Can Bed Bugs Live in Wood Floors?- Almahdi’s Opinion
They love to live under the bed because most beds are wooden and filled with cracks and crevices, ideal for them to live healthily. They get into the bedding and mattresses, taking away your sleep and blood and living a merry life. They can also be hard to find.
However, if you have eliminated them from your bed, but they keep coming, you must check your wood flooring.
Bed Bugs and Wooden Floors
Bed bugs will house themselves within your wooden floor, especially in your bedroom, for easy feeding, and at night, they track your body’s warmth and CO2 and feed on you. The females can lay eggs for weeks.
While they typically hide on the underside of the mattress, they also choose the cracks between wooden floorboards, especially if the infestation is severe.
They are small and smart enough to find your blind spots and thrive. They likely consider various factors for their perfect harborage.
- • They will choose a location close to humans: The preferred distance between them and their prey is usually six feet. So, the mattress, pillows, under the bed, and the flooring under the bed are ideal locations.
- • They like dark places, sometimes red spaces, and anywhere else covered in shadows.
- • They choose the cracks between wooden floors because they allow escaping the light easily. It means your furniture may also provide them with a desired stay.
How to Find Bed Bugs in Wood Flooring?
They are hard-to-find, flat-bodied bugs the same size as apple seeds. If you know where they may be coming from, disturb them. It makes them move around for a hiding place. You can use a fabric draft stopper to barricade potential escape routes. When you have sealed the spots, take a flat ruler or knife and run along the cracks of the floor.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Wood Flooring?
Getting rid of them is just as time-consuming as finding them. They may be hidden in your bedding, flooring, and furniture, if not anywhere else in the room. However, these methods should offer maximum effectiveness.
- • Use the Sunlight: Bed bugs do not like the sunlight. Lay your mattresses, pillows, and blankets under the sun and see the magic happen. It is the easiest way to get rid of them from your bed.
- • Lay Traps: If you have ensured cleaning your bed from any possibility of bed bug crawling, it is time to prevent them from accessing your bed. Use bug interceptors that sit around the feet of your bed and allow them to climb into but not out of by filling them with water or oil.
- • Launch a Spray Attack: The easiest way is to use sprays on your floors. Spray in the cracks and crevices. The bugs will eventually come in contact with the chemicals and perish.
- • Change Your Flooring: Wooden flooring is ideally the best, but not if you have had uncontrollable bed bug infestation. Choose carpet or linoleum flooring instead. However, replacing a floor is expensive and time-consuming. So, alternatively, you can fill cracks and large gaps by cleaning them and sealing them with wood putty.
This option has another problem, apart from the expenditure. You will have a hard time spotting the bugs in the carpet. Laminate flooring may be a better option because they are flat and do not have deep ridges for them to hide in. If you already have laminate flooring and are suffering from bed bug problems, you need not worry about the flooring.
Final Words
The best way to get rid of a bed bug infestation in your home, be it the bed, floors, or furniture, is to hire an exterminator. They use specialized heat treatment to clean your entire home from bed bugs. If you do not know where to find one, consult your flooring specialist, and they may be able to help.