Care homes and assisted living
Resident rooms, corridors and communal areas in a building that never fully closes. One room at a time, inside the home's pest management and infection prevention routines, with the occupancy protocol still to be confirmed.
Reviewed by the regulatory lead before publication.
01
Where it applies
A care home is a sensitive environment: residents cannot always leave a room quickly, and every treatment has to fit the care plan. Pest management here leans on inspection, proofing, housekeeping and monitoring, with chemical treatment kept targeted and recorded.
Repeltec fits as a preventive surface layer on room edges, applied while the room is empty. It does not replace the contractor's inspections and monitoring, and an active case (bed bugs, cockroaches, ants in a kitchenette) goes to the contractor first.
Where it goes: skirting and the floor-wall junction in resident rooms, corridors and communal rooms; bed frames and the wall junction behind the headboard; wardrobe bases and rails; window sills, door frames and thresholds; laundry rooms, waste rooms and storage.
Not on bedding or the sleeping surface of a mattress, not on personal belongings, not on the handgrips of mobility aids or anything a resident holds, and never on skin. Kitchens follow the food production and catering guide.
02
Preparation
Plan the rota with the home manager and the clinical lead, and treat one room at a time while the resident is elsewhere and expected to stay elsewhere for the full drying period. A resident who returns early is the failure this guide exists to prevent.
Check the room for signs of activity before you start and report anything you find. Move personal items out or cover them. Clean and dry the edges. Open the window and keep it open. Wear the protective equipment the safety data sheet specifies. Agree with the nurse in charge who authorises the room and who signs it back.
03
Application
A thin, even layer along the skirting and floor-wall junction, behind and under fixed furniture, along the bed frame joints and the wall behind the headboard, then window sills, door frames and thresholds.
Tested surfaces you will meet here: laminate, carpet, plywood, ceramic tiles, glass, and cotton, cotton blends and polyester on curtains and covers. Vinyl safety flooring and painted walls are outside the tested list: spot test and record it.
Overlap passes slightly so there is no gap along the route. Do not saturate: in an occupied building, the less product on the surface, the shorter the disruption.
04
Drying and re-entry
The resident returns only when every treated surface is dry and the room has been aired. Ventilate throughout and for a period after. Err on the side of a longer airing rather than a faster turnaround, and check the room yourself before it is signed back.
05
Reapplication
Reapply at the interval on the label. Sooner on edges that are cleaned often, on door frames and on any surface that is handled daily.
Run it as a rolling rotation across the building so a fixed number of rooms are treated each week, and adjust the rota with the contractor's findings rather than treating a whole floor at once.
06
Records to keep
Room, date, surfaces treated, product and batch number, applicator, the time the room was released and who authorised it, and anything found during the pre-check.
Keep it with the home's pest control file and its cleaning and infection prevention records. The safety data sheet and label stay accessible to care staff on shift, not locked in a manager's office.
Do not say
What not to claim to the end customer
Make no claim about illness or infection, in either direction. This is a surface treatment, not a clinical intervention, and a care home is the last place to blur that line.
Do not tell residents or families that a room is protected, and do not describe the product as non-toxic, harmless or safe for children.
Say what it is: a repellent surface treatment applied to room edges while the room is empty, dried and aired before the resident returns, recorded and available for inspection. Families respond to a written procedure, not to reassurance.
Use biocides safely. Always read the label and product information before use.