If You've Got Bedbugs, It Might Be Time To Call The Plumber
Has your home been invaded by bedbugs? Have you tried to take care of the problem yourself with insecticide spray and failed, and are now getting ready to phone your local pest control service to ask for a home heat treatment? If so, you may want to call your plumber first or you risk facing expensive water bills, damaging your property, and exposing yourself to mold. Read on to learn more.
How Home Heat Treatment Works
Bedbugs die immediately when exposed to temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. During a home heat treatment, a pest control service will bring special heaters to your house that raise the indoor temperature of your home to about 135-145 degrees Fahrenheit. The process is gradual and usually takes 6-8 hours from start to finish.
How Heat Treatment Can Damage Your Toilet
Your toilet needs a super tight seal between it and the floor to prevent it from leaking. Oftentimes this seal is achieved by adhering a wax ring to the bottom of the toilet before placing it on the flange. The primary ingredient in these rings is petrolatum, and they have various additives mixed in to ensure they stay solid at room temperature. Above room temperature, though, these wax rings can melt and deform. You can usually find a wax ring's melting point printed on its packaging; it varies by thickness of the ring and the amount and type of additives used.
If your toilet is sealed to the floor with a wax ring and its melting point is lower than the maximum temperature your pest control service will heat your home to in order to kill your bedbugs, your toilet is going to start to leak at its base.
What To Tell The Plumber
Before having your home heat treated for bedbugs, call your plumber and let them know you'd like your toilet's wax ring replaced with a neoprene gasket. These gaskets provide the exact same service as wax rings, but they won't melt during your bedbug treatment and leave you with damaged floors, mold, and high water bills.
It's likely that your toilet is the last thing on your mind if you're dealing with a bedbug infestation, but the consequences of not heeding the above advice could be dire. If you plan on having your bedbugs killed off by letting a pest control service raise your home's temperature to a sweltering level, save yourself some grief by calling a plumber first. Contact a business, such as RK Knight Plumbing for more information.