To buy furniture from charity shops? Or are bedbugs a big problem?

[CatWomantotheRescue]

I love buying from charity shops as I feel I'm supporting a good cause as well as paying less for my stuff. We have moved into a larger house and need to buy a sofa, several beds, some armchairs, plus tables, kitchen chairs, etc. And there are several large charity shops near us including British Heart with nice furniture. We bought a sofa there a couple of months ago with no problems.

However, I have been reading up on bedbugs and have gotten scared. Apparently they are becoming more and more prevalent in the UK and are an absolute nightmare to get rid of. I'm getting scared.

So what should I do? What would you do? Any experience with either/or soft furnishings from a charity shop or bedbugs? Thanks.

I'd probably be happy with a second hand sofa, and there's no problems with armchairs, tables, bed frames and that sort of thing. But I wouldn't sleep on a second hand mattress.

ignore and do. You can always ask in the shop about concerns.

bedbugs are always prevalent, nothing new there.

Just buy new mattresses, and look at soft furnishings critically, but if they look and smell acceptable then I would only avoid used mattresses, not worry about sofas or chairs.

It's not just cheaper for you and good for the charity, buying secondhand is also much more EF!
I buy secondhand everything and agree with others that bedbugs are unlikely to be more prevalent than they ever were.
Just avoid SH mattresses, and give everything a good clean when it arrives.

All my furniture, bar the beds, is second-hand, and I have no bedbugs.

I do understand your concern and I wouldn't buy a second-hand mattress unless I had an airtight cover to put the mattress in. (You can kill bedbugs by cutting off the oxygen supply, like with a cover.)

Also keep an eye out for any signs of wood worm, in the furniture. You do not want to be bringing that into your home either.

I bought 2 sofas from a second hand shop and they were infested with carpet beetles, never again

Oh God carpet beetles! Boak.

When I moved here I was penniless so furnished my whole place with lovely furniture from charity shops. It cost less than 300 to do the whole place. I did buy a new mattress though which added another 100. I steam cleaned the sofas and gave everything else a good clean with dettol. Have fun shopping.

I have a 2nd hand bed and mattress from a charity shop. Bedbugs are easy to spot when you know what you're looking for and no way would they take anything that even had a chance at being infested lest it spread to the rest of their stock.

2 years bite free here! But would not buy similar from a private shop, charities are more choosy imo!

Look out for clothes moths as well, as we found out during an infestation they can squeeze up into the nooks and crannies of wood. After replacing all the carpet I'm reluctant even to buy books from charity shops, but rationally I'd say it's ok to buy furniture from charity shops as long as you give it a good scrub first, but soft furnishings probably aren't worth the risk.

I would never buy a second hand mattress - bed bugs aside, the thought of all those years of somebody else's sweat and bodily secretions soaking into it - eww!

I have bought a second hand sofa before, but it was a leather one so it was easy to give a good clean. I wouldn't want to buy a second hand fabric one though.

OK some myths circulating around here. because of a lot if international travel and the loss of some excellent pesticides like DDT. You may have them and not know as a lot of people don't react to the bites. Just because you don't think you have been bitten, doesn't mean you don't have them.

Sofas and couches can be very bad for bedbugs and less controllable because you can't encase them, like you can a mattress. You can check for them, you are looking for their excreta rather than them. They can also be found in electrical equipment, toys, prams etc.

You are better off with metal frame furniture. Steam cleaning does kill them but only if you can get every inch of the piece up to a high temperature. Which you normally can't. Some charities heat treat stuff here in Canada. I don't know about the UK.

Deleted the wrong bit of my post... The second sentence should start "Bedbugs are more likely now..."

Bedbugs will live in pretty much anything, any tiny gap including under the edge of wallpaper! So In theory sofas/wardrobes/bed frames etc are always a risk.

Thanks said have a good look at what your buying, look out for tiny dark spots especially around joins.

Worst case if you did get them a course of treatment from pest control will get rid (3-5 visits is the norm and we charge between £70-£100 in London per visit)

So no one thinks I'm a skank, I hasten to add that my mattress was "nearly new" and the shop staff told me it was someone's spare room bed that they always used a mattress cover on anyway. I was well brought up & always use a mattress protector so the ew factor never hit.

MrsTP is right, bedbugs are definitely on the increase. They've reached epidemic proportions in New York City and have spread to the UK.

Anyway, I'm convinced, beds and mattresses we'll buy new. Sofa - not sure. Probably new but if we see a very nice charity shop one we'll be tempted. Everything else - charity shop. Thanks all.

I think using a steamer on soft furnishings kills bedbugs. Sure I read that somewhere....

The sofas with carpet beetles were fabric, I would happily buy second hand leather, and have done since

I've bought two bedroom sets for my kids rooms (double wardrobes and drawer sets, plus beds (but with new mattresses). A bed settee for downstairs (really handy), a nest of tables, and a brand new double bed/mattress for us (had to assemble it). A few years ago we also had a fantastic three piece suite too. No problems with any of the furniture. It makes sense to look around and very carefully inspect any furniture in a charity shop. I saw a beautiful, immaculate corner suite in dark blue leather the other week, only £150.

I prefer solid wood furniture, but it's expensive to buy new, so tend to get chests of drawers etc from charity shops. A quick clean and good as new! I'm also looking to get a new sofa from a charity shop soon, but for some reason could not buy a used mattress, not sure why?!

I wouldn't buy second-hand soft furniture. Have had no problems with wooden furniture.

All my furniture bar the beds and two bookcases is second hand. None of it matches, although it's all more dark wood than pine (because that tends to be cheaper in charity shops as it's less popular but I like it and it polishes up to shows the swirls of the wood unlike pine), and I love it. It's cheaper and you can get some gorgeous stuff. My local BHF shop had a telephone table and upright piano last week! I've also had rugs from there but only the newish looking ones.

Oh that's right, I forgot that DH's piano also came from a British Heart Foundation. It's from the 1920s and is gorgeous - cost us £80 complete with bench and the piano tuner charged around £40. They had loads more pianos in the back that we saw when we went back to choose the bench. Whenever one sells they just wheel another one out!

Also our charity shop sofa is Gplan and looks brand new. I can afford much nicer things in charity shops than I could new. Pretty much all of our stuff is from charity shops - but bought before I started reading up on bedbugs and getting paranoid!

We bought a second hand chest of drawers for the kids room,then we had bedbugs in our room. Not in DDs so it may not have been connected but can't now cope with the idea of second had furniture, purely from a bug point of view as I know it's better to reuse and recycle, so only buy new stuff now. The drawers smelt smoky as well which I didn't notice in the shop.