Triage · used furniture

You bought used furniture. Here's the decision tree.

Used furniture, especially upholstered, is the second-most-common bed bug vector after travel. The right move depends on what kind of item it is and how much you'd lose by not buying it.

First sort: what is it?

  • Mattress, box spring, upholstered sofa, padded chair from an unknown seller: the honest answer is don't. The expected cost of an infestation outweighs the cost savings on used soft furniture.
  • Hard furniture (wood table, metal shelf, dresser without upholstery): proceed with inspection, the risk is much lower.
  • Curbside / sperrmüll: leave it. The reason it's at the curb is sometimes exactly the reason you don't want it.

Inspect before transport

With a flashlight, look at every joint, seam, screw hole and corner. You're checking for:

  • Live bugs. ~5-7mm, reddish-brown, flat oval. Photo refs in what bed bugs look like.
  • Fecal spots. Pinhead-sized dark brown to black smears or dots, often clustered along seams and frame joints.
  • Shed casings. Translucent amber-brown nymph skins. Each nymph sheds five times; an established colony leaves hundreds.
  • Eggs. White, ~1mm, in clusters of 5-10 in protected crevices.

Be honest: inspection misses bugs in deep voids and frame interiors. Clean-looking surface inspection is necessary but not sufficient for upholstered furniture.

Treat before the item enters your home

  • Heat chamber for everything small enough. 50-60°C for several hours kills all life stages. Drawers, cushions, removable parts. For larger items, professional whole-room thermal remediation in the garage or driveway.
  • Steam every seam and joint. Handheld steamer at ~100°C, slow deliberate passes. Penetrates a few mm but reliable at the surface.
  • Hard furniture: wipe and inspect, light steam at joints and screw holes. Risk is genuinely low.
  • For "we already brought it inside" cases: quarantine in a non-bedroom space (basement, garage), place the legs in interceptor traps, and monitor for 4-8 weeks before integrating.

Ask the seller, honestly

"Has anyone in this home had bed bugs in the last 12 months?" Most sellers tell the truth, especially when asked directly. If they say yes, even if "it was treated", treat the furniture as contaminated. Honest answers save everyone trouble.