In short
Bed bugs often move into a sofa when someone naps or sleeps on it, or when they spread from the bedroom. Look in the seams, under the cushions, along the frame underneath and in the folds of any fabric. Most sofas can be treated with steam, spray or heat. If one has to go, wrap it fully in plastic before moving it.
Contents
Bed bugs are named after beds, but they go wherever people rest for long enough. In a lot of Glasgow flats, especially small ones and shared flats where the living room doubles as a spare bedroom, that means the sofa.
Why bed bugs end up in sofas
Two common ways:
- Someone sleeps or naps on it. A sofa that is used as a bed, even now and then, is a bed as far as a bed bug is concerned.
- They spread from the bedroom. As an infestation grows, bugs move to the next best spot. People often move to the sofa when they first get bitten in bed, which brings the bugs with them.
Second-hand sofas are also a common way bed bugs arrive in a home in the first place.
Where to look
Use a torch and take your time. Bed bugs hide in tight, dark places:
- Seams and piping on the cushions, especially the underside and the back edge.
- Under the seat cushions, where the cushion meets the frame, and down the sides.
- Zips on cushion covers.
- The underside of the sofa. Tip it carefully and look at the fabric lining, the staples and the wooden frame.
- The legs and any gaps in the frame joints.
- Throws and blankets left on the sofa.
You are looking for the same signs as in a bed: flat brown insects about the size of an apple pip, small dark spots that smear like felt-tip when wiped with a damp cloth, pale empty skins, and tiny white eggs.
Can the sofa be saved?
Usually, yes. A good technician has three ways to deal with a sofa:
- Steam at high temperature, worked slowly along every seam and joint. It kills bugs and eggs it reaches, without leaving residue on the fabric.
- Spray, applied to the frame, the underside and the joints, not to the surfaces you sit on.
- Heat, as part of a whole-room heat treatment, which gets into the core of the cushions and the frame. This is the most thorough option for upholstered furniture.
A sofa is worth replacing only when it is badly damaged, heavily infested and cheap to replace, or when the fabric is torn in a way that makes treatment impossible. Even then, treat the room it was in, because the bugs will not all be in the sofa.
If it has to go
Do it in a way that does not spread the problem down the close:
- Wrap it completely in heavy plastic sheeting and tape it shut before it leaves the room.
- Carry it straight out. Do not leave it on the landing or in the close.
- Book a council bulk uplift rather than leaving it in the back court or on the street, where someone may take it home.
- Mark it if you can, with a note that it has bed bugs, so nobody reuses it.
Do not sell or give away a sofa you know has had bed bugs.
What you can do now
- Take off any removable cushion covers and throws, wash at 60°C and tumble dry on hot for at least 30 minutes, as the NHS advises.
- Vacuum the seams and underside carefully, then empty the vacuum into a sealed bag and put it straight in the outside bin.
- Stop sleeping on the sofa, and go back to your own bed so the bugs stay in one place for the treatment.
- Leave the sprays alone. Shop insecticides on a sofa you sit on every day are a bad idea, and they tend to push the bugs deeper into the frame.
Cost
Steam on a sofa is usually added to a treatment for around £40 to £80 an item. A heat treatment of the whole flat includes the sofa. Our Glasgow bed bug treatment page and the price sheet give typical prices by size of home, from published price lists, October 2026.