heat treating bed bugs
November 17, 2022 8:21 PM Subscribe
Finally confirmed what I suspected for weeks, we have bedbugs. Heat treatment seems like the way to go (cost no object). I have questions for people who have been through this, particularly about what needs to be removed so it won't be damaged by the heat.
Background: we have a large two story house plus basement. We have seen one bedbug on the bed in master bedroom (husband did not realize what it was) I have been getting a couple of bites a couple of time a week for a while and was also in denial. But the one I saw today climbing the curtain in the spare bedroom/office was clearly a bed bug (and bled when i finally managed to kill it) We had a house guest who was getting crazy bites while he was here and then discovered that his rental car was infested on his drive home about 6 weeks ago so that's probably how it started.
Now that we are facing up to the problem:
1. probability that just doing the upstairs where the bedrooms are located will be enough? (i guessing not a good idea?)
2. probability that we will OK if we don't treat don't treat our large, very full but virtually never ever used basement (hoping this will be OK since it is very unlikely they were carried there or would have wanted to stay if they have human food in the other parts of the house)
The real question: what is your experience with items in the home being damaged by the heat treatment. Plastic bottles in the kitchen cabinets? plastic bag over dry cleaning? silicone toys in the nightstand? computers and phones? ikea furniture? photos? what else?
I know we need to do this but it seems like we will have just mounds and mounds of stuff that we will need to box and move. If you have done this, how long did it take to prep?
Background: we have a large two story house plus basement. We have seen one bedbug on the bed in master bedroom (husband did not realize what it was) I have been getting a couple of bites a couple of time a week for a while and was also in denial. But the one I saw today climbing the curtain in the spare bedroom/office was clearly a bed bug (and bled when i finally managed to kill it) We had a house guest who was getting crazy bites while he was here and then discovered that his rental car was infested on his drive home about 6 weeks ago so that's probably how it started.
Now that we are facing up to the problem:
1. probability that just doing the upstairs where the bedrooms are located will be enough? (i guessing not a good idea?)
2. probability that we will OK if we don't treat don't treat our large, very full but virtually never ever used basement (hoping this will be OK since it is very unlikely they were carried there or would have wanted to stay if they have human food in the other parts of the house)
The real question: what is your experience with items in the home being damaged by the heat treatment. Plastic bottles in the kitchen cabinets? plastic bag over dry cleaning? silicone toys in the nightstand? computers and phones? ikea furniture? photos? what else?
I know we need to do this but it seems like we will have just mounds and mounds of stuff that we will need to box and move. If you have done this, how long did it take to prep?
Hi there. You definitely have your work cut out for you but its not impossible. Heat works very well, but you will have to keep up on it. After the initial treatment, you absolutely MUST repeat the process no later than 10 days after the first as the eggs will not be killed by the initial treatment, so you must wait till they hatch. Any objects that you feel might be damaged by heat can be put in bags and stored for three years as bed bugs can survive without a meal for two and a half years. You can also put heat sensitive items in a bag and put them in your deep freeze if you have one. Not sure of the time duration for that, but it's definitely shorter than three years. Wash and dry any clothing that's come into contact with the bugs, being sure to dry the clothes on high heat for at least one hour. You can try purchasing a product called DIATOMACEOUS EARTH. This is a powder that you sprinkle near all your baseboards and you can also put it in your wall sockets as bed bugs can go into the smallest spaces. My one piece of advice is keep on top of this. If you relax and don't follow a schedule they will breed and overtake your home. Bag any items that have come into contact with the bugs. Do NOT box them, Bed bugs can escape boxes. Use plastic garbage bags and double them and tie securely. I can't really tell you how long it will take to prep as I don't know how much stuff came into contact either with the bugs or people who were carrying the bugs. Just be as thorough as you can.
Source: worked in a care facility that was infested and personally dealt with the infestation as well as attending several summits on how to eradicate bed bugs. Also had to deal with an infestation in my own home.
You can also hire professionals. Best of luck to you. It's doable.
posted by LOOKING at 11:40 PM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Source: worked in a care facility that was infested and personally dealt with the infestation as well as attending several summits on how to eradicate bed bugs. Also had to deal with an infestation in my own home.
You can also hire professionals. Best of luck to you. It's doable.
posted by LOOKING at 11:40 PM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, forgot to mention, after all the beds have been treated go and buy mattress and box spring covers for ALL beds. There are special ones you can buy that have a special zipper that traps bed bugs. This would be on the off chance that the heat treatment missed an egg that hadn't hatched yet. This is a very important step, DON'T skip this, lol.
posted by LOOKING at 11:52 PM on November 17, 2022
posted by LOOKING at 11:52 PM on November 17, 2022
I would personally try diatomaceous earth before heat. I found diatomaceous earth totally effective after wasting a lot of time on other methods. You can sprinkle it everywhere like talcum powder, and the bugs dehydrate and die when they come in contact with it. The bugs really can squeeze themselves flat though - under wallpaper and in the tight joins of furniture. You need to be very thorough.
posted by mani at 1:00 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mani at 1:00 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
The risk of not treating the basement is that the bugs migrate to that cooler area once the heat makes them uncomfortable.
Is tenting for termites a thing in your area? Vikane at a higher concentration (I think it’s 2x the termite usage) is also an effective treatment as it permeates the wall voids that might not reach kill temp.
posted by hwyengr at 4:52 AM on November 18, 2022
Is tenting for termites a thing in your area? Vikane at a higher concentration (I think it’s 2x the termite usage) is also an effective treatment as it permeates the wall voids that might not reach kill temp.
posted by hwyengr at 4:52 AM on November 18, 2022
I wouldn't worry about the basement, but I would add bedbug wells to all furniture, move furniture out is not touching the wall and mattress cover all beds.
Bedbugs are not magical creatures who teleport from place to place. They either hitch a ride or walk. They do not fly. They seek out yummy people. This way if you miss one or two you can catch them walking to their food in the little wells that catch them. You can even start this now while waiting for your appointment.
Many people share horror stories of the bedbugs that will not die but many people do one treatment plus follow up, laundry, easy things such as mattress covers and and their homes are just fine .
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:31 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Bedbugs are not magical creatures who teleport from place to place. They either hitch a ride or walk. They do not fly. They seek out yummy people. This way if you miss one or two you can catch them walking to their food in the little wells that catch them. You can even start this now while waiting for your appointment.
Many people share horror stories of the bedbugs that will not die but many people do one treatment plus follow up, laundry, easy things such as mattress covers and and their homes are just fine .
posted by AlexiaSky at 6:31 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
The company doing the heat treatment will give you a long list of items to remove from the house. Take it seriously, because everything on that list was clearly added because some customer's snowglobe (yes, on the list) or what have you got messed up during a treatment and they hadn't warned against it.
posted by adamrice at 8:24 AM on November 18, 2022
posted by adamrice at 8:24 AM on November 18, 2022
There’s a newer treatment (Aprehend) that uses fungal spores that are lethal to bedbugs but harmless to mammals etc. They paint the baseboards and other surfaces with a clear, barely visible solution; bugs walk over it; bugs die soon.
Great success rates, much less hassle than heat treatment.
posted by sixswitch at 12:26 PM on November 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Great success rates, much less hassle than heat treatment.
posted by sixswitch at 12:26 PM on November 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: I talked further with the heat treatment company and their advice was to treat the whole house but not the basement. We did the heat treatment and spray plus the follow up spray and now, a month later, it seems like we are in the clear now.
For anyone reading this later - the hardest part was going through everything in the house (every box and shelf and drawer) to find the things that could not tolerate the heat treatment. The company told us to put those in boxes so they can could inspect/treat them individually and then set outside on the porch until done. A few things we found that needed protecting that weren't on their list: our photos were fine but we removed any photo albums with the plastic page covers or polaroids, silver might tarnish a bit extra especially if out on display and not in a drawer, condoms, old books and historical documents on paper.
posted by metahawk at 11:09 AM on December 22, 2022
For anyone reading this later - the hardest part was going through everything in the house (every box and shelf and drawer) to find the things that could not tolerate the heat treatment. The company told us to put those in boxes so they can could inspect/treat them individually and then set outside on the porch until done. A few things we found that needed protecting that weren't on their list: our photos were fine but we removed any photo albums with the plastic page covers or polaroids, silver might tarnish a bit extra especially if out on display and not in a drawer, condoms, old books and historical documents on paper.
posted by metahawk at 11:09 AM on December 22, 2022
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posted by metahawk at 8:22 PM on November 17, 2022