Bed Bug Cleaning Tips
Bed bug cleaning isn’t a popular topic. Unfortunately, bed bugs are not easy to get rid of. Pest control companies generally offer chemical, heat, fogging, or a combination of remediation services, but generally do not complete the cleaning checklists offered to help the pest control process. If you are hesitant to perform bed bug cleaning yourself, you may want to hire a cleaning service to help.
Bed bug cleaning generally involves a series of cleaning tasks. Most pest control companies recommend drying all linens, including bedding, drapes, and clothing, on high heat for a minimum of 30 minutes. The volume of clothes may overwhelm most residential dryers, so commercial dryers may be a better option. When removing the clothing from the dryers, they should be folded and placed into large garbage bags, clear if possible.
Many pest control companies recommend removing switch plate covers, light switch covers, and overhead light covers, as bed bugs can crawl behind those items and survive a heat and chemical treatment. Once these are removed, it is recommended that a person use a HEPA-filtered vacuum cleaner to vacuum the ceilings, walls, blinds, windows, trim, doors, mattresses, box springs, carpet, couches, chairs, all upholstered furniture, and inside the holes where the light switch and switch plate covers were. This process will be time consuming, but this will help capture live bugs and unhatched eggs. The vacuum cleaner should be taken outside and emptied over an outside trash can. If possible, a large black trash can should be placed over the vacuum cleaner and left in the sun for a couple of days to reduce the risk of returning live bugs or eggs into the home.
After drying all of the linens and placing them into new, clean, clear trash bags and thoroughly vacuuming all surfaces, if the pest control company is using a chemical or fog treatment for killing bed bugs, the closed bags containing the clothing can be reintroduced into the home. They can generally be placed on stone or vinyl flooring, or inside a bathtub, if possible. Once the clothing has been returned to the home, the pest control service can proceed with the chemical and/or fogging treatment.
For more information on biohazard remediation services across the United States, visit ABRA at https://www.americanbiorecovery.org/. For more information regarding bed bug cleaning services in South Carolina, visit https://www.palmettocommercialservices.com.
