How to Remove Bed Bugs From Wood Furniture

As bed bug infestations have become more common, many people are realizing that it can be very hard to remove bed bugs from their furniture. 

This is particularly true of wooden furniture. 

If you think that your wood furniture has bed bugs in it, you need to read on for more information about how to deal with them.

Can Bed Bugs Live in Wood Furniture?

Bed bugs used to be something that we all joked about. We even told our kids not to let the bed bugs bite when we tucked them in at night. However, recent struggles with bed bug infestations in many parts of the US have made this little joke not nearly as funny.

Bed bug infestations are becoming more common, and many people are finding that their rentals or even their home have been compromised by exposure to these pests.

One of the least known ways that bed bugs can be brought into your home is through wooden furniture that you have purchased. These might be items that you found at a garage sale, or maybe you even purchased them from an estate sale or an antique vendor. Not every person selling vintage furniture verifies that the items that they are selling are free of vermin and other contaminants.

Signs of Bed Bugs in Wooden Furniture

Signs of bed bugs are actually rather easy to spot. This can save you a lot of heartache by preventing your purchasing furniture items that will bring these terrible vermin into your home. Some signs that there are bed bugs in furniture that you might want to buy are:

•         Bugs falling out of the furniture if it is set down hard
•         Bugs coming out of the cracks or any spaces between joints of the furniture item when a credit card is inserted in the space.
•         Dead bugs in drawers or on flat surfaces of the item.
•         Signs of staining and other debris from bed bugs.
•         Small, black fecal spots on furniture surfaces.

If you want to be really sure that you will see bed bugs when you are looking at a furniture item, bring white gloves and a white sheet with you to look at the item. Set the furniture piece down hard on the white sheet a few times to see if any bugs fall out and use your white gloves to push your finger into small spaces in the furniture item.

How to Remove Bed Bugs From Wooden Furniture

If you think that a furniture item that you have bought has bed bugs, you will need to take it outside immediately to prevent more bugs from getting into your home. Removing bed bugs from your furniture is just the first step in the process. You will also need to have an exterminator come and treat your home to get rid of the bed bugs that were brought in with the furniture item.

To clean wooden furniture and remove bed bugs, you will need to vacuum the furniture item with a shop vac or a vacuum that you can clean out thoroughly afterwards. Get rid of any cushions that came with the furniture and dispose of them in plastic garbage bags.

If the wood can hold up to steam or high heat, you should thoroughly treat the item with both to kill the bed bugs. If your wooden item cannot hold up to this treatment, which is the most common difficulty with removing bed bugs from wooden furniture, you will need to use a bug bomb or two in an enclosed space.

If all else fails, a pest control company can help you to get the bed bugs out of your new wooden furniture.

Insecticides You Can Use

Specific insecticides will work to kill bed bugs in most situations. These are pyrethrins and pyrethroids. These are botanical insecticides that are derived from chrysanthemums. These compounds are lethal to bed bugs and can also flush them out of hiding locations as they try to escape the fumes of the toxins.

Some bed bug populations are now resistant to this treatment, and you might have to buy a stronger insecticide that includes both kinds of insecticides as well other stronger chemical ingredients instead. Desiccants can also be effective against bed bugs.

Steam Treatment

Steam and heat treatment are often the most effective means of killing bed bugs due to their ability to hide in small spaces and their toughness. You will need to expose any item that needs to be cleaned to hot steam for about 90 minutes to kill eggs as well as bed bugs.

Most companies that provide bed bug control and extermination services will treat a home with high heat for two days and then use hot steam on all the surfaces in the home for part of another day. Bed bugs can handle very high temperatures for a long time, so you will need to be very thorough in your steam and heat treatments to kill them.

Finding Vintage Furniture Without Bed Bugs

Finding vintage furniture that is clean and safe enough to add to your home without worry can be tough. Many used furniture items can be exposed to all kinds of contaminants, including bed bugs. If you have ever purchased a furniture item from a yard sale or even an antique dealer, you have probably had a bad experience or two along the way.

At A Cottage in the City, we make sure that none of our items that are for sale are anything but safe and clean. You will be able to be sure that every item that you buy from us is clean and has been checked for all kinds of infestations as well as damage.

Buying vintage items should not be a stressful experience! We make sure that you can buy the vintage furniture that you love without any concerns about quality or cleanliness.