All You Need to Know About Neill-Wycik
& Its Bed Bug Problem
1. What is Neill-Wycik?
It is a 700+ co-op located in downtown Toronto. During the school year, it houses mainly students (you must be a student to move-in but you can stay on once you've graduated) but during the summer, it turns into a hostel. For more info, visit: http://www.neill-wycik.com/
2. What are bed bugs?
Until I moved into Wycik, I didn't believe that bed bugs were real but trust me, they are. They are tiny, wingless bugs that survive by biting you and drinking your blood. They rarely appear during the day, preferring to spend daylight hours hiding in any dark, narrow opening or in your sheets and blankets. Because of this, you may never see an actual bed bug, only their bites and, if you look closely, their dark-coloured excrement on your sheets. It wasn't until this year that I actually saw one (since then though, I have seen at least half a dozen, everywhere from my bed to the bathroom wall). Bites are small, red welts and usually appear in groups of more than one. Depending on your skin type, you may find their bites quite itchy. For more on bed bugs visit: http://www.doyourownpestcontrol.com/bed-bugs.htm
3.Why does Neill-Wycik have bed bugs?
I've been told that the building's bed bug problem is the result of it being a hostel in the summer. Travellers pick up the bed bugs in one location and bring them to Wycik. Almost all the rooms that serve as hostel rooms contain beds that have wooden frames, one of the bed bugs' favorite places to live. Once they get into these frames, they are next to impossible to get rid of. A P.C.O. employee my mother talked to said that there is no other pest that is harder to get rid of than bed bugs.
4. What is being done to control the problem?
Maintaince does hire fumigators and has them spray infested rooms but this only obtains temporary relief. I was in my unit once when the spraying was being done and I was quite surprise at how fast and non-thorough the process was. Yes, the bedrooms are small here but it took the fumigator less then two minutes to spray each room. He also concentrated only on the bed and the area right around the bed, even though my roommates and I have found bed bugs in our closets, on our shelves and coming out of the electrical ducts located high on the bedroom walls. The P.C.O employee my mother spoke with said that every inch of the bed frame needs to sprayed yet one of the drawers on my bed has never been sprayed inside because its sticks when you try to open it. In addition to spraying, you are suppose to wash all you clothes and bedding to kill any bugs that might be living in there.
5. What should be done?
Ideally, the building would get rid of all the wooden bed frames and replace them with metal bed frames. Last year, I had a mental bed frame and though my roommates got bitten, I didn't. However, this idea is too expensive, according to the housing office. Wycik does have a few metal bed frames but they are all currently being used (lucky people). My roommates and I have placed several requests into the maintenance office to obtain metal beds and we are told over and over that they don't currently have any but some are on order.
Wycik should also hire fumigators who do a proper job and really do spray everything. In addition to spraying, each room should also be dusted, a process which I have only ever seen happen once. Following fumigation, maintenance should supply its residents with the proper tools to keep the bugs from coming back. These tools include plastic mattress covers, No-Pest Strips, which can be hung in closets or even placed between sheets and Pro-Aerosol by Wilson (available at the Home Hardware on Parliament St. for about $12), a product recommended to me by P.C.O. However, without a decent fumigation job to start the process, these products don't really have a big impact on the problem.
6. No! I have bed bugs! What should I do to get rid of them?
Step1- Tell your roommates; you all have to do all of these steps if you want to get rid of them.
Step 2- Complain to maintenance and arrange a date for fumigation.
Step 3- Strip your mattress and vacuum it. Also vacuum the area around your bed including the baseboards and any cracks you see. The goal of this isn't to vacuum up bed bugs but to clean out cracks and seams so that the pesticide can do a more thorough job. Hopefully you have your vacuum because the Wysik vacuums aren't well-suited for this job.
Step 4- The day/night before fumigation, pack your stuff and move it to the hallways, living room, kitchen, bathtub. It's smart to throw a No-Pest Strip (available at Canadian Tire & the like) into the boxes you pack. The strips can later be re-hung in your closet. Place your clothing and bedding in garbage bags to keep any bugs that are living in these items from spreading.Be sure to empty all your drawers. Yes, I know it's a hassle; I've done it close to a dozen times now.
Step 5- The day of fumigation, wash or dry-clean all your clothing, bedding, towels etc. Wycik will reimburse for your dry-cleaning costs and will provide you with laundry money. Before leaving your room, open all drawers and pull your bed and desk away from the walls. I also leave a note with explicit instructions to spray everything but to be honest, I've yet to have a fumigator listen to it.
Step 6- Following fumigation day, spray Pro-Aerosol by Wilson on your mattress (but not your bedding) on your baseboards and on any cracks you see anywhere in your room.
Step 7- Hope all the above steps work and see if you can get a metal bed frame from somewhere.
* Sadly, bedbugs can live for several months without fresh blood so if you go home of Christmas break, don't expect the problem to be gone when you come back. *
I hope you have found this page helpful.
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