Pest control specialists have a variety of ways to rid your home of bed bugs, but there are also things you can do to make the process go more smoothly and get a head start on the process. Washing and sealing household items, preparing your home for heat treatment, and securely disposing of items that can't be saved will make the extermination and cleanup processes and much easier.

Wash and Isolate Clothing and Bedding

Though the bulk of the extermination will be handled by pest control specialists, you can get a head start by washing and sealing any washable objects in your home. These include most fabrics such as clothes, bedding, and curtains, but they can also include objects like stuffed animals. Any bedbugs that aren't removed during the washing process will die during the drying process; heat is a common bedbug treatment, so this is an effective way to use it yourself.

After your items are washed and dried, check them one last time for bed bugs, and then put them into sealed containers. This second step is vital to ensure bed bugs don't re-infest items you've already taken care of. These containers can then be stored somewhere safe. This way, you'll also make sure that putting your home back together once the extermination process is complete will take less time. 

Remove Objects That Can Melt

When specialists use heat to take care of bed bugs, they usually do this by bringing in large heaters to make sure that every square inch of your home is heated past a temperature bed bugs can tolerate. This is highly effective, but the downside is that this level of heat can harm household objects that can be damaged by high temperatures, such as anything that can melt or items like electronics.

You may be able to clean some of these objects yourself if they aren't porous. If they are, you can still remove them from your house while your house is being treated and then take care of them later. Go through your house to make sure you know what you need to remove before heat treatments are used.

Bag and Trash What You Can

Some items that can't be cleaned may need to be disposed of. If you have an idea ahead of time what may need to be disposed of, you can also get a head start by throwing away objects that won't be able to be saved.

Just like with the objects that you plan to clean and save, it's important that you seal any objects you're throwing away. Bed bugs spread very easily, which means they can even do so from the inside of a garbage bin. Sealing what you plan to throw away is one more way to prevent bed bugs from spreading, especially if there's any chance that bed bugs could travel from your garbage bins back into your home.

To learn more, contact a bed bug exterminator.

Share