How To Dispose Of Bed Bug Infested Furniture

If your house has been infested with bed bugs, it may feel very tempting to dispose of all of your furniture to be extra sure the pests won’t come back. Our team has treated hundreds of bed bug infestations, and our partner company Cooks CleanOUT Services has disposed of a lot of bed bug infested furniture, so we put together this article as a resource to help you decide how and where to dispose of your furniture if you choose to do so.

But first, before you assume your furniture is useless, you should ask…

Should I Throw Away My Furniture If I Have Bed Bugs?

No, not necessarily! There are ways to treat furniture that has been infested with bed bugs without having to completely dispose of the furniture.

Consult with the pest control company that is treating your home for bed bugs to see if they can treat your furniture too. Most companies include this as part of their treatment plan. Here at Dominion Pest Control, we are able to treat bed bug infested furniture as part of our bed bug removal service.

If your furniture is too far gone and you decide to dispose of it instead of treating it, then keep reading to learn how to dispose of bed bug infested furniture.

Step 1: Decide Who Will Dispose Of The Furniture

Disposing of your bed bug infested furniture yourself may seem appealing because it’s cheaper than hiring a pro. But before you try to do this yourself, you should be aware of what’s involved so you don’t commit to more than you can handle.

The cost of removing the furniture yourself may include:

• Cost of plastic to wrap the furniture
• Cost to rent a vehicle to transport furniture to landfill (if you don’t already have a large enough vehicle)
• Cost of dumpster rental
• Cost of disposing of the furniture at a landfill

In addition to the costs, you’ll also have to take the time and effort to personally wrap and transport the furniture to the vehicle and then to the landfill. And if you’re not careful when wrapping up the furniture, bed bugs may escape through gaps in the plastic and drop in the house before the furniture even leaves the building, thus making it more likely for a re-infestation.

While hiring a professional junk removal service may incur a separate fee, remember to consider the expenses of renting a vehicle and paying for dump fees and any unpleasantness at the landfill (if you have ever gone there, you know it’s not a good place for a picnic!).

If you’re in Lancaster County PA or surrounding areas, our partner company Cook’s CleanOUT can provide you with a free quote on how much it would cost to remove your bed bug infested furniture safely from your home.

Step 2: Wrap & Seal The Contaminated Furniture In Plastic

Before you remove the furniture from your home, it’s very important to completely wrap each piece of furniture in plastic. We recommend large plastic furniture covers that are designed to protect furniture when moving. You can easily find these bags locally at a Home Depot, Lowes, or other hardware stores, or at moving rental places like U-Haul, Budget, Enterprise, etc.

Just make sure you seal the bag before you start moving the furniture! Otherwise, the bed bugs may drop out during transport and re-infest your house!

Speaking of bed bugs dropping out during transport, we’ve heard that some people use household plastic wrap to wrap their furniture, and we do not recommend that for this very reason. Household plastic wrap is usually very narrow in width, which makes it too easy for cracks to open up and thus for bed bugs to escape.

If you plan to hire a professional junk removal company, check with them first to see if they are able to wrap your furniture for you, or at the very least if they can provide plastic furniture bags for you to cover the furniture.

Step 3: Carefully Transport The Furniture To A Landfill

If you have just one or two small furniture items, you may be able to transport them in a pickup truck. Anything more than that and you may need to rent a moving vehicle from U-Haul, Budget, Enterprise, etc. Either way, make sure that each piece of furniture is thoroughly wrapped and sealed.

Just like you don’t want the bugs to fall through any cracks when you’re moving the furniture out of your home, you also don’t want them falling into your transportation vehicle.

Depending on your city’s disposal system, you may be able to leave some furniture at your curb for them to pick up on a trash pickup day. Contact your city’s disposal company to see if they offer this option.

Another way to dispose of bed bug infested furniture is to rent a dumpster. This would be an extreme move if you only have one or two pieces of furniture, but if you have more furniture than would be able to fit in a vehicle, this may be your best option when going the DIY route.

Alternatively, you can hire a junk removal company to do the heavy lifting (literally), and they’ll handle the transportation and disposal of your furniture for you.

Now that you know how to dispose of bed bug infested furniture, you need to decide if you want to tackle this by yourself or if you want to leave it to the pros. If you know what you’re doing and you have the energy and resources to do it yourself, you can save some money. Or if you’re located in or near Lancaster County PA, we recommend our partner company, Cook’s CleanOUT Services, to professionally remove your bed bug infested furniture safely and quickly.