Our house has an active infestation. issue are makign following the usualy tips vey difficult.
It is 100% confirmed it's bedbugs.
The house is a cheaply constructed mobile home. The wall sockets are held in place with twisted tabs. the walls are thin and hollow. there is of course the central heating duct as well. and now there's a damage floor on the closet near the master bathroom, caused by an imporper d it yourself bathtub replacement.
This would be bad enough on it's own. other damaged floor has been replaced by wood sections already. We have no effective way to seal all the cracks. The house seems impossible to bug proof. I'm not sure everywhere they could hide is even steamable.
in theory we just need to stop the bites and they will die, but this is also proving hard. My g/f has back pain, and simply can't seem to keep a cover on. she's too how with the cover, and too cold with it off, and tends to toss them off while sleeping, which of course creates a bridge for them to get back on the bed despite interceptors
Additionalyl our hot water is't hot enough to kill liceelectic water heater) and our dryer isn't ot enough to kill either (also electric). this makes cleanign clthes difficult.
what's been doe so far.
1) interceptors for our bed.
2) wood bocks under them so they dont' crack.
3) encasements on the mattress an box sring. they are supposed to stop bed bugs, but not entirely sure they are cutting it. they are the only types that was available. they claim waterproof and beg bud barier. they don't atually say PROOF. aller ease i think.
they are stoll congegating around the seams of the encasements. i dont' knwo of this si becausethey are slippign out, or they are on the bed frame. the is no headboard.
we are getting a new bed frame, and considering a new mattress and boxspring as well. or possibly a platform and memory foam gel mattress, and if the latter would need risers that work with interceptor cups. we naturally fear that just replacing the frame would let the ugs backon to the new frame form the mattress, but also afraid they will just get back onto the new mattress when a cover inevitably dangles off the bed.
we can't really afford to drop 1000$+ on an exterminator without going back into credit card debt that we somewhat recently got out of.
we pretty much live in the bedroom, since she needs to swich often between siting and lieing down. of course, siting on the bed is a bad idea when bedbugs are around....
Our possessions. we have a number that are irreplaceable.
1) computers and laptops. we simply cannot get rid of them. i need my laptop for work. any computer not keps needs to be replaced, and data transferred. can bed bugs hide in them.
2)video game consoles, old and new, and video games. getting rid of these is also not an option.
3) tvs and monitors for them. can bedbugs hide in them? if so what to do about them.
4) some stuffed animals. probably steaming will fix them
5) various dragon statuettes and stuff. prefer not to toss them out.
6) of course clothes. those are replaceable if need be.
7) furniture. beds, dressers, a table or two.
old pcahinko machine. probably would need cleaning and maybe steaming. do not want it to go away ifwe can help it.
She has two sons that are here and unemployed. no oen seesm to want to hire them. if we left we owuld be abandinig them.
We need a plan that deals with all the ussues i'e made. to sum up
1) the house itself has issues.
2) we cant' seme to follow the standard bed tips.
3) we have too much stuf fthat getting rid of isn't an option.
possibel things to do.
1) rent some storage off property, and stash as much stuf f as we can in there. keep it in ther fo 2 years. this would probably include many of the consoles and video games, and most of the cute stuff.
2) bite the bullet and call an exterminator
3) bite the bullet and get a proper steamer and steam the crap out of everything.
4) move, and take the required precautions to not drag them along.
5) assume our casements are at fault, and buy the RIGHT ones.
6) go to some dodgy pharmacy and get that prescription deworming medication that kills bugs that bite you, and take it for durations that may or may not even be safe.
7) somehow get a professional consultation for free.
this has seriously ruined out quality of life.
we need some sort of plan that won't break out piggy bank. since we own the manufactured home we have no landlord o get help from.
What do we do when the standard bed safety precautions can't be followed??!!