Re: Can Couch Be Saved? - VB

[Guest guest]

Hi VB!

Could you cover the sofa in a heavy painters plastic maybe? If your

hubby won't part with it? Sort of like a slip cover, but not letting

any part of the plastic touch the floor. Then covering the plastic up

with something that you could launder a couple of times a week? That

way you wouldn't be sitting on the plastic directly?

Just a couple of thoughts...

I know what you mean about uph. furniture. I wish " This Ends Up "

furniture wouldn't have went out of business. That's what I would be

restocking my house with!

Best wishes to you!

Trly

>

> Hi Trly, good to hear from you again. I've pretty much given up on the

> couch. It's alive! Now if I can just talk the husband into giving it

> up. It's his baby, you see. I can't ever see myself buying another

> piece of uphulstered furniture after enduring this nightmare.

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks for the advice, Trly. We tried the plastic but it interfered

with hubby's recliner function. May have to look into Dustmite if I

can't talk him into throwing it out. Wow - I checked out " This Ends

Up " website and it sure looks appropriate for our miserable condition.

Too bad they're defunct. Some enterprising soul could make a fortune

catering to the misfortunate.

> >

> > Hi Trly, good to hear from you again. I've pretty much given up on the

> > couch. It's alive! Now if I can just talk the husband into giving it

> > up. It's his baby, you see. I can't ever see myself buying another

> > piece of uphulstered furniture after enduring this nightmare.

> >

>

[Guest guest]

I remember that Jeff Teeters saved his couch by using a dehumidifier,

and keeping the humidity in his house very low. Might be an option.

Dehumidifiers can be found cheap on craigslist.

> > >

> > > Hi Trly, good to hear from you again. I've pretty much given up

on the

> > > couch. It's alive! Now if I can just talk the husband into

giving it

> > > up. It's his baby, you see. I can't ever see myself buying

another

> > > piece of uphulstered furniture after enduring this nightmare.

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

i like my dehumidifier. it's helping to keep the numbers down. yep.... it was so worth the $ I spent on it. it's very humid where i live...

mel

From: Holly <hollyjane11@...>Subject: Re: Can Couch Be Saved? - VBbird mites Date: Friday, December 26, 2008, 2:08 PM

I remember that Jeff Teeters saved his couch by using a dehumidifier, and keeping the humidity in his house very low. Might be an option. Dehumidifiers can be found cheap on craigslist. > > >> > > Hi Trly, good to hear from you again. I've pretty much given up on the> > > couch. It's alive! Now if I can just talk the husband into giving it> > > up. It's his baby, you see. I can't ever see myself buying another> > > piece of uphulstered furniture after enduring this nightmare. > > >> >>

[Guest guest]

me too. Definitely working. Not the total solution, but a HUGE help.

Between that, the Dustmite, and the borax+h2o2 plus my spicy oil

finish (with a TINY bit of borax) body and hair treatment, I'm hoping

to see the shedding slow down again after this level/stage. Yesterday

was a hiatus between layers, evidently, thank goodness since I had to

spend hours with my family at my mom's house.

KJ

> > > >

> > > > Hi Trly, good to hear from you again. I've pretty much given

up

> on the

> > > > couch. It's alive! Now if I can just talk the husband into

> giving it

> > > > up. It's his baby, you see. I can't ever see myself buying

> another

> > > > piece of uphulstered furniture after enduring this nightmare.

> > > >

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

everything you do that breaks the life cycle is going to help. BTW if

you get a dehumidifier, be SURE and get one with the Energy Star

symbol on it unless you can afford whopping electricity bills,

because even the efficient ones use a lot of juice. Worth it, though.

Well worth it. Good advice, Holly.

The following info is from an earlier post.

KJ

DEHUMIDIFIERS

Cost: Average price for dehumidifier whole-house, medium sized

models for medium sized homes range from $180 to $400. Bigger houses

need higher capacity or multiple dehumidifiers. The larger the

capacity, the less frequent the need to empty the water tank, but the

heavier the tank! Before you empty, turn off the unit and let the

drain hoses drip for a few minutes or you will wind up with water

inside the housing when you remove the tank.

Notes: Because the humidity gauges on some dehumidifiers are less

than accurate, a separate humidity gauge such as the Heat-

Humidity Gauge can be helpful. I got a tiny digital model at Walmart

for under $10. However, it ran neck and neck with my LG 45-pint

touchpad model I keep between the master bedroom and bathroom, which

displays the humidity, so I keep the gauge in the room with the Gold

Star 30-pint, which has a manual dial and on-off switch, but no

humidity indicator.

The fan in some models continues to run even when the dehumidifier

itself is off. This does not impede the effectiveness of the

dehumidifier.

One member of the group said they got the 25-pint model at Lowes (w

LCD), set it on the kitchen countertop (large footprint), ran hose

directly into sink drain. Put large thick towel underneath to reduce

noise. They said they move the unit around their small studio

apartment " in sections, mostly in the bath room, especially after

showering. " They reported that it has " great casters and a handle and

a nice LCD with RH [relative humidity] indicator. " At night, they

place it near the kitchen area, then move it to the living area,

depending where they are at the time. "

Another says " [My humidity] will drop down to 35% but by selecting

the " on " button the unit will operate continuously, regardless of the

humidity in the air.

Another recommends that for the first 2 weeks we try and be really

careful not to help the things increase in population. Try to keep

everything that is exposed to our skin very clean. Then when you

notice lower numbers of the things in the environment you might put

your tote right in front of the units so it keeps your clothing at a

very dry level so the things can't breed. "

The same member goes on to say, " I don't understand what happened

when we first started running the units but my husband and I both

felt something happen to our skin. On the second day of running them

our skin felt like it sort-of relaxed...??? I don't know how else to

put it. We kept running our hands up and down our arms because our

skin felt nice. Also the way our home smelled changed. It was a very

clean smell that was in the house after the first 24 hours of

running. " [could it be that household mold is dying?]

Another says, " My home is around 2300 square feet. One 40 pint unit

down stairs seems to be enough to dry out the whole down stairs and

I'm guessing the down stairs is around 1100 square feet. One might be

enough for your home of 1600 sq.ft. If you notice

improvement.....save up for one more and really blast them in

closets, car, etc "

WHO HAD REPORTED ON DEHUMIDIFIERS AT THE TIME I WROTE THIS:

Marguerite - bought Fridgidaire one at Lowe's for 150 bucks with 25

pints. wishes she had bought the hose.

got a very LOUD one at Target for his 1200 sf apt. He

returned it and bought an LG that won't get below 50% hum.

redheadlefty " <tylerpriest@...> got relief from dehumid.

" <bobbyboyd99@...>

Adam says he bought his 50-pint Gold Star model at Walmart. It lowers

humidity in 5% increments (so does my LG, but I think LG makes both

since they are identical inside). The unit ranges from 35%-70%. He

says you can order it online and have it delivered to the nearest

walmart for free or pay extra for shipping directly to you.

Rita said they have a Gold Star also and they were in stock at their

local Walmart, however my local Walmart had just returned all their

GS models to their warehouse for the winter, and had only Haiers,

which I knew from the reviews in the group were very noisy.

Rita says they placed one upstairs in front of the closet that I'm

afraid to clean out, and another downstairs in front of the coat

closet.

mnf62 says he bought a Haier dehumidifier at Target, that it is

really loud, but that it has been really getting the water out of the

air. He also ordered 2 Danby DDR606 large dehumidifier models.

lorenuciadoekes bought two 50-pint dehumidifiers from Ace Hardware

that " aren't too bad. "

miteyman advises: Another possibility for the entire environment - I

forget who has been suggesting drying out the environment with

dehumidification.

It seems to be working well for us. You might consider spraying

windex on clothing (to avoid spreading mites as you move them to

microwave), then one by one putting in microwave.

Then once the area is clear, and all bags/boxes/closets/drawers open

and clothing treated, put a dehumidifer in and run it full

time " forever " (meaning months).

I got two new dehumidifiers to join our existing one. The new ones

are Delonghi 65 pint with pump from Costco. Good things about it: 1)

you can turn it on " Turbo " and it just keeps on going - our bedroom

is down now to 22% humidity. and 2) it has pump that can send the

extracted water pretty far away to drain in a tub or sink.

Anyway, this seems to have been pretty effective at our house

(following Cedarcide treatments which seemed pretty helpful but I

think the dehumidification is more so).

That way, you can dry out all the affected area at once. But make

sure everything is open so it can be dried, and don't expect it to

happen all at once! It can take a long time but it SEEMS to be

working for us after about a month. Almost no bites or crawling.

BTW I googled " compare prices delonghi dehumidifiers pump " and got

quite a few hits. The pump adds $50-100 in cost but if you want to

run it while you are gone and can afford it, it may be a good

investment. One of the LGs (see above) also comes with a pump.

===