For over 40 years it was thought that bed bugs were a thing of the past in North America. That was until around 10 years ago when they started making a strong comeback, appearing in residences all across the continent. Mississauga is no exception to this bed bug resurgence with new reports of bed bugs appearing in homes and business’ across the city every day. Anyone who has had an infestation of these blood sucking pests in their home knows just how stressful it is to live with them and how difficult it can be to exterminate them. If you do suspect that bed bugs have infested your home, call a bed bug exterminator right away as these nasty critters are notorious for multiplying and spreading throughout your home quickly.
A qualified bed bug exterminator will have the necessary tools and knowledge to make sure they are completely eradicated from your home. There are several effective treatment options available, the most popular being chemical treatment, steam treatment and heat treatment. Before any of these are performed, however, there is a strict preparation regimen that must be followed to ensure that the bed bug treatment is successful.
Preparation for Bed Bug Treatment
Preparing the infested space and potentially infested items is a crucial step for the bed bug treatment to be successful. Without proper preparation there is a high chance that not all bed bugs and their eggs will be eradicated from your home, meaning that a subsequent infestation will occur after treatment. Once a professional bed bug exterminator completes an inspection of your home to determine where the bed bugs are located, here is what they will expect of you prior to the bed bug treatment.
Reduce Clutter and Any Other Bed Bug Hiding Spots
Bed bugs like to hide in tiny areas near where you sleep so that they have easy access to food and can quickly go back into hiding when necessary. To ensure that the bed bug treatment is effective, it is very important to minimize the amount of hiding spots that are available to the bed bugs. Some common precautions taken to minimize hiding spots are:
- Placing clutter from the infected area into tightly sealed plastic bags. Some examples of this are clothing, comforters, pillows, tablecloths, towels and teddy bears.
- Giving any other potential hiding spots to your exterminator for inspection. Some examples include toasters, vacuum cleaners, alarm clocks and DVD players.
- Remove all cardboard, magazines and newspapers from the infested area.
- Remove all contents from your dressers, closets and night tables in the infested area and place in tightly sealed plastic bags for washing.
- DO NOT move any items from the infested area to non-infested areas of the home.
Wash All Clothing and Linens on High Heat
When bed bugs or bed bug eggs are exposed to high temperatures they will surely die. As a result you will be instructed by your bed bug exterminator to wash all of the clothing, bed sheets and linens that were removed from the infested area on high heat. Here are some tips to ensure you kill as many of these blood-sucking critters as possible:
- Wash all soiled clothing that was removed from the infested area on a hot water cycle and dry on the highest heat function possible.
- Any clothing that is already clean, along with other items that cannot be placed in a washing machine such as stuffed animals and pillows, should be placed in the dryer on high heat for at least 30 minutes.
- Make sure that you immediately throw out the plastic bags that were used to transport these items to the laundromat or your professional dry cleaner. When finished heat treating all items, place them in clean bags to transport back home after treatment is complete.
- You should take your household items such as rugs, clothing and draperies, to a specialty cleaner servicing Mississauga like Love Your Leather, Love Your Rug, and Love Your Dress for professional cleaning.
Bed Bug Treatment Methods
Exterminating bed bugs is no easy task. Not only are they great at hiding, they are also very resilient to most pesticides. For this reason you should not try any DIY methods as this can push the bed bugs deeper into your home making the problem much worse to eradicate. Professional bed bug exterminators will typically use one of three popular treatment methods depending on the extent of infestation and of course your budget.
Option 1: Chemical Treatment
Using insecticides that are deadly to bed bugs but safe for humans and pets, exterminators treat all infected areas of the home, letting the insecticide sit for several hours before cleaning up all remnants for safe entry back into the home by its tenants. This method has the lowest cost associated with it but can still be effective if conducted by an experienced professional.
Option 2: Steam Treatment
A slightly more costly option than chemical treatment, our steam treatment uses special solvents that are heated to high temperatures and applied directly to infested areas of the home such as furniture, baseboards and electrical outlets. This method is more effective than chemical treatment and has the added benefit of being friendly to the environment.
Option 3: Heat Treatment
The last and most costly option to eradicate bed bugs from your Mississauga home or business is heat treatment. With this method, a bed bug exterminator uses specialized equipment to heat up the entire infested room to 45°C, well above the maximum temperature that a bed bug can withstand. This temperature is then maintained for several hours to ensure all bed bugs and their eggs are killed. Although it is the most expensive option, it is also proven to be the most effective. Pestend Pest Control Mississauga uses the heat treatment bed bug extermination method mainly for commercial applications, as well as some residential exterminations when the budget allows.
