5 Tips for Avoiding Bed Bugs With Secondhand Furniture

Bed bugs can hide in narrow cracks and seams. They're tough to spot and even tougher to get rid of once you bring them home. It's hard enough to check for bed bugs in items that seem relatively clean and safe, so avoid scavenging furniture finds from iffy sources like Dumpsters and alleys. This may sound like a no brainer, but every week you'll hear some home improvement maven on television bragging about a spectacular home décor item she found abandoned somewhere. For the time being, if an object looks destined for the city dump -- leave it alone.

We know this is bad news, but upholstered furniture can be a paradise for bed bugs. Once inside, they can be impossible to detect. If the person donating or selling the furniture cleaned or vacuumed it without realizing bed bugs were present, the superficial signs and clues of bed bug activity may be absent, too.

Steam cleaning won't eradicate bed bugs from upholstered furniture. The extreme heat necessary to kill the bugs and their eggs doesn't penetrate into the padding of upholstered pieces deeply enough to do the job. There are over-the-counter pesticides that claim to kill bed bugs, but even they may not be up to the task of adequately permeating upholstered furniture. Even if you do try chemical warfare, you'll be left with the problem of dead bugs inside the furniture and a lingering chemical residue you won't be able to wash out completely. The choices here aren't encouraging.

If you think you were born under a lucky star and still want to risk buying secondhand upholstered items, check them thoroughly for signs of bed bugs (more on that in the next couple of pages), and look for items people don't sleep on or near. Bed bugs typically stay close to locations where people sleep. They're more likely to hang out near a bed or couch used for sleeping or napping than they are to inhabit an upholstered dining chair or bar stool. There are no guarantees, though, so this is one big instance where the buyer (you) should definitely beware.

Most secondhand furniture sellers are completely honest, but that doesn't mean you should believe everything they tell you -- especially when they claim their goods are bed bug free. It's very hard to be sure used furniture items are free of bed bugs. That's the reality. Even concerted, honest efforts to make sure furnishings are safe can fail because consumers and resellers underestimate how stealthy, adaptable and indestructible these pests really are. Here are a few examples:

If you're willing to play the odds when buying used furnishings, choose hard surfaces like solid wood and plastic to soft or porous surfaces like leather, fabric, pressed wood or cardboard. Bed bugs have been known to hide in books and inside the pleats and seams on lampshades. They've also been found hiding inside lamps, fans and electronics like clocks. Hard, cleanable surfaces with few (if any) crevices or seams are the least risky bets. Think bookshelves, nightstands, tables and dressers. Inspect all potential purchases thoroughly, and clean them before introducing them to your interior spaces. We have some inspection suggestions on the next page.

Bed bugs are hard to identify, but they aren't invisible. They leave signs you can sometimes detect if you're careful and observant. If you find an item from a reputable seller you think is worth serious consideration, grab a magnifying glass and flashlight and look for these telltale signs of bed bug activity:

These are just a few places bed bugs hide. There are many, many more. Bed bugs can shelter inside hollow towel racks and curtain rods as well as in small appliances. They can burrow into plush toys. They can conceal themselves in clothing, bedding, curtains, rugs, shoes, handbags and just about anything else you can imagine.

After you invest in a secondhand piece of furniture, consider heat treating it in a dark plastic bag to be sure it doesn't harbor bed bugs or their eggs. (Remember, your target is at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit for three hours or more.) If that's not feasible given the size of the object, place it in quarantine in an empty bathtub. Bed bugs can't escape up the slippery sides of tubs, so they'll be contained and easier to detect. Barring all other options, keep new acquisitions away from sleeping areas and inspect them periodically for bed bug activity like spots, exoskeletons and eggs.