How to get rid of bedbugs in a sofa

It is believed that bedbugs in sofas and other upholstered furniture are the province of dirty apartments with slightly antisocial residents, however, this is not so. Your favorite sleeping spot could be invaded by unexpected guests at any moment. About 40% of people simply do not notice subtle signs of bedbugs in their beds. It is important to notice insects in time and remove them from your home. Don't know where from these insects come and want to know,how to deal with bedbugs? Don't know where from these insects come and want to know how to deal with bedbugs?

For what reasons do bedbugs appear in the sofa?

Do you have an animal at home that either wears a collar or walks outside on its own? You risk receiving parasites as a gift to your pet's caresses. There are other reasons for the appearance of bedbugs in the house:

• Self-introduction of pests. Most often, they cling to the folds of clothing and, if they survive the trip, settle down comfortably in the nearest resting place. Bloodsuckers like to settle close to food.
• You can often find parasites 3-4 weeks after a long journey or business trip, where the creatures have moved onto clothing.
• Friends and relatives who come to visit may also bring new settlers with them. And they are not at all to blame; many simply do not pay attention to the bites, mistaking them for an allergy, or have no manifestations on the skin at all.
• Bedbugs are able to crawl away from neighbors who no longer have enough food for them. In this case, simply cleaning the apartment will not solve the problem, because many rooms are already contaminated. You remove the insects, and they will return the same way.
• Buying used furniture is a risky business. Sometimes it is sold simply to get rid of an infected element of the room.
• By purchasing a new sofa in a store, you can also get a “pleasant” addition. Warehouses for storing goods are large and employ tens or even hundreds of people, so accidental contamination is quite likely.

Not important, how did the bugs get in? and as a result why do they appear? important how to get rid of them.

How to determine if there are bedbugs in a sofa

The main signs that these creatures are visiting you at night:

• Bites on the body. Red spots with a diameter of 2–5 mm. Due to the venom injected during the bite, they itch. Sometimes even doctors can make a mistake and mistake spots for an allergy. There is a chance that your skin is simply insensitive to the bites and there will be no rash.
• Blood stains on bed or sleepwear. A careless bug sometimes leaves small red droplets, and a person, tossing and turning in his sleep, can crush the insect. So if you find bloody stains, you should sound the alarm, even if there are no bites on the body.
• Pest feces look like gel pen dots. They may smear the bed or be kept in dust in the corners of the room. So sweeping it away with a broom and carefully looking at the white surface will not be superfluous.
• Bedbugs give off a specific smell. A thin nose is able to catch it and suspect something is wrong.
• You can simply accidentally stumble upon their corpses and skins in or near the bed.

ATTENTION. Bed bugs carry some diseases and can themselves cause illness. So besides causing discomfort, insects are truly dangerous.

What do couch bugs look like?

The appearance of the parasite depends on the stage of its development:

• Adult insects are flat, brown and oval in shape, 5–7 mm long.
• The larvae are transparent and darken over time, their size ranges from 1 to 5 mm, and can be red if they are full of blood.
• The transparent covers of the larvae from which they grow.
• The eggs are less than 1 mm long and white in color. They can be seen on the dark upholstery of the sofa in the form of single copies or the whole starry sky.
• Pest waste smears the bed and the surface of the sofa. They are easy to remove in the first week after their appearance using detergents.

How to find bedbugs?

Bloodsuckers like to hide in all sorts of secluded places where their food container rarely looks. To look for pests, you need to arm yourself with a bright light source, preferably a magnifying glass and a screwdriver, to disassemble the sofa to inspect the insides and mechanisms. Where can you find a cluster of parasites:

• gap between the back of the sofa and the wall;
• furniture upholstery seams and decorative elements;
• all kinds of cracks and cracks;
• deep folds of the sofa surface;
• bottom of furniture;
• interior space of the sofa;
• built-in drawer for storing linen;
• under and in the legs on which the furniture stands;
• in cracks in the floor;
• under wallpaper and behind baseboards;
• between books on a shelf;
• under the carpet.

Finding parasites in your home is extremely unpleasant. But don’t rush and throw away your favorite sofa.Removing insects is not so difficult, the main thing is to do it correctly in order to completely get rid of them, without damaging the furniture or getting hurt yourself.

How to get rid of bedbugs in a sofa

REFERENCE. Bedbugs move at a speed of 1 meter per minute. It doesn't take that long to get to the delicious person. They are most active at 3–5 am, when the owners of the house sleep the most soundly.

There are several possible ways to get rid of insects:

• chemical treatment with an insecticide;
• traditional methods;
• professional disinfestation.

Basic methods of struggle

The first thing that comes to mind is to go to the store and buy a remedy against these annoying insects. You need to choose a spray wisely; it is advisable to find a drug with a prolonged action so that it infects bedbugs and removes them within a month. This way you can be sure that there are no well-hidden larvae or eggs left, because in 30 days they will all be destroyed. And no re-processing is required, which is a big plus.

It is advisable to disassemble the sofa into modules in order to carry out thorough processing. Spray all surfaces, paying special attention to joints, seams and other hidden places. While working, you should wear protective equipment: a respirator, long sleeves and thick rubber gloves. If insect outbreaks are found outside the furniture, for example, under the carpet, then it is also necessary to cover the surface there with the contents of the spray can.

IMPORTANT. After using the spray, you can leave the room closed for a couple of hours or immediately start airing it. After 3-4 hours, you can close the windows and begin the mandatory wet cleaning of the room. This will protect you from exposure to toxic substances designed to kill insects.

Traditional methods

Ancient methods of destroying parasites have been tested by time and also have a right to exist. There are a huge variety of them:

• The smell of vinegar alone can kill bloodsuckers. The solution must be coated with all surfaces, joints and seams. This procedure will need to be repeated several times until the bedbugs finally leave the furniture.
• Cloves, tansy and wormwood, both fresh and dry, will help get rid of pests. The smell of herbs is detrimental to them, so a few bunches in places where parasites accumulate are enough.
• These insects cannot survive temperatures below -18°C. In severe winter, leaving the sofa outside for a couple of hours will be enough for disinfestation. Unless, of course, there are no small creatures left on other elements of the room.
• To kill pests with high temperature, you will need a steamer or iron with this function. At the maximum power of the device, you need to process all the seams of the furniture, having previously disassembled it.
• Salt dissolved in hydrogen peroxide with alcohol will help remove unwanted guests without harm to the human body.
• Turpentine is effective against bedbugs if used correctly. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of turpentine and a bar of laundry soap in 200 milliliters of boiling water. Due to the toxicity of the mixture, it is necessary to apply it with gloves. Treatment is carried out according to the scheme for working with insecticides.

ATTENTION. The pungent odors of some folk remedies can be absorbed into furniture and disturb the sleeping person. In order not to damage the furniture, you need to approach the removal of bedbugs with caution.

Professional pest control

Turning to special services has its advantages:

• A professional exterminator will inspect the entire premises and select a suitable insecticide and method of spraying it.
• House owners do not risk being poisoned by caustic substances while cleaning the room.
• A specialist will treat the ventilation shafts to prevent the reappearance of bedbugs.
• Other insects in the house will also be destroyed.
• The highly effective product will completely destroy pests, so no additional treatments are required.
• Exterminators provide a guarantee of the work performed.

Preventive actions

IMPORTANT. After getting rid of the creatures, do not rush to forget about them like a bad dream. Measures must be taken to prevent them from returning to the house. And just always being on guard to keep your furniture free from insects won’t hurt either.

Basic methods of protection against the spread of bedbugs:

• You need to protect yourself from neighbors by closing all possible cracks and treating ventilation shafts.
• Carefully inspect new items, as well as wash and iron them immediately after purchase.
• Herbs that repel parasites, placed in the corners of the room and near the sofa, will additionally protect the house.
• When cleaning, it is important to look behind the back and under the sofa, as well as under the carpet, on a weekly basis. Pests most often hide in these places.
• Periodically cleaning your furniture with a steamer is an excellent precaution, but it can be quite labor intensive.

Remember that first you need to completely get rid of bloodsuckers and only then carry out prevention. Without intensive insect control, simple precautions will lose their effectiveness.

The appearance of bedbugs is unpleasant news, but it is not the end of a restful sleep and the safety of relaxing on the sofa.After properly carried out disinfestation, the insects will disappear, and experience will help you be more careful.