Bed Bugs - on the Exterminators Show

[muirford]

This is a very serious problem and one that I encountered on the East Coast while on an inn sitting assignment.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not, but it bears repeating. One way you can protect yourself from having to throw out your box spring and mattress is to encase each of them in special bed bug covers. The $35 or so cost per cover is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on a new box spring and mattress. Bed bugs can live in a mattress for over a year without a blood meal.
If you do encounter the problem, the covers can be removed then washed and dried in hot water and put back on your box spring & mattress. Washing in hot water and drying kills the bugs. This way your expensive investment is saved. You will still have to have the exterminator out and usually take the room out of service for a week, but at least you won't have to buy a new box spring and mattress.
Also, tell your housekeeping staff to keep their eyes open for the thin blood trails on your linens. If you see anything on the linens it is a good indication to check further along the mattress welting and under the mattress head as Joe suggested.
A bed bug problem has nothing to do with how clean you keep your Bed and Breakfast. It is usually spread by people who come in contact with the pest and then bring it to your B&B in their luggage. So, if you have never checked out what a bed bug looks like or other information about this pest, now would be a good time to do so..

This is a very serious problem and one that I encountered on the East Coast while on an inn sitting assignment.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not, but it bears repeating. One way you can protect yourself from having to throw out your box spring and mattress is to encase each of them in special bed bug covers. The $35 or so cost per cover is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on a new box spring and mattress. Bed bugs can live in a mattress for over a year without a blood meal.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.
Riki
.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.

This is the online store where I found mine. I used the vinyl covers for both the mattress and box springs, then featherbeds on top and the breathable waterproof mattress covers over those. To avoid having the crinkling noise you get with the vinyl if it's too close to the sleeping surface. It's still going to run about $100-$125 per bed but that's a lot less than a new mattress. Don't forget the bed-wetting story we had last year - https://www.innspiring.com/node/853.
.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.

This is the online store where I found mine. I used the vinyl covers for both the mattress and box springs, then featherbeds on top and the breathable waterproof mattress covers over those. To avoid having the crinkling noise you get with the vinyl if it's too close to the sleeping surface. It's still going to run about $100-$125 per bed but that's a lot less than a new mattress. Don't forget the bed-wetting story we had last year - https://www.innspiring.com/node/853.

Thanks, I'll check it. We already have the non-noisy waterproof covers. Do I put the bedbug ones over them?
Riki
.

Thanks, I'll check it. We already have the non-noisy waterproof covers. Do I put the bedbug ones over them?

I put the bedbug ones over the mattress and box springs first, then everything else on top. It's vinyl encasements, then featherbeds, then waterproof mattress covers, then sheets.

 

[Proud Texan]

This is a very serious problem and one that I encountered on the East Coast while on an inn sitting assignment.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not, but it bears repeating. One way you can protect yourself from having to throw out your box spring and mattress is to encase each of them in special bed bug covers. The $35 or so cost per cover is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on a new box spring and mattress. Bed bugs can live in a mattress for over a year without a blood meal.
If you do encounter the problem, the covers can be removed then washed and dried in hot water and put back on your box spring & mattress. Washing in hot water and drying kills the bugs. This way your expensive investment is saved. You will still have to have the exterminator out and usually take the room out of service for a week, but at least you won't have to buy a new box spring and mattress.
Also, tell your housekeeping staff to keep their eyes open for the thin blood trails on your linens. If you see anything on the linens it is a good indication to check further along the mattress welting and under the mattress head as Joe suggested.
A bed bug problem has nothing to do with how clean you keep your Bed and Breakfast. It is usually spread by people who come in contact with the pest and then bring it to your B&B in their luggage. So, if you have never checked out what a bed bug looks like or other information about this pest, now would be a good time to do so..

This is a very serious problem and one that I encountered on the East Coast while on an inn sitting assignment.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not, but it bears repeating. One way you can protect yourself from having to throw out your box spring and mattress is to encase each of them in special bed bug covers. The $35 or so cost per cover is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on a new box spring and mattress. Bed bugs can live in a mattress for over a year without a blood meal.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.
Riki
.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.

This is the online store where I found mine. I used the vinyl covers for both the mattress and box springs, then featherbeds on top and the breathable waterproof mattress covers over those. To avoid having the crinkling noise you get with the vinyl if it's too close to the sleeping surface. It's still going to run about $100-$125 per bed but that's a lot less than a new mattress. Don't forget the bed-wetting story we had last year - https://www.innspiring.com/node/853.
.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.

This is the online store where I found mine. I used the vinyl covers for both the mattress and box springs, then featherbeds on top and the breathable waterproof mattress covers over those. To avoid having the crinkling noise you get with the vinyl if it's too close to the sleeping surface. It's still going to run about $100-$125 per bed but that's a lot less than a new mattress. Don't forget the bed-wetting story we had last year - https://www.innspiring.com/node/853.

It's hard to tell from the online photos about the zipper construction. If you zoom in on the photo of the "premium" cover, the zipper closure is NOT completely closed. If you watched the videos that SWIRT posted, you know that that small opening is enough for bed bugs to migrate in and out of the enclosure.
Since you own these, does the zipper closure have a backing to prevent this?

 

[muirford]

This is a very serious problem and one that I encountered on the East Coast while on an inn sitting assignment.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not, but it bears repeating. One way you can protect yourself from having to throw out your box spring and mattress is to encase each of them in special bed bug covers. The $35 or so cost per cover is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on a new box spring and mattress. Bed bugs can live in a mattress for over a year without a blood meal.
If you do encounter the problem, the covers can be removed then washed and dried in hot water and put back on your box spring & mattress. Washing in hot water and drying kills the bugs. This way your expensive investment is saved. You will still have to have the exterminator out and usually take the room out of service for a week, but at least you won't have to buy a new box spring and mattress.
Also, tell your housekeeping staff to keep their eyes open for the thin blood trails on your linens. If you see anything on the linens it is a good indication to check further along the mattress welting and under the mattress head as Joe suggested.
A bed bug problem has nothing to do with how clean you keep your Bed and Breakfast. It is usually spread by people who come in contact with the pest and then bring it to your B&B in their luggage. So, if you have never checked out what a bed bug looks like or other information about this pest, now would be a good time to do so..

This is a very serious problem and one that I encountered on the East Coast while on an inn sitting assignment.
I'm not sure if this has been discussed before or not, but it bears repeating. One way you can protect yourself from having to throw out your box spring and mattress is to encase each of them in special bed bug covers. The $35 or so cost per cover is nothing compared to what you will have to spend on a new box spring and mattress. Bed bugs can live in a mattress for over a year without a blood meal.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.
Riki
.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.

This is the online store where I found mine. I used the vinyl covers for both the mattress and box springs, then featherbeds on top and the breathable waterproof mattress covers over those. To avoid having the crinkling noise you get with the vinyl if it's too close to the sleeping surface. It's still going to run about $100-$125 per bed but that's a lot less than a new mattress. Don't forget the bed-wetting story we had last year - https://www.innspiring.com/node/853.
.

Can you tell me where you got bed bug covers for $35? All the scare emails I get show them costing something litk $100 per mattress.

This is the online store where I found mine. I used the vinyl covers for both the mattress and box springs, then featherbeds on top and the breathable waterproof mattress covers over those. To avoid having the crinkling noise you get with the vinyl if it's too close to the sleeping surface. It's still going to run about $100-$125 per bed but that's a lot less than a new mattress. Don't forget the bed-wetting story we had last year - https://www.innspiring.com/node/853.

It's hard to tell from the online photos about the zipper construction. If you zoom in on the photo of the "premium" cover, the zipper closure is NOT completely closed. If you watched the videos that SWIRT posted, you know that that small opening is enough for bed bugs to migrate in and out of the enclosure.
Since you own these, does the zipper closure have a backing to prevent this?
.

Since you own these, does the zipper closure have a backing to prevent this?

I'll try to check the next time I get down to that level on the mattress but I have to warn you that will be a month or two. They are really buried under a lot of stuff on the beds. If you want the information quickly, you would be better served to give the online store a call.

 

[Arks]

Forgot to add they were going from one apartment to the next via the outlets on the walls near the bed.
The treatment they used was to heat the apartment to 135+ degrees for 48 hours (the exterminator brings in this giant safe heating units). This is apparently the new and efficient way to treat them. It is not something you can treat yourself..

The treatment they used was to heat the apartment to 135+ degrees for 48 hours (the exterminator brings in this giant safe heating units). This is apparently the new and efficient way to treat them.

I realize this is an old thread I'm replying to, but maybe the discussion of protecting your mattress investment is moot. If you get an infestation, you have to treat the whole room anyway, since the bugs can be anywhere and everywhere, so won't that heat treatment kill them out of the mattress anyway?

 

[Morticia]

Forgot to add they were going from one apartment to the next via the outlets on the walls near the bed.
The treatment they used was to heat the apartment to 135+ degrees for 48 hours (the exterminator brings in this giant safe heating units). This is apparently the new and efficient way to treat them. It is not something you can treat yourself..

The treatment they used was to heat the apartment to 135+ degrees for 48 hours (the exterminator brings in this giant safe heating units). This is apparently the new and efficient way to treat them.

I realize this is an old thread I'm replying to, but maybe the discussion of protecting your mattress investment is moot. If you get an infestation, you have to treat the whole room anyway, since the bugs can be anywhere and everywhere, so won't that heat treatment kill them out of the mattress anyway?
.

The mattress protectors are generally to stop the infestation from taking hold in the bed to start with. But, you have to have the right kind of protectors and you have to keep them from getting torn on the bed frame.
To answer the questions, tho, yes, the treatment will kill off the bugs that are in the mattress & boxspring and any other soft furnishings. As well as on the dressers, light fixtures, etc. Abutting rooms also may need to be treated so the bugs don't migrate away from the heat into other rooms.
It also helps to flip the mattresses on a regular schedule to keep an eye on the sides you don't always see!

 

[EmptyNest]

Forgot to add they were going from one apartment to the next via the outlets on the walls near the bed.
The treatment they used was to heat the apartment to 135+ degrees for 48 hours (the exterminator brings in this giant safe heating units). This is apparently the new and efficient way to treat them. It is not something you can treat yourself..

The treatment they used was to heat the apartment to 135+ degrees for 48 hours (the exterminator brings in this giant safe heating units). This is apparently the new and efficient way to treat them.

I realize this is an old thread I'm replying to, but maybe the discussion of protecting your mattress investment is moot. If you get an infestation, you have to treat the whole room anyway, since the bugs can be anywhere and everywhere, so won't that heat treatment kill them out of the mattress anyway?
.

The mattress protectors are generally to stop the infestation from taking hold in the bed to start with. But, you have to have the right kind of protectors and you have to keep them from getting torn on the bed frame.
To answer the questions, tho, yes, the treatment will kill off the bugs that are in the mattress & boxspring and any other soft furnishings. As well as on the dressers, light fixtures, etc. Abutting rooms also may need to be treated so the bugs don't migrate away from the heat into other rooms.
It also helps to flip the mattresses on a regular schedule to keep an eye on the sides you don't always see!
.

I hope we aren't going to go into all of this again....it is already here in the thread. Lots posted in the past. Let's not rehash all the old stuff please.