Craigslist couch - what to look for?

March 7, 2015 5:11 PM

There's a vintage couch on Craigslist I think I really like. Normally I wouldn't think twice about it, but with all the bed bug scares and stuff, I'm a little hinky.

Are there other things to be on the lookout for? Are there telltale signs for bedbugs? I'm in Los Angeles, if it matters. I've bought other furniture items, but getting rid of my own couch will be a commitment.

I also feel like the couch might be a little on the inexpensive side. Not entirely, but enough to make sure I've got my bases covered.

posted by crankyrogalsky to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

If you must do it: look at all of the seams. Investigate closely, looking into the crevices of the couch for debris, small black flakes, blood. Smell everything very closely, for a good long while. If you have a friend who is a particularly good smeller have him/her smell things very closely for pet odors/smoke/what have you.

Ask ahead of time about this and tell the seller you're very sensitive to smoke/pet odors, as this might convince them to spill the beans about 'accidents' to prevent you from having to drive over.

With all that said, and as someone who lived in L.A. for years: don't buy upholstered furniture used on craigslist. There are all sorts of icky things that you can bring into your home and you'll have to live with (to your enduring dismay). Buy upholstered stuff new, unless you have the unlikely circumstance of buying from a place that heats its used upholstered stuff up in an industrial heat thing (as some places do in the NE).
posted by arnicae at 7:39 PM on March 7, 2015

While I wouldn't pick up a couch off the curb, I don't think Craigslist is that bad. I bought a Craigslist sofa in both LA and NYC (and was especially worried about bedbugs in New York) but ended up deciding that the chances were pretty good that someone would tell the truth if I asked them about bedbugs, or that I'd have a sense that they weren't trustworthy. It does require a small leap of faith, and careful inspection. But I think it isn't hard to find used sofas on Craigslist that are practically new (either because people were rarely home, or had multiple couches, or moved to town and outfitted an apartment and then ended up moving a few months later, which seems to happen fairly often in transient places like LA). You can get a general sense of cleanliness when you go to someone's home to look at the couch.

That said, I would still recommend buying a new sofa, because this year California finally changed a misguided law that used to require flame retardants in cushions. Flame retardants don't work that well to stop fires, but they CAN cause cancer. As of January, some retailers (like West Elm, for example) are selling only furniture without flame retardants. If you buy a used couch right now, it's pretty much guaranteed that it will have flame retardants. If you go to a store, you'll be able to look at a label and see whether it has the chemicals or not. I'm in the market for a loveseat, and saw one on Craigslist that was impeccable (and free!) but decided to pass it up for something that isn't a known carcinogen.
posted by three_red_balloons at 8:13 AM on March 8, 2015

Someone should create a business where they have a freezer locker just for furniture and you could put the couch in the locker for 4 days and freeze any bugs to death. Or can you get a camping tent big enough for the couch, put the couch inside and bug bomb it?

There is also heat treatment if you have it in your area.

I think the price is probably low because most people are worried about bedbugs these days.
posted by cda at 9:10 AM on March 8, 2015

People have created businesses around canines who can smell out bedbugs for use in home inspections. Here's one in LA, but not sure if they'd be able to check out potential furniture buys. Though, if they don't already do that it might be another revenue stream for them to consider...
posted by homesickness at 1:23 PM on March 9, 2015