Get Rid of Bed Bugs

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Get Rid of Bed Bugs

The following step-by-step instructions will guide you in eliminating bed bugs found in residential or commercial areas such as homes, apartments or hotels.  These steps are the foundation of effective bed bug control and are the same guidlines used by pest control professionals.

1.  Prepare the room(s) for treatment
Reduce clutter off the floor so that all areas can be thoroughly treated. Be careful not to transfer bed bugs from room to room by carrying things throughout the house. If the mattress and box spring are in very bad shape or heavily infested, they should be replaced or covered with a Protect-A-Bed AllerZip Bed Bug Proof Mattress Cover. Infested bed sheets and garments should be washed and dried in a household dryer on high heat (the heat will kill bed bugs), or discarded since these items cannot be treated with insecticides.  In really bad infestations, where the bugs may be infesting Personal items (stuffed animals, soft toys, blankets, books,

2. Vacuum & Use Heat Treatments (optional)
Vacuum the floor and infested areas such as seams, tufts and edges of bedding and mattresses, inside the bed frame, and the perimeter edge of wall-to-wall carpets. Because bed bugs and their eggs cling tightly to surfaces, it is best to scrape the end of the vacuum attachment repeatedly over the target area. Do not use a brush attachment, as some bed bugs and eggs will remain alive in the bristles and be transferred to other areas of the home. Afterward, dispose of the vacuum bag in a sealed trash bag.

In severe infestations, clothing should be removed from dressers and chests. Utilize a vacuum crack & crevice tool to remove bed bugs from deep harborage such as: under baseboards; under carpet edges (pull up along the tack ); around switch plates (you may have to remove the plate first); from the bed frame; inside box springs; inside furniture; and from floor cracks. Larger jobs may require a professional bug vacuum, such as our Atrix Express Plus Bug Vacuum.

Heat Treatments using a bed bug steamer are also very effective. Most steamers have tip temperatures of 220 degrees F, meaning the temperature at the end of the wand. Temperatures of 120F and higher are immediately lethal to bed bugs and their eggs. Bed bug steamers can treat almost any environment, furniture piece (such as a crib), bed or clothing without the use of insecticides. Many professionals and hotel owners are starting to supplement their bed bug treatments with steam/heat treatments.


3. Inspect and Treat Each Room Carefully
The key to successful bed bug control is to thoroughly treat all of the cracks and crevices where bed bugs hide. You should be spending at least 1-2 hours inspecting (see our bed bug inspection guide) and treating each infested room. Adult bed bugs are about 3/16-inch long and reddish-brown, with oval, flattened bodies. Immature bed bugs are smaller and lighter in color, making them difficult to see. Bed bugs feed at night, but during the day their tiny flattened bodies allow them to hide in very tight cracks and crevices, along the tufts and seams of mattresses, and in the cracks of bed frames and other areas. Initial infestations tend to be around beds, but the bed bugs may eventually become scattered throughout a room, occupying any crevice or protected location. They can even move under walls to adjacent rooms. Treating all of the hiding areas and cracks is the key to getting rid of bed bugs. Look for dark fecal spots (digested human blood), light brown skin moltings, tiny white eggs and egg shells, or even the bed bugs themselves in all of the following areas:

Room diagram compliments of ©BASF

Use professional bed bug products or one of our bed bug kits to treat all of the following areas:
 
1. Pictures and wall hangings – remove from the wall and treat cracks and crevices of picture frames and behind pictures and wall hangings.
 
2. Wall fixtures, lamps and table-top lamps – remove fixtures from walls and treat behind. Treat under table-top lamps and standing floor lamps.
 
3. Electrical faceplates – Remove faceplates and use a dust to dust inside of wall voids.
 
4. Drawers and furniture – Remove drawers and treat the cracks and crevices and inside corners and edges of the interior of the cabinet, as well as the tracks and support of the drawers. Don’t forget to treat the undersides of the cabinets and furniture.
 
5. Headboard – Remove headboards from the wall or dismantle to allow thorough treatment of the cracks, crevices and voids located on or behind them.
 
6. Mattress – Treat along the corners, folds and seams of the mattress. Note: Most products do not allow you to spray the top sleeping surface of the mattress. After treatment, encase the mattress in a Protect-A-Bed Bed Bug Proof Mattress Encasement.
 
7. Box spring and bed frame – Treat the undersides, corners, seams and under stapled fabric and even the internal areas of box springs. Also spray the cracks, crevices, voids and screw holes of the bed frame. After treating, encase the box spring in a Bed Bug Proof Box Spring Encasement (recommended).
 
8. Upholstered furniture – Inspect and treat any furniture in the bedroom in a way very similar to the mattress and box spring. Pay careful attention to underneath the cushions, along the seams, folds, legs and dust liner on the underside of the furniture.
 
9. Bed and furniture legs – Inspect wheels, casters, posts, and legs of all furniture as bed bugs may be harboring there.  Posts of the bed can be placed in Climb-Up Insect Inteceptor traps to trap bed bugs before they gain access to the bed.
 
10. Wall-to-wall carpets – Inspect and treat along the edges of carpets and along the wall. Sometimes the edge of the carpet can be lifted away from the wall and treated underneath with a dust and/or spray.
 
11. Baseboards – treat any cracks in the baseboard and then treat underneath the baseboard to prevent bed bugs from crawling underneath and accessing adjacent rooms in the house.
 
12. Curtains – Remove and heat treat in a dryer, steam clean or launder. You can spot treat the curtains with bed bug products but be careful to test treat the fabric first to avoid staining.

4. Retreat at least 2-3 times
All infested areas need to be retreated at least 2-3 times within the next two months. Usually you will do the first treatment, then wait two weeks, then treat again, then wait two weeks and treat again. These retreatments allow you to inspect the rooms again to monitor activity, retreat previously treated locations and treat new cracks and crevices that you may have passed over the first time. Consecutive treatments of the infested areas are ESSENTIAL if you want to get rid of the problem. In addition, treating again will help eliminate new bed bugs that have hatched since the last treatment. Re-treating all areas every two weeks for at least 2-3 times will continue to kill the new bed bugs until all the eggs and bugs are gone.


Bed Bug Products
DoMyOwnPestControl.com sells the most effective bed bug control products available, based on the most current research. Our products are the same ones used by professionals.

TIP: When deciding which bed bug products to buy, we've made the choice easy for you:  choose one of our bed bug control kits.




ref: http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/how-to-get-rid-of-bed-bugs-c-39_95.html