Second-hand furniture comes cheap, and sometimes for a good bargain if you’re cash strapped and need to buy – or replace your home furniture. It’s essential to countercheck any used furniture before buying it. Thoroughly check for bed bugs, fleas and mites. Where possible, you can call in pest control NJ to come and disinfect, and dust the furniture before investing in it.
You can also pick furniture with hard surfaces instead, like plastic and solid wood when ordering used fixtures. The most notorious and resilient of all pests are bed bugs, which often hide in the most unusual places like lamps, clocks, in hidden pleats and furniture joints. Inspect all your second-hand furniture thoroughly, cleaning them using potent cleaning agents before fitting them in your home.
Due to the possibility of inheriting pests from a previous furniture owner, here’s a list of pests to watch out when buying used furniture:
Bed Bugs
These little critters are the worst kind of pests you do not want near your furniture. Bed bugs suck the life out of you every single time you sit, rest, or sleep in bug-infested couches or your used mattress. Bed bugs move like ghosts, and you only feel a stinging itch when they suck your blood. Due to their minute size, these critters live in tight spaces and folds on your furniture.
Some second hand dealers change the top covers of mattresses to make them look as good as new. However, inside, the foam mattress can be infested with bedbugs that come out of hiding when they detect the smell of blood. If you bought a used mattress and felt itchy on your first night, it could be bed bugs! Call on pest control in your area to get rid of the critters before they lay millions of eggs and move to other areas in your house.
Carpet Beetles
If you have bought carpets from second-hand dealers, check for these bugs that like to nestle in the warm fur of your carpet. Though harmless, these bugs can crawl up your feet as you relax on your couch with family and friends. They’re not hard to miss because they resemble hard pebbles; they can be black, brown or white. Carpet beetles like hiding in the corners of your house and will likely come out at night. Watch out for these bugs when buying floor mats and rugs. Thoroughly vacuum clean all second-hand carpets before you spread them on your floor.
Dust Mites
These microscopic pests crawl on furniture surfaces, and you cannot see them with the naked eye. Mites cause dangerous illnesses such as allergies and asthma and can cause serious health issues to your family if you buy second-hand couches or beds from unhygienic dealers.
To test for dust mites in your furniture, buy a test kit from your local pest control company to test for mites. When buying second-hand furniture, ensure that it’s vacuumed and appropriately air-dried to prevent these bugs from entering your home.
Fleas
If you bought furniture from a previous pet owner, you will probably inherit some fleas, mostly found in dogs. Just like bed bugs, fleas do bite, and it stings like hell when they get at your flesh. Similar to mites, fleas are too tiny; you will hardly see them with the naked eye. They like to hide in the dark corners of couches and cushions commonly used by dogs. Fleas encounter humans by jumping and biting into your flesh. Take precautions by enquiring if your second-hand couch or bed belonged to a pet owner so that you can clean it properly. The good news is that you just need to vacuum your new furniture exhaustively using pesticide liquid to get rid of the fleas.
If you suspect that your used furniture is infested with bugs, visit the nearest pest control service near you for a complete diagnosis and fumigation of your entire home. Pests found in, say, your couch might quickly spread to other areas in your home. It is, therefore, advisable to inspect and clean the entire house to be on the safe side.
Lastly, buy your second-hand furniture from trusted dealers to avoid inheritance of pests that can ruin your overall health if not eradicated on time.