Booklice in new build

[Emmyyyx]

We moved into a new build January 20 and over the last week found booklice all in the main bathroom and then my sons room which is the room next to it!

Went on a hunt around the house and found multiple in all rooms - I’m killing loads every day, hoovering all the time, bleached all skirting and bathrooms!

It’s making me ill as I’m constantly on the hunt for them and constantly crying about it (I am pregnant so hormones won’t be helping)

Bought 2 plug in dehumidifiers and hygrometers and loads of disposable dehumidifiers and whacked the heating up the last 3 days but it’s not something I can do constantly!

I know they are harmless but it’s the fact they breed so quickly I feel if I’m not constantly on the go getting rid of them then my house will be over run.

Anyone had these in a new build and managed to get rid of them??? My partner tells me when the house dries out they will go but I can’t cope with another year of this!!

I sympathise with this and agree about how anxiety provoking it is. I had this problem in a new build for 3 years, we then had a fire and the whole property was smoke damaged. I hoped this would have got rid of them but after renovating we have the same problem. It’s soul destroying x

I’m so glad I found this thread and I’m not alone. We moved into our house 5 years ago, not a new build but a good sturdy 3 bed semi. No issues except the previous owners did no jobs properly (bit of a bodge job) but we’ve had no issues until about 2 months ago I found booklice in the hallway over everything… searched the rest of the house and nothing… been deep cleaning for weeks and no sign in the hallway whatsoever. Then after Xmas putting toys away I found more of the little pests in the kitchen and living room. I’ve had a melt down and can’t stop searching for them. My dh doesn’t seem bothered by their presence and just tells me not to worry and we will manage and get rid of them but not to let it take over our lives. I wish I had his positivity but all I want to do is search with a flashlight everywhere and clean. I’ve been using talc everywhere (it’s worked wonders in the hallway) and ordered an expensive dehumidifier before I call in pest control. It’s just so disheartening knowing they are there and you may have to live with them for the foreseeable. I can’t stop crying, I’ve been no use to my kids and feel like a crap mum as these things are taking over my life. I honestly just want to pack my bags and move but we don’t have that option 😢

I know how you feel it's horrendous and mentally draining! I had them everywhere in my new build put up with it for 8 months with pest control out god knows how many times & dehumidifers, finally gave up and moved house lost out on so much money i never took any of furniture as i was advised not to, moved to a 6 year old house and have the same problem but not as bad couldnt believe it, i go on a hunt every morning as soon as im up searching skirtings, walls and ceilings with my torch and i find about 4 every morning scattered all round the house always in different rooms everyday, its been 6 months of this its mentally draining!! I hoover round my door frames and skirtings every 2nd day and since ive been doing that they hide in corners on my ceiling now its disgusting, a pest controller told me 90 percent of houses have them you just have to stop looking but i cant also have a toddler that puts everything in his mouth and i dettol his toys daily now cause im paranoid about them laying eggs

Hopefully one day theyl all just die out its crazy how much people seem to have them

It seems so common but Im honestly obsessed… we’ve been told the same that they are in nearly all houses but once you know they’re there in big numbers it feels gross… we’ve decided to go very minimalist so there isn’t much for them to live on… what a nightmare they are… feel better knowing I’m not alone x

I feel like this is going to be the thread to just pour my heart out… so today (after finding a few stray bugs in my living room after clearing the hallway) we found a full booklouse nest at the bottom of the bookcase in some of my husbands beloved books… we completely gutted the living room from top to bottom and only found bugs in the bookcase and on a few photo frames which were very close by… needless to say the books have all been binned (don’t want them in my house so they’ve gone) and even stripped down the book case and chucked it out… hoovered like a mad woman and put talcum powder everywhere… don’t think I’ve ever done such a deep clean… doubled checked the hallway and no bugs visible there… now to tackle the kitchen… then it’s onto upstairs (not found anything up there as yet but best to keep checking… I feel like I’ve accomplished a bit today but still keep having a good cry 😢 doesn’t help that my eldest has started with a sick bug too… I’m determined to get rid of these creatures!!!

Found out off an expert today that sometimes to stop the problem inside you have to take the problem outside too… we have some only decking at the back of the house that looks like it’s going rotten… the problem could be coming from there. All the bugs we have found have been low to the ground so it could be… either way im going to win this war… I will also be getting my house fumigated once or twice a year to keep on top of it

I've had an awful time with booklice too. I bought my first flat and they ended up in my food and in my books which was horrific. They're coming from my neighbour and environmental health are trying to gain access to their flat to clean it. This has been going on from September.
Been staying at my parents since and I just found one crawling on one of their walls.
These &£ckers are following me I swear.

I completely understand your anxiety and stress!

Has anyone ever had them in their clothes or furniture? This is my absolute biggest fear and would like to be prepared 🥴

Oh no!! Did doing that help? I'm obsessed/terrified of these things 🙈

We’ve managed to deep clean a lot of things and found 2 nests… got rid of anything infested and been thoroughly cleaning since… talc seems to kill them straight away as it dehydrated them… we have only seen around 10 over the whole week so are positive we are winning… had a dehumidifier and our house is so humid so that is helping now and we leave all windows vented… spoke to an exterminator and they said nearly all houses have them but you will only see them once you realise they are there or in larger numbers… talc and dettol are my new best friends, it definitely helps… I also Hoover everyday and will do until they are non existent

Okay thankyou, I'll keep doing all of those things! I've only seen one at my parents crawling on the wall in the hall upstairs. Praying it's just the one but know how unlikely that is.

Oh fuck, I’ve noticed a few on window sills but didn’t think anything of it. Are they going to explode in numbers? I’ll start running the dehumidifiers. Where do they nest?

I have lived 4 decades without ever hearing of these creatures - how can they be so common?!

Honestly don't know, i've never found a nest. I think once you do though it will be easier to get rid of them? Would imagine their nest would be beside where the damp or mould is?
Definitely have the dehumidifier s on though, that helps loads!

The nests we’ve found look like sawdust… we are on the right track now as we haven’t seen any for a good few days now… but just keep hoovering and talcing every few days… we’ve literally talced every skirting board and crevice in the rooms we’ve found them… I’ve read that they are a lot more common now as people travel more, the boards they use in newer houses are kept outside untreated so they get inside them. We had a humidity problem in our house which we hadn’t realised (we dry washing inside during winter and I never open windows 🤦🏼‍♀️ I do now and I leave them vented when we are out).

So glade I found this site.
Me and my wife are having the same problem
(We live in Australia btw)
So we moved into rental 7 months ago, Now keep in mind this new place is older does have gaps and cracks from the outside and the timber decking is old and I'm assuming is the same timber that is under the carpet. And we do live near bush land and the house is down a slope and doesn't get the best sun light.

So 3 months ago our washing machine leaked and it wet all the carpet in the hall and also in some of the rooms, Now in one of the rooms I had lots of cardboard boxes that have storage like books, action figures and old collectables so some of them boxes got wet, So my wife and I steam cleaned the carpet but it took a maybe 3 days to dry as ever since I moved in I have had all the windows closed. But I didn't dry the boxes and we did place the boxes in our bed room and then back into the box room again when it was dry.

Now after Christmas I placed all the cardboard boxes into the lounge room as my wife bought me storage containers for Christmas, so I placed all my action figures into the containers and then we placed the cardboard boxes near the kitchen door.

Anyway 5 weeks ago I saw a little white bug on my tv (new tv btw) and thought it was a spider so I killed it, The next night I saw another one and used a flash light and saw all these booklice on the tv unit on the tv screen, So I researched it and thought it was dust mites so I vacuumed the unit and cleaned the tv and thought good all gone.
I was wrong the next night I saw them again on the tv and tv unit so I rang up the next day pest control people and explained and they said it was booklice so I researched it and yes it is booklice.
After searching and searching on the internet I found this page and was freaking out that people have had the same problem but have had them everywhere in there house.
I went and looked in the clothes cupboard and saw one and then I checked the towel cupboard and saw one and then I saw one on the kitchen bench and some in the food cupboard, I then checked my bed frame and saw them on there I freaked out.
They are everywhere on my painting, on my PlayStation, Xbox, DVD cabinets, Dryer.
So when it was a sunny day I grabbed all the clothes, towels and bedding and placed them in garbage bags and place them in the sun on the timber deck (I read someone packed there clothes in garbage bags and placed them in there car) and then I also placed the DVD cabinets, tv unit, Table , chairs ( I didn't place storage containers outside)
I got rid of my lounge and also got rid of my table and tv unit as I think they were infested, I did spray my DVD cabinets with surface spray and left in the sun but that night I found one crawling on it and the other night I saw one as well as saw the crawling on my computer chairs so I removed throw them away.
I talked to the lady next door who has now sold as left but she had them a year ago and what she did was place cockroach gel around the corners and in cracks and also used cockroach tape and apparently she never saw them again. I have tried this a little bit still see them.

I have had the pest control person in twice now he had just sprayed the floors, Today he sprayed Heaps of spray on the carpet and tiles, I left the house for 2 hours and shut the windows as he said should get rid of them it didn't just found one on the tv. He also told me to get flea bombs close the doors and windows and let flea bombs off what should kill them he said (haven't tried yet)
I have opened all the windows and will keep all of them open for a month, I haven't touched the kitchen yet as it make me feels sick, right now we have our bed in the lounge room and have place talcum around the bed and also we have our clothes,towels in Woolworths bags (grocery bags) I keep seeing them on my tv and on my consoles (PS4, Xbox).
I want to move I can't deal with this anymore gets me sooo down, I want to move into a better area with better huminidity, The last house we rented we never had a problem.
I'm just worried I will bring them with me as keep on seeing them on my tv, consoles and who knows where else and I do have storage containers and haven't sprayed or done anything to them yet.
So I am freaking out as I don't want to bring them to a new place and have read all the comment and some of you have said you moved and had them again. I do need to move as the lady next door had them then it must be this area and this house is old.

Anyway thanks for listening and any help would be awesome

Hi. I found this thread i dont know if anyone is still posting but i am feeling defeated and need advice dont know what to do and feel very stupid. Im expecting first child so im very emotional and it doesnt help. We have recently moved into a relatively new house but they were doing work before we moved in, plastering walls, painting, new carpets and then it sat vacant for a month before we moved in. We have been in now a couple of weeks and the house is lovely but i have been finding what seems to be booklice and im finding more and more. Not necessarily in numbers but im finding them in different places in the house. At first i thought it was just around the fireplace and a wooden ledge thats in the kitchen and the odd time the windowsill but now i have seen them on the ledge at either side of the stairs, in the bathroom and in the walk-in wardrobe. Also we have a wooden board our tumble dryer sits on as upstairs is carpeted and i seen one on there. I have been googling and reading about damp, mould etc but i cant see any. Im panicking because i read they breed quickly laying 100s of eggs and im petrified about them getting onto my clothes or in my bed or in the cupboards or sofa. I feel really stupid as most people around me laugh as when i moved into my first apartment i panicked about bugs too and then eventually settled and didnt see them as often. Am i doing this again or is there a problem with these bugs i dont know. I feel like i cant relax. I already have anxiety and a bit of OCD i think as i obsess over every bit of dirt i see i just like things to sit the way i want them. I feel very overwhelmed and hormones are not helping. I know these bugs are not harmful i understand and have read about them all day but because they are not as visible as a bigger bug i feel like they are everywhere and i feel awful, i feel disgusting. I have the windows open and am trying to do as much as i can to get rid of them in terms of keeping the place ventilated and keeping everything clean but i just keep seeing them. Its really getting to me. I think i just need someone to tell me they will eventually go away or just give me some advice on how to relax. I dont know what else to do its really getting me down now at this point. I feel so stupid and i feel like they are crawling everywhere on me. Please someone help

Thought I’d update: I last posted 18th December 2020, we were booklice free by June 2020. They hatch in October and honestly this October will be two years no booklice. The fumigations didn’t work very well for us, all it did was kept their numbers down but didn’t eradicate them, what worked was going through the house with a fine tooth comb, we found their source of food which was a cupboard in our kitchen that had gone mouldy and we repaired the wall, repointed the house on that side. A pest controller recommended zero in ultra pest spray that we got from screw fix. I sprayed the wall and the cabinets, the tiles, kickboards, parcel shelf, door framed, skirting boards, pulled out washing machine, oven, fridge freezer etc and did behind those too. The spray lasts 12 weeks is none sticky and drys clear, smells of strong lavender. It’s about £11 a can, we bought one can for every room. I went through the house again 3 months after the first treatment and have not seen 1 since. Also I recommended yous talk with your neighbours, these pesky booklice were also in my neighbours house, she couldn’t see them so never noticed but she definitely had them so we helped her get rid of them, they travel between houses too. So if you have them there’s every chance your neighbours will too. We are a semi detached so it was easier for us as we only have one neighbour. I really do sympathise with you all it was an absolute nightmare time, but there is light at the end of the seemingly never ending tunnel.

Thought I’d share with you all where the food source was in our house in hopes that it helps people

Thank you. Yes, the builder did end up paying for the treatments.

Did you ever get rid of these? I’m dealing with these with a new build only two months old house

Hi, did anyone ever sort this issue?

They're in every room of my new build and we've tried diatomaceous earth on skirting but it seems they are eating plaster on walls.

Having the same issue now with my new build. Moved in last December and have been noticing them on all of our plaster since August. Originally they seemed to be just at high level, sitting in the join where the ceiling and the walls meet. We read loads of recommendations online about the insecticide at Screwfix, so bought a few canisters which did seem to mask the problem for a short while, but their numbers soon came back.
We have looked everywhere around the house for a potential source but cannot seem to find any cracked grouting/damp etc. that people commonly find. we recently purchased a hygrometer to measure the humidity levels around the house, which varied between 50-high 60s. Because of this we now have purchased and had 2 dehumidifiers running around the house at all times, with the aim to keep the humidity at around the 45% mark. We have read online on a pest control website that this needs to be maintained for a minimum of 16 days.
It’s not ideal with regards to the energy bills, but I feel like I would resort to trying anything at this point, as I feel like I am losing mind. I’m constantly searching for them with a torch, hoovering everywhere and losing sleep.
as for how it’s working as a solution, we are definitely seeing a reduction in the numbers of them but it’s still too early to tell whether it has 100% worked, as we are still finding them in random areas of the house ( a skirting board in one room, and a ceiling in another).

is anyone able to recommend anything else?

Can you photograph your bathroom extractor and your cooker hood so I can see what sort they are?

You don't drape wet washing in the house, do you?

Photos of bathroom and kitchen extractors.

We did dry washing on the radiators at the beginning of this year during winter but since then we’ve been using the washing line and never have wet clothes indoors.

our RH levels have been between 44-46% the past 9 days or so but we still seem to have the same problem with the booklice.

Thanks. I can't identify the bathroom extractor. Does it have a name on it? Is it on the ceiling or the wall? Is it about 180mm square?

The cooker hood, does it extract through a vent in an external wall, or does it recirculate?

P.s. you mention they are by the ceiling. Are there any signs of damp in the loft, or the floor above?

If it is damp related, water vapour is lighter than air so tends to rise.

Do you get mist on the inside of windows on cold mornings?