How Do I Prepare My Home For A Bed Bug Treatment?
April 30, 2020 - Bed Bugs
When you hire a pest control company you pay to eliminate every single bed bug from your home. The range of treatment methods, equipment, products, and protocols each company chooses to rid your home from a bed bug problem is very wide. Exterminators that provide bed bug control may do one or a combination of treatments: heat, steam, freeze, fumigation, and/or chemical treatments. There is no industry standard for how to treat bed bugs.
The same is true when it comes to preparing your home for a bed bug treatment.
In general, you will find that most pest control companies require very extensive preparation. While a select few promote no preparation at all. At GOTBUGSIKILL we believe in smart preparation. With smart preparation we get the job done with as little effort as possible from your side.
Full Preparation Method
Here pest control companies ask their customers to follow a strict checklist before the technician arrives to start the service. If the customer fails to do the tasks required on the prep sheet the home will not be treated. These tasks are required regardless of the infestation level. Such a thing makes no sense!
In South Florida you may find exterminating companies demanding the following tasks before the treatment takes place:
Move furniture away from walls and baseboards at least 2 feet.
Lift mattresses and box springs out of the bed frame and stand up against the wall.
Remove all items from the closet and place them in plastic bags.
Remove curtains and dry on high heat.
Empty all contents from dressers and nightstands and place them in plastic bags.
Wash all bed linens, clothes, and stuffed animals and dry in high heat.
Place laundered items in new plastic bags.
Cloth items that cannot be washed must be dry-cleaned.
Remove books from shelving and place in the center of living room
Remove all picture frames, mirrors, artwork, wall clocks, or any decorative item hanging from the walls.
Vacuum mattresses, box springs, bed frames, sofas, futons, recliners, and other upholstered furniture thoroughly.
Vacuum floors, carpets, rugs, and baseboards.
Place items that cannot be washed in plastic bags to be inspected.
Pick up personal items from the floors. Homes with excessive clutter will not be treated.
Remove pets for 4 hours after the treatment is completed. Cover or remove fish tanks. Turn off air filters and filtration systems. Cover the fish tank with a blanket or wrap tank with plastic wrap.
No Preparation Method
The non-prep philosophy assumes that by moving beds, furniture, clothes, and other items around, you risk the chance of spreading bed bugs throughout the home. Pest control companies that sell non-prep services claim that preparation by a customer could disperse bed bugs to other areas previously not infected. Because of that additional treatments may be required which could possibly cost you more money.
No-prep treatments sound appealing. After all, who wants to go through all the work required by some exterminators. However, this method has a fallacy. During heavy bed bug infestations, harborage areas are limited. Therefore, this critter will travel several feet away from the bed and possibly infest items inside your closet and/or dressers.
Pest control technicians cannot spray your clothes or any bed linens. Therefore, if you find bed bugs hiding in crevices and/or folds of your clothes it is important that you launder such items. Otherwise, it will take longer to get the infestation under control.
Smart Preparation Method
At GOTBUGSIKILL we believe in smart preparation. No bed bug infestation is alike and therefore no bed bug preparation should be alike. The smart preparation philosophy is flexible. The amount of preparation is usually correlated to the level of infestation. If there are a few bed bugs in the room why ask the customer to go through the effort of removing every item from the closet and/or dresser to put in bags to be laundered. This daunting task could take hours and can be avoided in most situations.
In cases where there is light bed bug activity and the problem is not out of hand, this pest doesn’t roam far from a blood meal. During the initial stages of infestation bed bugs do not compete for harborage so they are usually located within 5 feet of your bed. You will probably find them on the mattress, box spring, bed frame, headboard, or possibly behind and around a nightstand.
It is important you call a local exterminator at first sight of this creature. Bed bugs breed extremely rapidly with the population doubling every 16 days. If you live in the South Florida area give us a call. We provide service in Miami Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
Juan was very professional and came right on time. He helped us get rid of our roach problem with ease. He was very accommodating to the fact that we have small kids and used minimal chemicals inside and still got the job done. Would highly recommend him for any and all bug needs. We have him on a regular schedule quarterly to treat the outside and we have not had a problem since.
