone, you need to make sure that the bedbugs came from the sofa, and not from neighbors, for example.
Mechanical destruction
Mechanical destruction, or simple collection of insects by hand. Extremely ineffective, unpleasant
You need to get to work wearing gloves or using a vacuum cleaner. It is better not to crush bedbugs right away, as this will cause harm to appearance upholstered furniture. What to do then? You can collect bedbugs using an airtight container, and then destroy them all at once by pouring one of the available chemicals. When deciding how to get rid of bedbugs in a sofa, you need to know that the effectiveness mechanical method low.
Temperature treatment
Heat treatment - the best way, because the sofa is mobile.
Sofa bugs die at temperatures above -22 degrees and above +48 degrees. It is not recommended to use boiled water, as this option has significant drawback– the furniture will get wet. It is better to take the upholstered furniture out into the cold and leave it outside the room for a day. You need to pay attention to the air temperature outside, otherwise the method will not work. If it’s summer outside and bedbugs continue to periodically infest the furniture, you should treat the sofa with a steam generator.
It is better to select a product based on toxicity level and odor intensity. This could be Raptor, Raid, Dichlorvos, Executioner, Combat, Karbofos.
Before processing, you need to prepare the room. Upholstered furniture If possible, disassemble and remove things, if any. Children and animals must be removed from the room. Processing can be performed with both closed and open windows. It all depends on the degree of toxicity of the drug. Recommendations for disinfestation are presented in the instructions. All surfaces of the product and upholstery seams are treated with insecticide.
You can use aerosols such as “Combat”, “Raid”, “Dichlorvos”, “Carbozol”, etc.
Folk remedies
Folk remedies such as strong-smelling herbs or tinctures usually do not give results.
Main routes of penetration:
- Exterior walls of the house
- Doors
- Ventilation passages
- Areas where sewer pipes enter the apartment
- Any cracks in the ceiling or walls.
Video: Detection methods and destruction methods
If the task is to find bedbugs in the sofa, you should pay attention to a number of features of their presence:
- The presence of brown husks is the shells of larvae. They are shed by young animals: 5 times during the period of formation until adulthood.
- Excrement: black, small balls. By external signs they can easily be confused with poppy seeds.
- Small insects are larvae. What distinguishes them is light shade corpuscles, as well as small size, which is why young animals can easily be mistaken for cockroaches and ants.
- An unpleasant smell in the room, which intensifies as you approach the sofa.
- Bites on the human body. They are discovered in the morning. The bites are large in size and there is swelling and redness of the skin in these areas. In addition, the bug bites several times, so the red spots will be located in the form of a path or localized close to each other.
