Bed bugs in flats rarely stay in one property once they have become established. They do not fly and they do not jump, but they crawl, and in a shared building they travel through the same gaps as anything else moving through the structure.
Where the problem is caught early it is often still confined to the flat that reported it, and treating that flat resolves it. Where it has been present for months, the flats sharing a wall, a ceiling or a floor may be affected as well. What decides which of those two situations a building is in is what residents are reporting, so knowing what to look for and passing it on early matters more in a block than anywhere else.
Contents
The routes bed bugs use between flats
They do not pass through solid masonry. They use what is already there:
- Service voids and riser cupboards running vertically through the block
- Pipe boxing around bathroom and kitchen soil stacks
- Cable and conduit runs behind sockets and light switches
- Gaps under skirting boards and along floor joists in converted properties
- Communal corridors, particularly when infested furniture is dragged out through them
Victorian conversions in Ilford, Barking and Woodford tend to be the most difficult, because the original floor and wall structure was never sealed when the house was divided into separate flats. Purpose built blocks in Romford and Dagenham behave differently. Infestations there usually travel in vertical stacks, reaching the flats directly above and below the source before the neighbours on either side.
Movement is normally slow, taking weeks rather than days. It speeds up when a flat is left empty, when a resident starts sleeping in a different room, or when a shop bought spray or fogger is used. Those products rarely kill an established population, but they do push bed bugs out of harbourage and further into the structure.
What to look for and report
Treatment is arranged on the basis of what residents report, so the detail in that report is what shapes the response. The signs worth recording are:
- Small dark spots, similar to ink marks, on mattress seams, skirting boards, socket faceplates and behind headboards
- Shed skins along bed frame joints and in the folds of a mattress
- Live insects around door frames, architrave and the edges of fitted carpet
- Bites appearing overnight, particularly on arms, shoulders and legs
- Which rooms are affected, and whether anyone has been sleeping somewhere other than their usual bed
Bites on their own confirm very little. Reactions vary enormously between people, and some residents show no marks at all, which means a flat with no complaints can still be holding an established population. Physical evidence carries far more weight in a report than bites do, and a photograph of what has been found is more useful than a description of it.
Signs the problem has reached more than one flat
- Bites or sightings reported in more than one flat within the same few weeks
- Reports coming from the flats directly above, below or either side of the original one
- Residents describing unexplained bites but assuming they are fleas or a skin complaint
- Evidence found near pipe boxing, riser cupboards or communal corridor doors rather than only around beds
- A flat that has recently been empty next door to one reporting a problem
In a block, nobody finds this out unless somebody asks. A managing agent who writes to the surrounding flats and asks directly whether anyone has noticed bites or marks will usually learn more in a week than a landlord waiting for complaints will learn in two months.
When treating one flat on its own is not enough
If the problem is confined to a single flat, treating that flat clears it. The difficulty arises once bed bugs have already reached the properties around it, and there are four reasons a single flat treatment then leaves a building with a recurring problem.
Untreated flats act as a reservoir
If the flats sharing a wall, ceiling or floor are carrying bed bugs and are left alone, the treated flat can be reinfested once the residual product breaks down. The resident is then told, incorrectly, that the treatment did not work.
Treatment can cause dispersal
Insecticide applied to one flat encourages movement outwards through the structure. Treating affected neighbouring flats at the same time closes that route rather than opening it.
Furniture is moved through communal areas
A resident who bags up a mattress and carries it down three flights of stairs leaves bed bugs in the corridor, the lift and the bin store on the way out. Replacement furniture brought into an untreated flat is then infested within weeks.
Follow up visits are missed
Bed bug eggs are not reliably killed by a single application, and they hatch roughly a week to ten days later. Any treatment without a planned second visit, and often a third, is incomplete work.
What if the neighbouring flats will not cooperate
This is the most common obstacle in a shared building, and it is not a reason to delay treatment. A population left alone continues to grow, so waiting for a block to organise itself leaves a resident with a larger problem and a longer course of treatment than if the work had gone ahead.
Where neighbouring flats will not engage, treatment in the affected flat is adapted rather than abandoned:
- Gaps around pipework, socket faceplates, skirting boards and service voids are treated to reduce the routes back in
- Monitors are left in place so that any reintroduction shows up early rather than after another round of bites
- The treatment plan allows for the possibility of ongoing pressure from outside the flat, which is discussed openly at the outset rather than after the first visit
- What is found and treated is recorded, which gives a resident or landlord something concrete to take to the managing agent
Bugwise is straightforward about this. If neighbouring flats are the likely source and nothing is being done about them, that will be said plainly, along with what it means for the timescale, rather than promising an outcome the circumstances do not support.
What to do when a resident reports bed bugs
- Ask the resident to stop moving belongings between rooms and to keep sleeping in the same bed. Moving to the sofa spreads the problem into the living room.
- Ask that no mattresses or furniture are removed from the building.
- Advise against shop bought sprays, foggers and bug bombs. They make professional treatment harder and slower.
- Ask the resident for photographs of anything found, and for the rooms affected.
- Write to the surrounding flats, describe what to look for, and ask them to report anything noticed. Most residents will not volunteer it unprompted.
- Keep a written record of every report and every treatment. In a block, that record is what shows the problem was handled properly.
Preparing a flat for treatment
All cleaning needs to be done before the technician arrives, not afterwards. Once treatment has been applied, the product needs to stay where it was put in order to keep working. The full bed bug treatment preparation checklist sets out the requirements room by room.
Before the visit
- Wash bedding, clothing, curtains and soft furnishings from the affected rooms at the highest temperature the items can safely tolerate, tumble dry on a hot cycle where possible, then seal them in bags or containers and keep them sealed until Bugwise advises otherwise
- Empty wardrobes, drawers, bedside tables and divan bases, sealing the contents in bags rather than moving loose items between rooms
- Vacuum carpets, floors, bed frames, skirting boards and furniture joints using the crevice tool, then seal the contents in a bag and dispose of it outside the property straight away
- Pull beds, sofas, wardrobes and drawers around 60 centimetres clear of the walls and skirting boards where possible, and stand mattresses upright
- Empty any luggage used recently and leave it accessible
- Make arrangements for pets, and cover fish tanks and reptile enclosures securely before the technician arrives
After the visit
- Stay out of the treated area for at least two hours, or longer if advised on the day
- Leave treated areas alone for around seven days. Vacuuming, mopping, wiping down skirting boards or shampooing carpets removes the product before it has done its work
- Keep bagged laundry and stored items sealed until Bugwise confirms it is safe to unpack them
- Keep sleeping in the treated bed rather than moving to another room or another flat
- Expect to see some bed bug activity in the days that follow, since insects disturbed from harbourage will move across treated surfaces before they die
- Report anything found to the technician rather than using a shop bought spray
Do not throw furniture away without speaking to Bugwise first. In most cases an infested bed or sofa can be treated, and disposing of items too early spreads the problem through communal corridors and lifts on the way out of the building.
How Bugwise treats bed bugs in flats
Bed bug treatment is arranged on the basis of what the resident reports, so the more detail given when booking, the better the visit can be planned. That means the rooms affected, what has been found and where, how long it has been going on, and whether anyone else in the building has mentioned the same thing.
Product is applied to harbourage rather than sprayed across open surfaces. That covers bed frames and joints, mattress seams, skirting boards, furniture frames and, where appropriate, dusts placed into voids and behind socket faceplates. Monitors are left in place so that activity can be tracked without relying on residents to report bites.
A realistic timescale is at least two visits, and often three, scheduled around the egg hatch cycle. Problems spread across several flats take longer, and so do buildings where the neighbouring flats are not being treated. Bugwise gives that timescale at the point of booking rather than after the first visit.
Bugwise is BPCA accredited and NPTA registered, Which? Trusted Trader and TrustMark approved, and works with residents, landlords and managing agents across Romford, Barking, Ilford, Dagenham, Hornchurch, Upminster, Loughton, Chigwell and Woodford. The business is family run and owner operated, and has been treating bed bugs in East London and Essex properties since 2018.
Bed bugs in a flat or a block
A survey establishes whether the infestation is confined to one flat or has already reached the properties around it. Bugwise treats bed bugs for residents, landlords and managing agents across East London and Essex, and provides written findings for shared buildings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Bed bugs do not fly or jump, but they crawl, and a block of flats gives them continuous routes to crawl along. Service voids, pipe boxing, cable runs, floor voids and gaps beneath skirting boards all connect one flat to the next. Movement is usually slow, taking weeks rather than days.
Yes, and it does not require anyone to carry them. Research tracking bed bug movement in multi-occupancy buildings has found that they spread between neighbouring flats unaided, and that they will move into empty flats and survive there for months without feeding.
Movement is far more likely into adjacent, upstairs and downstairs flats than to a random flat elsewhere in the block. Those are the residents worth asking directly, since a neighbour who has noticed marks on a mattress will rarely mention it unprompted.
Not through solid masonry, but they do not need to. Bed bugs move through the gaps that already exist in a building, including pipe boxing, cable runs, riser cupboards, floor voids and the space behind skirting boards. In converted properties those routes are often continuous between flats.
Rarely. Where the problem is caught early it is often still confined to one flat, and treating that flat clears it. The flats sharing a wall, a ceiling and a floor with the affected property are the ones most likely to be involved, so asking those residents what they have noticed is the quickest way to establish how far it has gone. Treating a narrow group on good information is more effective and cheaper than treating a whole building.
Treatment still goes ahead in the flat that has reported the problem. Waiting leaves the resident with a larger infestation, since a population left alone keeps growing.
Gaps around pipework, sockets and skirting boards are treated to reduce the routes back in, and monitors are left in place so that any reintroduction shows up early. What has been treated is recorded, which gives a resident or landlord something concrete to take to the managing agent.
At least two visits, and often three, scheduled around the egg hatch cycle. Eggs are not reliably killed by a single application and hatch roughly a week to ten days later. Problems spread across several flats take longer, and so do buildings where the neighbouring flats are not being treated.
People and pets need to stay out of the treated area for at least two hours, or longer if advised on the day. After that, residents should keep sleeping in their usual bed. Moving to another room or another flat spreads the problem rather than avoiding it.
No. Bed bugs feed on blood and are carried in on luggage, second hand furniture, bags and clothing, or they arrive from a neighbouring flat. Clutter gives them more places to hide, which makes treatment harder, but cleanliness is not what attracts them in the first place.
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