Pests

Condition of the apartment

Follow these instructions, if you suspect any pests in your apartment.

• If you suspect that there are insect pests in your apartment, immediately make a maintenance request to Soihtu Facility Services.
• Facility Services will order a pest controller visit for your apartment, which Soihtu will (in usual cases) pay for.
• After the pest control has visited your apartment, follow their instructions carefully. Sometimes the pest controller agrees about a follow-up visit with the tenant.
• Note that you are obliged to dispose all contaminated furniture, textiles and mattresses from your apartment, if the pest controller so instructs. Soihtu does not replace contaminated furniture. If the instructions are not followed, the tenant may be liable for compensation.
• Check possible compensation with your own insurance company, but note that not all insurances cover pest / insect damage.

Fur beetle and clothes moth

Textile pests, fur beetles and clothes moth are usual guests especially if you shop in flea markets. Larvae of attagenus woodroffei beetle live in dark holes like corners of cabinet and behind furniture and they eat textile dust and insects. The larvae cause holes in wool clothes and textiles and ruin furs. Grown-up beetles don’t eat anything but just swarm in apartments.

Do this to keep fur beetles and other textile pests out:

• Wash your clothes and textiles, especially ones found from flea markets and attics in 60 degrees (if the piece of clothing can’t be washed in 60 degrees, put in in a freezer for a few days).
• Keep stored clothes and textiles in well-sealed plastic boxes or bags.
•  Vacuum regularly so that textile dust doesn’t collect in your corners for the larvae to eat.

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Indian meal moth and grain beetle

Indian meal moths and grain beetles, which live in kitchen cabinets, usually find their way to homes with normal groceries, usually from grocery stores. They ruin the contents of a cabinet in a few weeks with their excrements and continue living as long as there is food. Indian meal moths have wings and so they can also spread to other spaces in the apartment, and the small grain beetle can fit into smaller cracks so getting totally rid of it with merely home remedies is often challenging.

Do this to keep grain beetles and other stored product pests out:

• Store flours, hulled grains, and other dry ingredients in cool temperature, in well-sealed, closed jars.
• Check that the products you have bought are OK right away. If you find something strange like droppings of insects or bad taste, return the product to the store.
•  If insects have contaminated groceries, throw everything away with packages.
•  Ask help from the facility services so that there aren’t any insects left in the cabinet.

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Cockroach and bed bug

The most unpleasant but still the most uncommon pests in homes are cockroaches and bed bugs. It was thought that these ancient pests had already vanished from Finnish homes until travelling and populations resistant to insecticides brought these back. Cockroach and bed bug are long-stranding tough-lived and because of that if a tenants suspects that there might be cockroaches or bed bugs in the apartment, s/he should inform the facility services right away so that pest control can be started.

Cockroach ruin groceries with its excrement and spreads different diseases, e.g. salmonella. As for bed bugs, they are often found in furniture that have been used when bought, for example in a bed or a sofa. In night-time it comes out to suck blood unsuspecting sleeper. A rash can appear on the area of the bite, but everyone doesn’t get skin symptoms.

When you suspect cockroaches or bed bugs:

• Call the phone service of Soihtu Facility Services. The facility services will order a professional pest control to your apartment because you can’t get rid of cockroaches and bed bugs with home remedies.
• Don’t hang back from expressing your concern even if you weren’t sure about observations since the pest controller will first make a checking to confirm the observation and to choose needed measures.
• Wait until you get advice from the professional to handle your belongings thee right way, before getting rid of them, or cleaning them. Hasty measures may spread the pests outside your apartment.
• Follow the instructions of the pest controller when cleaning and getting rid of damaged things. Not following the instructions may lead to the tenant being liable for the charges.