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bedbug panic

YoursTrulyYoursTruly
edited August 2011
how worried are you guys about bedbugs in terms of, like, buying a weird crappy used drawer from the rebuilding center and using it as a desk hutch?

if I paint it will it kill any bedbugs that might be haunting in there?

how can I clean the drawer in my yard in such a way as to kill any hidden bedbugs? The internet says only professional steam cleaning will kill them.

do I just hope for the best

Comments

  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    edited August 2011
    the panic hasn't really hit here too hard I think.................... but it should!

    I moved out of my wonderful studio downtown when several apartments on my floor were being sneakily baked with industrial room heaters set to 200 degrees. I made it out in time......................

    Heat is the only thing that will ensure your hold on a bugless life.

    Ground-up diatoms, boric acid, that kind of stuff acts as tiny razors to the bug bodies. It sort of gets in the cracks of their armor and wears it away so they die a slow death. It is considered a mild deterrent.

    You can only pray.

    But steam cleaners are not too expensive! You can get a little hand-held model for cheap.
  • MatthewMatthew
    Look up ways to identify them online. Check everything out. It is a terrifying prospect.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I painted the whole thing and filled all the wee holes with paint and am now practicing the "hope for the best" method.

    OH FUCK
  • LelandLeland
    Oil based paint? I think the fumes would get them. Latex or acrylic might just make them angry.
  • UncleBoatShoes2011UncleBoatShoes2011
    This is not a thing that happens from the Rebuilding Center. NOT IN MY TOWN.

  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I don't know if it's oil based or not!
    No way am I going back down into our Blair Witch basement to check, either.
    HFTB
  • Cherry_PieCherry_Pie
    I got really paranoid about bedbugs recently when shopping for used furniture and did a ton of research. I think the thing to remember is that if you look really closely you can see them, or signs of them anyway. So I say just inspect a thing really well and if there are parts that cannot be inspected or if you feel like "ugh, they might be hiding in the holes in this wicker!!" then either walk on by, or rent a steam cleaner.

    I think a single drawer is not really a risk. Bedroom furniture is the biggest risk.

    Part of me wishes I had never researched bed bugs. Now I live in a constant state of mild-to-severe paranoia.
  • flossy_log_ladyflossy_log_lady
    edited August 2011
    I have bought so many random things from random Goodwills and random CL folk and never once have I thought to myself, "Hmm, I wonder if this thing has bedbugs?"

    But that's how I roll. Always living on the edge (and oblivious to common knowledge/dangers).

    Ha! I just thought of a good example of this! In 2006 I was chatting on the phone with a friend while I made myself a spinach salad. I mentioned this fact to said friend, and he told me to immediately throw it away because of the massive spinach e.coli outbreak that was sweeping the nation. Did I know about this? No. Did I eat my salad? Yes.

    I think my parents are happy that I am living with a partner these days because he reduces my chances of absent mindedly causing my own death or major illness.
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    i have known several people who have thought it was no big deal to wear clothing bought from a thrift store without washing it first. this is something that has always freaked me out to no end, but when i voice objection they just don't get it.
  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    So you also would not try on clothes at a thrift store? I don't think the duration of exposure would make much of a difference. Not that I don't prefer washed clothes.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    for me it depends on the item in question. If it's a sweater, maybe. If it's a t-shirt that smells clean, sure. A blanket, no.

    I think I use my eyes and nose to determine if the person who donated it had cleaned it first. I am not that squeamish!!!!! Just about bedbugs.

    If I bought used underwear I'd probably wash it
  • LelandLeland
    I confess to slipping on a quick Goodwill shirt from off the rack. Stuff is all pressed and smells a bit chemically, presumably from their secret industrial washing factory.

    (Right?)
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I don't think that's right at all, actually.

    Also location matters! Would NOT wear something directly out of the Bins, e.g.

    God I wish I were at the Bins right now
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    i have spent some time in the donation-sorting sections of thrift stores, and you people are so wrong in your assumptions. thrift stores rarely, if ever, wash clothing before selling it. all the donations also go into big bins and piles while going through the process of being sorted out- which gives even the cleanest appearing clothing plenty of opportunity to be infested with creepy crawlies.

    now, i am 100% in favor of buying used clothing at thrift stores- at least 80% of my wardrobe came from thrift stores. buying used clothing is great for the environment. buying from charitable thrift stores like Good Will is good for the community. BUT PEOPLE WASH THE SHIT FIRST BEFORE YOU WEAR IT!!!!

    sometimes i'll try things on quickly at the store, but often it's so cheap that i figure if it doesn't fit it's no big deal so i just get it if it looks like the right size. when i buy stuff i don't even take the stuff out of the bag until it goes into the washing machine!
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    PS- everything at Good Will essentially passes through 'The Bins' - maybe not that location exactly, but The Bins is where things go that they just don't have time to sort through (and some things that don't sell in the stores). The things on the rack at the GW Superstore most likely came from giant piles in bins just like you see at The Bins.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    Well I realize of course that the actual STORE is not washing things. I meant more like the person who DONATED the thing was not a crusty scumbag like me, and actually washed the thing first. Then again if it's true it all passes through the bins anyway then fuck it.

    WASH!

  • kdawgkdawg
    I do not buy the bedbug scare, mostly because i have seen it pushed by people who practice reiki or who were convinced that a raccoon had broken into their room and knocked over a plant and made me look under their bed.

    the only person i know who was actually a bedbug victim lived at a anarcho crust punk collective house, confirming every nasty stereotype. :(
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I would literally rather die than live at an anarcho crusty punk collective

    does that make me a disgusting corrupt bourgeois? HOW CAN I STOP BEING A MEMBER OF THE BOURGEOISIE, TELL ME KEVIN
  • LelandLeland
    So like, the wrinkle-free shirts and creased trousers at Goodwill have been pressed but not washed?
  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    Pretty sure my house will be ground zero if the invasion happens, since reselling vintage clothing from thrift stores is our main source of income.

    I'll let you guys know.
  • LelandLeland
    I'm worried about catching them from this thread.
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    image
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    edited August 2011
    I should also add that i am the sort of person who mildly freaks out if i can't wash BRAND NEW clothes before wearing them as well. in the case of new clothing it's chemicals and dyes that worry me. maybe i am a bit on the paranoid side, or maybe i am just way ahead of the curve...
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    what about shrink to fit levis? you have to wear those WHILE washing.
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    exactly. it's a never ending dilemna
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