“Bed Bugs,” now there is a term I had not heard in many years. I think I was 5 years old when I overheard my parents talking about having bed bugs. I didn’t know what they were, but I did know that they bit me and made me all itchy. Then not too long ago I heard a news report that bed bugs were starting to turn up. I suddenly remembered those early days, and realized I had been waking up with welts almost every morning. Gee, just when you think something has gone away there it is again when you least expect it!
After realizing my morning welts were likely due to bed bugs, I started to do some research. Did you know that bed bugs can infest many areas of your home? They can and evidently do. Bed bugs can infest any type of upholstery. When you follow that line of thinking you naturally start looking at not only your bed, but other areas in other rooms. After I started looking around I naturally found the couch and a couple of chairs in the living room that might be a sweet home for bed bugs. So after I figured this out I started looking into ways of prevention to keep those pesky bugs away from my family.
First I invested in a bed bug protector for my mattress, and another for my box spring. Lo and behold, I then found out that they actually make bed bug covers for couches. When you think the idea through, covering your couch to prevent bed bugs makes just as much sense as covering your bed.
I did my research, and right now the only company making truly bed-bug-proof covers for couches is Sofa Safe. Any other brand isn’t going to be designed with the purpose of sealing out bed bugs. And believe me, if they’re not designed that way, they won’t do the job; bed bugs are tenacious little suckers!
Granted, these covers are not the most fashionable things, but when it comes down to the choice of sitting on a cover for a while vs. spending over a grand to replace my sofa? It’s a no-brainer! And I will not only be preventing bed bugs from infesting my couch, I’ll also be keeping dust, dust mites, and other allergens away from anyone occupying the couch. I don’t know about you, but in my house, there is someone who occupies the couch a lot (me)!
The one major thing you have to remember is that even though you don’t see bed bugs they can still be around. So these covers really just make sense as a preventative measure more than anything. Why wait until you (or a friend or family member) get bitten? By then, you already know the couch is infested. My father would say that is like closing the barn door after the horse already got out.
Remember also that you don’t know where that new (or used) couch has been and what it might have encountered before you got it. We still are not sure where the bed bugs are coming from. If the infestation had occurred shortly after I bought a new couch, I would strongly suspect the couch itself was the source of the infestation. While this isn’t true in my instance, it could easily be the case for someone else. So old or new those couches really need to be covered.
Unfortunately the more we learn about our world the more we have to be vigilant about what interacts for ourselves, family and friends. Bed bug covers for couches will help you be vigilant about bed bugs, whether you have them or not. It is better to cover your couches before you need them and make everyone’s life a little safer.
