Bed bug control in Harat Al Mazloum, Jeddah

Targeted, not broadcast

Product goes into cracks and runways, never sprayed across open surfaces.
Told before we start

What we will use, where it goes, and what to cover or move before we arrive.
A follow-up visit

We return after the first treatment, because what survives it does not show on the day.
Homes and businesses

Apartments and villas, and kitchens and stores that need a record of each visit.

Why they keep coming back in Harat Al Mazloum

On these jobs the first sign of trouble is usually on the ground floor nearest the souq entrance, in the room closest to where goods are unloaded, well before it reaches the bedrooms upstairs. The method is set out in full on what Bed bug control involves.

The first reason

Tall stone houses joined by one staircase, not separate flats

The old houses here rise storey on storey around a single internal staircase that serves one family, not a block of separate flats. Once bed bugs reach a room on the lower floor, that same staircase gives them a direct route up, so an inspection has to cover the whole house, not one bedroom in isolation.

The second reason

Trading souqs that open onto the same lanes as the houses

Souq Al Jami opens straight onto the alleys that lead to these houses, and cloth, blankets and second hand goods pass into storerooms built against the residential entrances almost daily. A batch that carries bed bugs can reach the stairwell before anyone notices, which is why the check has to look at what has just come in, not only the bed.

The third reason

Restoration work near the old houses keeps gaps open

Restoration near houses such as Baeshen House opens fresh gaps in centuries old stone and timber, and workers often cover the work with sheeting and cloth that gets moved from one site to the next. That movement between properties is exactly how bed bugs cross from a vacant or half restored house into one that is still lived in.

Landmarks of Harat Al Mazloum

Our work in this quarter runs from Al Alawi Street in the south to Bab Makkah in the east, and visits are planned around the lanes that branch off between the two rather than building numbers that can be hard to make out on old stone fronts.

Al Shafi'i Mosque
Souq Al Jami
Baeshen House
Bab Makkah
Al Alawi Street

Before treatment

The places that decide the treatment

The block north of Al Alawi Street sits hard against working souqs, and goods, fabric and furnishings move in and out of storerooms built into the ground floors most days of the week.

The stitched piping along the edge of a mattress

The mattress seam

In Al Mazloum's stone houses close to the souqs, we check the mattress seam first, since it is the likeliest place for anything that arrived with new cloth or a reused blanket.

A wooden bed frame and its slats seen from below

Frame joints and screw holes

Old timber bed frames in these close set houses swell with damp carried up from the low ground near the harbour, opening the screw holes into an easy place to check by hand.

An upholstered headboard fixed to a bedroom wall

The headboard and the wall behind it

A wooden headboard set against the stone wall in an Al Mazloum bedroom hides a narrow gap behind it that is rarely cleaned, so it is one of the first places we look.

What the bedding shows

The damp that comes with such low ground makes bed bug marks show up clearly on the pale cotton common in bedding across these old houses.

A fabric sofa and the seam of its cushion

Sofas and armchairs

Reception rooms near Bab Makkah see a steady stream of visitors from outside Jeddah, so the upholstered seating there gets checked as closely as any bedroom.

An open suitcase on a luggage rack in a room

Luggage and second hand furniture

Second hand goods such as blankets and bedding move through the stalls near Souq Al Badu, and anything that enters an Al Mazloum house from there is worth checking before it reaches a bedroom.

How we work

1
Inspect and map the spread

We strip the bed and work through the mattress and base seams, the frame joints, the headboard and the skirting, then check the upholstered furniture and the neighbouring rooms to see how far it has gone.
2
Laundry, heat and steam

Bedding is bagged and sealed inside the room, then washed and dried hot. Steam runs along the seams and edges, because heat reaches the cemented eggs that a liquid never will.
3
Targeted, non-repellent application

A non-repellent product goes onto the harbourage itself, with a dust into voids and screw holes. We do not use a repellent aerosol, because it drives the insect deeper into the wall and into the next room.
4
Monitoring and the follow-up visit

A sealed encasement goes onto the mattress and the base, with monitors under the bed legs, then we return once the remaining eggs have hatched and re-treat anything still active.

What bed bug control includes

A recorded inspection

Mattress and base seams, frame joints, the headboard, the skirting and every upholstered piece in the room.
Steam and targeted application

Steam along the seams and edges, and a non-repellent product on the harbourage itself, not on the surfaces you sleep on.
Voids and pipe entries

Behind the skirting, around pipe entries and under socket plates, which is the route from one unit to the next.
Monitors under the bed legs

Checked at every visit, they show remaining activity before the bites do.
Laundry, encasement and aftercare

The hot wash and dryer routine, a sealed encasement on the mattress and base, and what must not be carried out of the room.
A follow-up timed to the hatch

A date set on the hatch, and re-treatment of anything still active.

What is different about Historic Jeddah Municipality

The Historic Jeddah municipality covers the quarters of Al Balad inside the old wall: Al Mazloum, Al Sham, Al Yaman and Al Bahr. The buildings are tall houses of coral limestone and timber rawashin, centuries old, standing shoulder to shoulder on narrow lanes that see little sun, many under restoration or partly vacant. The ground is low and close to the sea and the harbour, humidity stays high through the year, and popular souqs and eateries trade late into the night. Old timber, voids between walls and goods stores create conditions favoured by termites, cockroaches, rodents and wood boring beetles.

Questions about this district

We buy bedding fabric from Souq Al Jami, does it need checking before it is made up at home?

New cloth straight off the roll rarely carries anything. The risk sits in fabric that has been folded and stacked in a storeroom for a while before sale, especially bolts bought as job lots rather than fresh rolls, so a quick check before it is cut and sewn is worth doing.

Our son does itikaf at Al Shafi'i Mosque and brings his bedding home after, does it need checking?

Bedding that has spent the last ten nights inside the mosque is usually fine on its own, but if it was borrowed from a neighbour first, or stored earlier with other bedding of uncertain condition, it is worth checking before it goes straight back onto the bed.

Our old three storey house shares one staircase, is checking one floor enough?

No. The internal staircase links every floor together, so if bed bugs have reached a room downstairs there is a good chance they have already used that same stair to travel further up. We treat the whole house on one visit rather than one floor at a time.

Relatives arrive through Bab Makkah and stay with us straight away, should we check their bedding?

Not on every single visit, but if a guest stays more than one night, or arrives after a long trip with luggage that has been closed and packed for days, it makes sense to check the guest bedding once they have gone, before anyone else uses that room.

We bought second hand wool blankets from Souq Al Badu, do they need checking first?

Wool blankets are a comfortable hiding place for bed bugs, particularly if they have been folded away for a long stretch before sale. It is better to check them, and give them a proper airing in the heat, before they are spread on a bed rather than after.

The old wooden rawashin in our bedroom are cracked, are the gaps checked too?

Yes. Gaps in old cracked timber close to the bed are exactly the kind of hiding place bed bugs prefer, so we open the rawashin panel and check its frame and inner edges as part of the same visit, without touching how it looks from outside.

How much does bed bug control in Harat Al Mazloum cost?

It is set after the inspection, because the price follows the type of infestation, the size of the space, how far it has spread and the number of visits it needs. Send a photo and a description on WhatsApp and we will give you an estimate before we reach Harat Al Mazloum.