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Bed Bugs

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

Getting rid of bed bugs is a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process. It usually involves repeated steps over several weeks or months to eliminate all live bugs and any that later hatch from eggs. And if your home or business is ever re-infested, the treatment cycle will need to be repeated.

People who are not pest control professionals often have a hard time ridding their home of bed bugs on their own. Consider hiring a licensed pest control professional trained in treating for bed bugs to inspect and treat your home. He or she will have detailed knowledge of bed bug habits and hiding places and will use a combination of methods and tools – an approach called integrated pest management – to get rid of the bugs safely. After a unit or home has been treated, it should be re-inspected every two weeks for a few months to ensure the bed bugs are completely gone.

Steps that Seem to Work Best

Here are the actions that seem to work well if done carefully and in combination with the other steps (repeated as needed):

  • Wash and dry all machine-washable bedding, curtains, rugs, towels, bathrobes, stuffed animals, etc., from an infested room, or dry clean them, following these guidelines:
    • Place all items either in plastic trash bags or in dissolvable (alginate) laundry bags to move them from the infested room to the laundry area or laundromat. (If you don’t bag infested items, you could accidentally spread the bugs to other rooms.)
    • Wash the items in hot water (above 140°F) to kill eggs and bugs.
    • Allow wet clothes to completely dry in a clothes dryer (above 175°F).
    • Dry items such as clothes, shoes, backpacks,and toys in a clothes dryer (above 175°F). For a full load, dry for 30 minutes; for a few items, dry 5-20 minutes.
  • Dry clean any clothes or items that cannot be washed. Seal the items in plastic bags before transporting. A chemical used in dry-cleaning (perchloroethylene) will kill bed bugs and eggs. Just make sure to tell the dry cleaner that the items may be infested with bed bugs so that they will know to handle the belongings with care.
  • If an item cannot be laundered or dry cleaned use these techniques:
    • Freeze small items sealed in plastic containers for several days to kill bugs and for at least 60 days to kill bed bug eggs.
    • On very hot summer days, seal items in plastic bags and place them outdoors in a sunny location or in a closed vehicle for at least 24 hours. Packing fewer items per bag makes it harder for the bugs to find cooler places to hide. The temperature must reach 104°F for an extended period of time to kill the bugs.(This type of treatment might not work well for large items such as mattresses that show small changes in internal temperature.)
    • Place electrical devices such as stereos, clocks, and telephones, in a tightly sealed plastic bag and throw in a ‘no pest strip’ (containing a chemical called Dichlorvos or DDVP) for two weeks; store the bag in a storage room outside. The pesticide will kill the bed bugs but can also make people very sick. Make sure to follow package instructions carefully and when you reopen the bag, do so outside to keep from inhaling vapors. Never use no pest strips inside your home.
  • Vacuum the mattress, bed frame, furniture, floor, and carpet.
    • Careful vacuuming helps to quickly reduce the number of live bed bugs, but it will not completely dislodge the eggs.
    • Use a ‘crack and crevice’ vacuum tool to get bugs hiding in crevices. Avoid brush attachments; bugs and eggs can attach to the bristles.
    • To keep bugs from infesting the vacuum cleaner (and spreading the problem throughout the home), follow these steps:
      • Add boric acid or diatomaceous earth to the bag or canister
      • Seal vacuum cleaner bags in double plastic bags and, if possible, burn or freeze them
      • For bagless vacuums, wash the canister after every use
      • Clean the HEPA filter by soaking it in very hot, soapy water for 10 minutes, rinsing and letting it air dry.
      • Sterilize hoses in very hot water
      • Seal the entire vacuum cleaner in a plastic bag when not in use in case stray bugs remain inside it.
  • Protect your bed:
    • Use zippered encasements on mattresses and box springs. Encasements are not the same as fitted sheet-style allergen mattress pads/covers. Encasements should be labeled "bed bug proof" or "bite proof", should completely envelop the mattress and box spring and include a way to seal up the area around the zipper pull tag. Any bugs trapped inside an encasement will eventually starve. Encasements protect new mattresses from infestation and will make it easier to detect and treat bed bugs in your home in the future. To protect encasements from rips, cover up screws, bolts or sharp edges on the bed frame with felt or duct tape.
    • Replace wooden bed frames with metal ones if possible. (Bed bugs prefer rough dry surfaces like wood and wicker.)
    • Make your bed into an island by pulling it away from walls and other furniture. Keep all bedding, including the bed skirt, from touching the floor.
    • Place bed frame legs (if they will fit) in moat-style interceptors. Dust talcum powder on the walls of the interceptor; this will trap bed bugs. Using both an inner and outer moat will show whether bed bugs are traveling from the floor or from the bed. Interceptors can help you detect an infestation early on. But they will not keep bed bugs from falling onto the bed from the ceiling.
  • Clear your home of all clutter where bed bugs can hide, or seal clutter in plastic bags or containers. (Storing items in another location such as a storage facility will not eliminate the problem, because bed bugs can survive up to 550 days without a blood meal.)
  • Make these repairs:
    • Seal cracks in plaster and sheetrock
    • Glue loose wallpaper
    • Seal cracks around the baseboards and molding with caulking material.
  • Use pesticides or hire a pest control company:
    • Consider hiring a licensed pest control expert with experience treating bed bugs. Inexperienced exterminators can make the problem worse by disrupting bed bugs but not getting rid of them. The exterminator might advise treating with one of the following approaches:
      • Dry steam — Dry steam units that produce 5 percent or less moisture work best to kill bed bugs and eggs, leaving no chemical residue. The user must move the steam nozzle over the bed bugs and furnishings, etc., at a rate of 10-15 seconds per linear foot.
      • Dry heat — Special heaters that can heat even the space inside your walls high enough to kill bed bugs can be effective. However, raising your home's thermostat will not kill bed bugs. High temperatures must be applied suddenly; a gradual rise in temperature will merely cause bed bugs to spread out to new locations in your home.
    • Apply pesticide dusts such as diatomaceous earth, limestone or silica with pyrethrins, in crevices and electrical outlets, but do not use them anywhere that children or pets can reach. Use liquid insecticides around carpet edges and wall/floor intersections. For mattresses or upholstered furniture, the pest control operator should only treat seams, tufts and crevices and only use an insecticide registered by the Environmental Protection Agency for use on upholstered furniture. No over-the-counter pesticides are registered for use on upholstered furniture.
  • Repeat treatments as needed. You will almost certainly have to go through these steps several times over several weeks or months to eliminate bed bugs that later hatch from eggs.
  • Be very careful when acquiring used furniture. Examine each piece closely before buying or bringing it into your home. Avoid discarded curbside items altogether.

These Approaches Do Not Work

Some products or strategies advertised or promoted as bed bug solutions do not work:

  • Vacating a room will not eliminate bed bugs because they can survive up to 550 days without a blood meal. You also risk bringing the bugs with you.
  • Bug bombs/foggers do not kill most bed bugs and can actually cause the bugs to spread to additional rooms. (Foggers also create aerosols that are hazardous to health and can cause fires or explosions if used improperly.)
  • Insect repellents used to deter ticks and mosquitoes are not effective against bed bugs.
  • Sleeping with the lights on does no good.
  • Throwing away clothing or items is not necessary if the items can be washed in hot water or dried on high heat long enough to kill the bugs and eggs. Throwing items away will not rid your home of all bed bugs.
  • Boric acid can cause insects to dry out, but it works mainly as a stomach poison; since bed bugs survive on blood only, they would not ingest boric acid.
  • Baits designed to control ants or other pests do not work for bed bugs.
  • Gasoline and kerosene will not kill bed bugs and could poison you, your family and pets and cause fires. Never put these substances on human or animal skin or on anything in your home.
  • Unless a pesticide has been registered with the Environmental Protection Agency for bed bug treatment inside homes, do not use it. Pesticide labels are always based on federal law. If you use a pesticide in any way that is not approved by the EPA as described on the product label, you're violating federal law. Misuse of pesticides can harm health and possibly cause death. (DDT, the pesticide used to treat bed bugs in an earlier era, is illegal now, but even if it were not, it wouldn't work because bed bugs long ago became resistant to it.)

Use the EPA's online search tool to find EPA-registered bed bug products.

Also see the EPA's Citizen Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety (pdf).

Be Part of the Solution, Not the Problem

  • Never resell or donate infested furniture.
  • Before disposing of a mattress, box springs or furniture that may contain bed bugs, cut holes in the items so that no one will try to re-use the items.
  • Seal infested items in plastic bags so you won't spread bed bugs or bed bug eggs on your trip to the dump or incinerator.
  • Tape a sign to discarded items warning that bed bugs may be present.

For more information contact: (803) 896-0655 Fax (803) 896-0645

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