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Addendum, for the OP: For immediate improvement, I think the most important thing could be - mattress covers. The ones that actually work are expensive. We got them as a precautionary measure. You need to tape the zipper areas.
A friend told me that when they have nowhere to live, they do not infest.
She also said - nothing touching the floor. Apparently they do not fly or jump, just crawl. That's why people use those dishes of water on the bed legs. Or tape, where they get stuck.
That jogged my memory there. I remember reading about what extent this one girl went to, to alleviate the bedbugs in her apartment (note I said alleviate, not eradicate). She did the mattress thing, and double-sided tape all the over her bedframe, over the mattress, at the bottom of where her sheets tucked in, her entire headboard & footboard, legs, etc., to try to catch them before they crawled up on her.
Congrats. Did you purchase your CO2 trap or make it yourself? I plan to make my own since a littler sugar and yeast added to a bottle of water will ferment and produce CO2 for weeks. Use a little plastic tubing and channel the CO2 into a plastic cup or tin can, and tape some paper towels to the outside so the bedbugs can climb up and inside, and voila, you've got yourself a bedbug trap. Then just put some talcum powder on the inside so there's no way they can get enough traction to climb out, plus some diatomaceous earth so they'll die, and you won't even have to squish them yourself!
Lazy jerk that I am, I just bought the trap, but you could make a perfectly good one for a lot cheaper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlem resident
There is a web site called "bedbugger" ? I have never heard of it, although we have not had bedbugs. I only knew about the registry, which is an important resource I think.
HPD will write violations for bedbugs, and 311 complaint calls (which are, I agree, results-wise useless) are listed as complaints on the HPD site. This is also a good place to check a building's history before you move in.
Otherwise, sadly, 311 is only useful for creating paper trails ... They do issue complaint numbers.
The bedbugger site is a must for anyone with an infestation. But beware of scammers taking advantage of the insane desperation and frenzy to deal with the problem at any cost that overtakes many people (like me).
Soapy water in a spray bottle and a vacuum cleaner worked for me but maybe I caught my infestation early. In any case, I was happy to be rid of them.
I think this was the case for me too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harlem resident
Addendum, for the OP: For immediate improvement, I think the most important thing could be - mattress covers. The ones that actually work are expensive. We got them as a precautionary measure. You need to tape the zipper areas.
A friend told me that when they have nowhere to live, they do not infest.
She also said - nothing touching the floor. Apparently they do not fly or jump, just crawl. That's why people use those dishes of water on the bed legs. Or tape, where they get stuck.
Yes! And don't forget pillow covers too.
I recently threw out my mattress and box spring after my cheap plastic cover (cover was meant for moving not bed bugs) easily kept tearing. When moving them out there were a few escapees.
I put DE in the plastic containers under each leg. Once I disassembled the bed frame I put it in the tub and poured boiling hot water over every inch especially any nooks and crannies.
Oh and that Dawn mixture is 3 parts water and 1 part Dawn.
One thing that's been bugging me about mattress/box spring/pillow covers is, what keeps the bedbugs from just living on those things and laying eggs there? Is it just harder for them to hide on a cover, therefore easier to get rid of them?
I'm putting covers on all my stuff and disassembling my bed frame so I can clean/kill everything before putting it all back together and isolating the bed, so I guess that ideally, nothing will be left to get onto the covers. Still bugs me though.
I guess it's better than using no cover and having eggs hatch and get all over the bed again.
Thanks a lot for the input, guys. This has all been very informative.
Update - we are taking this forum's advice and leaving a paper trail. Called 311 yesterday to begin any sort of documentation. They say they will be sending an inspector (with a dog) to check out the apartment sometime within the next week. Whether or not this actually happens is to be determined.
We decided to begin by approaching our landlord with a simple lease termination. At this point, we all simply want out. To us, it isn't worth the headache that comes with this or housing court to figure out what will happen after. We just want to get our deposit and never look back. We had just renewed our lease for the month of July, but had to enter negotiations to prevent a rent hike. Seeing as that was management's goal, we think maybe they may be willing to let us out as it would mean an increase for the next tenant. Any input on this point would be appreciated. Likely? Not likely?
Failing this, we have an attorney who would help us write a formal letter to their offices. Firstly, numerating our expenses (which, despite having our treatment paid for, reaches the 1K mark with hotels, laundry service, etc.) letting them know what this experience has entailed for us, and warning them that our next steps would involve a lawsuit under the Warranty of Habitability section of the NYC Tenants' Rights Guide.
AGAIN, we do not plan on collecting money for damages. We only want to pressure our management into letting us out of this lease. Do you think that barring any further action, these points would be enough for management to decide "This isn't worth it, let's just break their contract,"?
As a final note, yesterday, our landlord called me, upset at the fact that 311 had been brought into the picture. I felt this was very inappropriate. We are meant to report them at the very first sighting, correct? Can our landlord's actions regarding this in any way be leveraged to help our case?
Thanks a lot for the input, guys. This has all been very informative.
Update - we are taking this forum's advice and leaving a paper trail. Called 311 yesterday to begin any sort of documentation. They say they will be sending an inspector (with a dog) to check out the apartment sometime within the next week. Whether or not this actually happens is to be determined.
We decided to begin by approaching our landlord with a simple lease termination. At this point, we all simply want out. To us, it isn't worth the headache that comes with this or housing court to figure out what will happen after. We just want to get our deposit and never look back. We had just renewed our lease for the month of July, but had to enter negotiations to prevent a rent hike. Seeing as that was management's goal, we think maybe they may be willing to let us out as it would mean an increase for the next tenant. Any input on this point would be appreciated. Likely? Not likely?
Failing this, we have an attorney who would help us write a formal letter to their offices. Firstly, numerating our expenses (which, despite having our treatment paid for, reaches the 1K mark with hotels, laundry service, etc.) letting them know what this experience has entailed for us, and warning them that our next steps would involve a lawsuit under the Warranty of Habitability section of the NYC Tenants' Rights Guide.
AGAIN, we do not plan on collecting money for damages. We only want to pressure our management into letting us out of this lease. Do you think that barring any further action, these points would be enough for management to decide "This isn't worth it, let's just break their contract,"?
As a final note, yesterday, our landlord called me, upset at the fact that 311 had been brought into the picture. I felt this was very inappropriate. We are meant to report them at the very first sighting, correct? Can our landlord's actions regarding this in any way be leveraged to help our case?
Yes.
Of course s/he is upset. There were probably other units and nobody was informed.
Please do post on the bedbug registry so others will at least potentially know.
Thanks a lot for the input, guys. This has all been very informative.
Update - we are taking this forum's advice and leaving a paper trail. Called 311 yesterday to begin any sort of documentation. They say they will be sending an inspector (with a dog) to check out the apartment sometime within the next week. Whether or not this actually happens is to be determined.
We decided to begin by approaching our landlord with a simple lease termination. At this point, we all simply want out. To us, it isn't worth the headache that comes with this or housing court to figure out what will happen after. We just want to get our deposit and never look back. We had just renewed our lease for the month of July, but had to enter negotiations to prevent a rent hike. Seeing as that was management's goal, we think maybe they may be willing to let us out as it would mean an increase for the next tenant. Any input on this point would be appreciated. Likely? Not likely?
Failing this, we have an attorney who would help us write a formal letter to their offices. Firstly, numerating our expenses (which, despite having our treatment paid for, reaches the 1K mark with hotels, laundry service, etc.) letting them know what this experience has entailed for us, and warning them that our next steps would involve a lawsuit under the Warranty of Habitability section of the NYC Tenants' Rights Guide.
AGAIN, we do not plan on collecting money for damages. We only want to pressure our management into letting us out of this lease. Do you think that barring any further action, these points would be enough for management to decide "This isn't worth it, let's just break their contract,"?
As a final note, yesterday, our landlord called me, upset at the fact that 311 had been brought into the picture. I felt this was very inappropriate. We are meant to report them at the very first sighting, correct? Can our landlord's actions regarding this in any way be leveraged to help our case?
THANK YOU for all being so helpful.
I doubt you're 'meant' to report them at the very first sighting. I could understand you calling 311, if the L/L wasn't doing anything about it; like hiring an exterminator, but by your own admission he is doing what's expected of him. I think calling 311 in this case might be have been counterproductive. There's no need to antagonize the L/L if he's actually doing his part.
Now you have to thread carefully, since it's really up to him to let you out of the lease.
There have already been numerous studies conducted by research universities all over the country regarding bedbugs. The verdict, the best way to kill them is heat. Constant heat at over 176 degrees is the most effective solution. There are also a handful of insecticides that have been proven to effectively kill bedbugs, but beware, only synthetic insecticides really work. Inorganic insecticides like diatomaceous earth have a long shelf life, but a LOW repellency rate. Meaning it's effective if you use a lot of the stuff as a preventive measure when you have a small problem. If you have an infestation on your hands, it's most likely not going to work.
Keifer King is partially right and partially misinformed/paranoid as well. Yes, diatomaceous has been grossly hyped as a solution to bed bugs, but it can be effective, if not preventive, in certain situations.
That being said, I agree with likeminas, OP. I get that you're in a hard situation, but you might be jumping the gun by doing things that might antagonize the landlord when it seems that he's been trying to rectify the situation. Unless you go the heat route, insecticides take some time to fully get rid of the bed bugs, and it's only been three weeks. Talk it out with the landlord, and see if he will agree to let you out of the lease. It's a lot easier for a landlord to get rid of bed bugs with empty apartment then with a tenant. Good luck, OP.
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