Don't Skip An Important Step Before Bringing Thrifted Old Books Into Your Home

Finding unique, treasured items at a thrift store or garage sale can be a satisfying victory. This includes discovering old or out-of-print books to add to your personal collection at home. However, this feeling can quickly diminish if you see signs of bugs in your recently thrifted books, such as small holes, droppings, or even live critters hanging out in the spines. These may be signs of bedbugs, silverfish, or other insects living among the pages of your prized books, which can become even more problematic if they escape into other areas of your home. For these reasons, you might consider placing any newly thrifted books into a freezer before bringing them inside your home, but also know that the freezing hack to get rid of bugs is not 100% guaranteed.

Freezing old books from a recent thrift store trip may help ensure that certain insects lurking in the pages are addressed before they become a problem in your home. Experts recommend placing the books in a sealable plastic item, such as a freezer bag, and then sticking it in the freezer for about two weeks. This process is thought to kill bugs because of both the freezing temperatures and oxygen deprivation. Once you take the sealed books out of the freezer, allow them to thaw in their containers or bags and then inspect the pages for any signs of bugs. If you do not notice any new droppings or movement, it may be safe to bring the book in question inside your home, although you'll be doing so at your own discretion.

Bedbugs and other insects may be attracted to books because they offer small, dark places to hang out. The risk may be greater in old books that have not been looked at in several years. As such, it may be helpful to look through a thrift store book while you are on property and to inspect the surrounding bookshelf or storage area. If you see significant signs of an insect infestation, it may be best to alert a store employee and avoid bringing the book home at all. However, a few bugs may be addressed with the aforementioned freezer method.

Another caveat is the fact that freezing doesn't take care of all types of insects. In some cases, heat works best to kill certain pests, such as exposing the affected items to hot laundry temperatures to kill bed bugs. In this case, you would use a clothes dryer for at least 30 minutes. For books though, the heating method comes with a major downside. Heat can damage paper and cause older books to age even quicker, which is why many archives, libraries, and museums prefer the freezing method. As such, if you still see live insects in an old book after freezing it for a couple of weeks, it may be best to discard the item instead of risking a home pest infestation that may become a bigger problem that you think.