The Route, In Full
- Bag it in the room. Strip the bed with a bin bag already open beside you, and put the bedding straight into it
- Tie the bag before it leaves. Not folded over — tied
- Carry it, do not drag it, straight to the machine. No detours, no setting it down
- Empty the bag directly into the drum, then bin the bag outside or wash it
- Hot wash, then a full hot tumble dry. The dryer is doing most of the work
- Seal the clean bedding in fresh bags and keep it in a different room
- It goes back only when you are told the room is ready
The bag is the point. Loose bedding carried through a house sheds on the landing, the stairs and the hall. A tied bag does not. It is a ten-second difference and it is the difference between this being safe and being the thing that spread it.
The Four Wrong Versions
- To the laundry basket on the landing. A container of harbourage in the circulation space, sitting for days
- To the airing cupboard. Warm, dark, undisturbed and full of folded fabric — an excellent description of a harbourage
- To the spare room to sort out later. The spare room is now a question
- Straight back onto the bed once washed. Back where it started, in a room that has not been treated
What Counts as Bedding
More than the sheets, and the ones people leave out are the ones that have been there longest.
- Sheets, duvet covers and pillowcases — obviously
- The duvet itself and the pillows, which are washable and are routinely skipped
- A mattress topper, which sits directly on the piping
- A mattress protector, same
- Throws, blankets and cushions kept on the bed
- Anything soft that lives on the bed — children's toys included
If a care label rules out the heat, that item needs a plan rather than being quietly put back. Ask.
What Does Not Come Out
Everything else. The mattress, the frame, the drawers and their contents, the bedside cabinet and anything stored under the bed all stay in the room — moved around inside it for access, but not through the door.
Pangbourne: Sleeping While You Wait
The obvious question is what you sleep on once the bedding has gone. The answer is fresh bedding from the sealed clean supply, put on the same bed, in the same room.
It will very likely need washing again after the treatment, which is irritating and is much cheaper than the alternative — which is somebody deciding to sleep somewhere else because the bed feels contaminated.
Do not put clean bedding back into an untreated room "just to be tidy". Sealed and elsewhere is the whole point of having washed it. A cupboard in another room, or a sealed bag in the hall - not the bed it came off.
Bed bugs in Pangbourne? Pest Control Specialists Berkshire treats bed bugs from £220 for the first room. Bed Bug Treatments in Pangbourne has the full detail, or call 0118 336 1366.