Things to do before your bed bug heat treatment
1. Clean up your property
Clean up clutter. Vacuum rooms and beds thoroughly; empty and replace vacuum bags. If it's a bag less vacuum make sure you empty it outside and rinse the container throughly. Empty and remove all garbage from wastebaskets. Please seal up all trash and take out to the curb.
Place clothing, linens and towels in laundry baskets. Leave nothing packed away. These are areas bed bugs hide in; stacks and piles lead to longer treatment times. Do not pack baskets tightly or over fill them. Items in your residence will be moved, shifted, opened, and rotated by our team. We will have to move piles around and spread them out to thoroughly bring everything up to temperature. Items will not be refolded and things may not be in the same place when you return.
2. Remove heat sensitive items from rooms being treated
- One‐of‐a‐kind items such as heirlooms and other higher value items which are not replaceable should be removed from the rooms being heat treated.
- Potted Plants
- Plastic Window Blinds
- Fresh Fruit
- Chocolates
- Carbonated Beverages
- Wines / Liquors
- Candles / Crayons
- Cosmetics
- Medicines / Vitamins
- Vinyl Records / CD’s / DVD
- Oxygen Tank
- Aerosol Tanks
- Fire Extinguishers
- Lighters and other combustible items
- Musical Instruments
- Oil Paintings & Other Artwork
3. Leave behind the following items in rooms being heat treated
All mattresses and furniture of all types should remain in the residence until treated, these items can hide insects.
Larger electronics such as TV's DVD players and stereos are typically rated for temperatures of 130 to 150 degrees. Please double check if you are unsure. Please unplug and power down before the treatment. Electronics need to remain in the residence for treatment; larger electronics are highly suspect to infestation. This does not include mobile devices such as iPads, cell phones etc.
4. Think through other items that may need to be treated
Check your car for any signs of bed bug infestation, we may want to treat your vehicle at time of service as well.
Think through any lockers or storage that are frequently accessed. These may be a harboring place for bedbugs, we may want to place those items in one of the rooms that is being treated.
Things to do the day of your bed bug heat treatment
- Prepare a set of clothing for the day of treatment. Make sure this set of clothes is freshly laundered on the hottest settings. On treatment day you must leave everything else behind to be heated and treated.
During service is the ideal time to dispose of any infested items that you don't want heated or treated. Please remember that bed bugs are a health hazard, please do not donate or otherwise give infested goods to any person or second hand store.
Also, if there is any linens that are not being heated or treated this is the time you should take them to a laundry mat to be washed at high temperatures.
What to expect during your bed bug heat treatment
- You will be given an appointment window on the day you schedule the service.
- Upon arrival the inspector will walk you through all outlined above to ensure you properly prepared for service.
- If not previously arranged payment will be collected. Bed bug services are due at time of service.
- Heat treatments take anywhere from 2-6 hours depending on the level of infestation and size of the rooms being heated. Ask your inspector or the office for an estimate for your property.
- Every infested and included room will be heated to 130 degrees fahrenheit.
What to expect after a bed bug heat treatment
Do not re-enter property for a minim of 6 hours after service is complete. Your technician will have a specific re-entry time on the day of service.
Items in your property will be disheveled after service, mattresses overturned, linnens thrown about, this is all part of ensuring heat is evenly distributed throughout the infestation.
Rooms may still be warm when you get back into them. As they were heated to such high temperatures for so long.
You may see dead bed bugs this is a good sign. You can just vacuum them up.
Follow Up Treatment
- We will schedule a spray treatment for your property to ensure all bed bugs, larvae and eggs are fully treated that could of possibly made it through the first service. This follow up treatment is what gets us such great results with our services.
Things to do before your follow up service
Clean up clutter. Vacuum rooms and beds thoroughly; empty and replace vacuum bags. If it's a bag-less vacuum make sure you empty it outside and wash the inside thoroughly. Empty and remove all garbage from wastebaskets. Seal up all trash and take out to the curb.
- Remove all bed linens, pillow cases, bed pads, curtains, and furniture dressings (i.e. sofa covers) and place in large bags and double knot. This includes all cloth items in closets or drawers. Please do this in the same room where the bed bugs have been found so as not to transport any bed bugs to another room. You will be removing these from the property to be laundered in hot water the day of the service. This does include shoes. We cannot treat shoes. Ideally, we recommend they be heated in the dryer or disposed of. Be careful what materials you put into high temperatures, we are not responsible for damaged shoes.
Electronic equipment that is suspected of being infested can be placed in doubled garbage bags with moth balls/flakes.
Things to do during your follow up service
Before the technician arrives
Make room perimeter accessible for treatment by moving items away from the wall to toward the center of the room.
Remove all pets from the structure to be treated. The pets must remain out of the structure for a minimum of 6 hours. The structure should be aired out prior to bringing pets back in.
Remove everything off the floor, especially in rooms where bed bugs are suspected.
- Prepare a set of clothing for the day of treatment. Make sure this set of clothes is freshly laundered on the hottest settings.
Once the technician arrives
- Show him specific areas of infestation, walk through how you have prepared thus far.
- The technician will then ask you to leave the property. You will need to coordinate with him how you would like the property locked up.
This is the best time to take all the items previously bagged to be washed in hot water temperature above 120 degrees and dry using the hottest dry cycle available.
As well, during service is the ideal time to dispose of any infested items that you don't want treated or washed. Please remember that bed bugs are a health hazard, please do not donate or otherwise give infested goods to any person or second hand store.
What to expect after a bed bug follow up service
Avoid entering the treated areas for a minimum of 6 hours after treatment. Allow mattresses, box springs and other treated areas to dry before reassembling the room.
Items in your property may be disheveled after service, mattresses overturned, linens thrown about, this is all part of ensuring treatment is evenly distributed throughout the infestation.
Avoid bringing infested clothing, furniture, mattresses, box springs and bed frames back into the home.
Carefully inspect and vacuum-clean luggage when returning from trips and seal as well as throw away all garbage/garbage containers.
You may see dead bed bugs this is a good sign. You can just vacuum them up.
Never treat a pest control issue with any of your own products. Additional products applied can be unsafe and will only make pest problems worse. If additional products are applied outside of those applied by expert pest control any warranties offered will be void.
Wait I still have questions!
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We are in the office from 8am - 5pm Monday - Friday.