Bed bug control in Harat Al Sham, 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 Sham

Working through this quarter, we tend to find the insect settled inside the carved wooden rawashin overlooking the alley rather than deep in the room itself. The method is set out in full on the full Bed bug control page.

The first reason

Coral stone walls and carved wooden rawashin

The old houses here have thick, uneven coral stone joints and rawashin whose carved wooden lattice hides fine cracks between the boards, so treatment has to reach these openings first, well before the seam of any bed.

The second reason

A merchant house split into rented floors

Houses built in the style of Dar Al Zahid once stood as single merchant homes and now run as separate rented floors reached by one shared internal staircase, so the insect can move floor to floor through that stair unless the whole building is checked, not just one flat.

The third reason

An old ribat with changing lodgers

Part of the old endowment lodging near Ribat Al Khunji Al Kabeer once housed travelling traders and still holds rooms with occupants who change and are not related, so each room there needs its own check, unlike a house held by one settled family.

Harat Al Sham on the map

Harat Al Sham sits about 0.5 km from Harat Al Mazloum and about 0.5 km from Harat Al Bahr.

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Before treatment

The places that decide the treatment

The old houses in Harat Al Sham are built from thick coral stone with no gap between neighbouring walls, so the stone joints and the wooden window recesses stay shaded and hold damp.

The stitched piping along the edge of a mattress

The mattress seam

In this old quarter the mattress seam tends to hold the damp given off by the coral stone walls nearby, which makes it a denser hiding line than in a modern flat.

A wooden bed frame and its slats seen from below

Frame joints and screw holes

Old furniture in the quarter usually has wooden bed frames put together with hand driven nails, and the worn joints around them are a favourite hiding spot.

An upholstered headboard fixed to a bedroom wall

The headboard and the wall behind it

Here the wall behind the bed is usually thick coral stone, touching the headboard directly with no gap of air between them.

What the bedding shows

Small, deep set windows in these stone houses keep the rooms dim, so marks on the bedding stay hidden longer before anyone notices them.

A fabric sofa and the seam of its cushion

Sofas and armchairs

Old merchant houses often keep upholstered chairs in the sitting area by the roshan, inherited pieces that need the same check as any other soft furnishing.

An open suitcase on a luggage rack in a room

Luggage and second hand furniture

Given the quarter's trading past, secondhand furniture still moves between its houses fairly often, and it is worth checking before it enters any room.

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.

Landmarks of Harat Al Sham

We plan our visits through the quarter from Bab Jadid at its northern edge, and use Banaja House as the reference point for finding the old homes tucked along the narrow lanes that run between them.

Bab Jadid
Dar Al Zahid
Banaja House
Ribat Al Khunji Al Kabeer
The Qishla

Questions about this district

The old carved wooden roshan has fine cracks, can it be treated without dismantling it?

We treat the cracks in the roshan with steam and a spot product that reaches these fine openings without taking the carved panels apart or disturbing the original woodwork.

Researchers occasionally visit our old house near Dar Al Zahid, is that a risk?

A short visit for viewing does not usually carry bed bugs, but if furnishings are left out on display in the old rooms for long stretches, we would recommend checking them from time to time.

Do the thick coral stone walls hold enough damp to slow steam treatment down?

Damp in a thick stone wall slows how fast it dries after treatment, so we allow extra time before the room is closed up and judge the amount of steam to the depth of the stone rather than soaking the joints further.

We keep winter bedding in a ground floor store once used for trade goods, does it need checking?

Anything that comes out of these old storerooms gets checked before it goes on the bed, since a space closed up for months at a time is exactly where the insect can sit dormant without feeding for a long stretch.

We sleep on the shared roof in summer and roll the mattresses up by day, do they need repeated checks?

Bedding that gets rolled up and stored on the roof every day is worth checking regularly along its seams, since the constant folding can hide the insect from view before any marks show up on the fabric.

A charity near the ribat gives used bedding to families here, does it need checking first?

Any bedding coming from outside the home should be checked before it reaches the bedroom, we go over the seams and any frame joints it has before giving the go ahead to use it.

How much does bed bug control in Harat Al Sham 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 Sham.