Best Home Remedies For Bed Bugs

Bed bugs were once practically extinct in the United States, but they’ve made a comeback in recent decades. They’re currently found in every state, and they can be located in any type of property from a tiny apartment to a five-star resort. Getting rid of them can be a massive undertaking, but there are steps you can take at home.

The Frightening Truth About Bed Bugs

What most people don’t realize is that bed bugs are extremely hardy. They can go for months without a meal, and they’re able to travel up to 100 feet to find their next victim. They typically live within eight feet of a sleeping area, and they will follow your body heat and the carbon dioxide you breathe out. This is why changing your bedroom or sleeping habits only serves to expand an infestation.

Start with the Clutter

Bed bugs can survive in the cleanest of homes, but clutter does make treatment harder. The bugs are very tiny, and they excel at getting into crevices in order to escape the light. In a very clean home, they’ll go under baseboards and behind light switch covers. In a cluttered home, they’ll hunker down in the pile of magazines in the corner and take up residence in the collection of electronics on a desk. All home remedies for bed bugs will start with decluttering. You’ll need to get rid of the things you truly no longer need or use in order to properly treat the area and get a handle on the problem.

Protect Yourself

You should not move to another sleeping surface, but you need to protect yourself at night. Start by simplifying your bed. All you want right now is a frame that sits on the floor, your mattress and your box spring. Remove detachable head and footboards and set them in another part of the same room.

Next, thoroughly vacuum your mattress sets and the metal frame that supports it. You’ll need help to remove the mattresses and do this part right. Once the pieces are thoroughly vacuumed, dispose of the bag by sealing it in plastic and putting it an outside trash can. Then have a friend help you wrap the mattress and box springs in special, bed-bug proof plastic casings. This will prevent any bugs already in the mattress from escaping. You’ll also keep new bugs from setting up house in the mattress. When you put the bed back together, make sure it is about a foot away from any walls or other furnishings.

Use interceptor cups under the feet of your new simplified bed frame. Put a little insecticide in the bottom of the trap. Bed bugs cannot jump or fly. They can only crawl or hitchhike on unsuspecting victims. By taking these steps, the only way bed bugs can get to you is by crawling up the interceptor cup and through the poison. They’ll die before they can reach you. Be sure to use an interceptor cup on all supports, including ones that may be in the middle of the frame underneath.

When it comes to the bedding, keep it Spartan. Do not use skirts at this time as they can brush the floor and provide bugs with a handy ladder to reach you. Make sure that quilts and sheets are not touching the floor or other furnishings. Wash the sheets and bedding regularly, and check for signs of bed bugs every time you change them.

Scrub, Vacuum, Spray

Now that you’ve eliminated the main food source and protected yourself, you can start really focusing on the infestation. This will require a good deal of diligence on your part. You’ll need to vacuum the entire house every day to pick up the eggs and live bugs, and carefully dispose of the bag every time. Use the wand to go along baseboards and other fixtures. When you consider the reality of vacuuming your house every day, you can see that this task will be easier to accomplish if the clutter is gone.

Take extra clothing that you don’t use on a regular basis and treat it in your laundry room. Wash everything and then dry it on high heat. Next, seal is in plastic bags and leave it in another area of the home. A basement where nobody sleeps is an ideal choice for this. The goal here is mainly to open up more space in your sleeping area so that you can easily clean and treat everything.

Hard surfaces can be thoroughly cleaned and scrubbed to remove bugs and eggs. You can use a spray to gently clean the surfaces and start reusing them. Bed bugs will remain active for months, so you’ll need to repeat this process regularly.

Steam Clean the Carpeting

One thing that will kill bed bugs is steam. Rent a steam cleaner and use it on all the carpeted areas in your home. You may need to do this several times over the course of a few months. The idea here is to kill the eggs that are buried deep in your carpeting or even the upholstery.

Natural Oils

It’s believed that lavender oil and tea tree oil are both natural repellents for bed bugs. They don’t like the smell and will tend to stay away. You can add these oils to your hot water when steaming the carpets. You can also wash your bedding with lavender oil by just adding a few drops to the fabric softener. It’s not going to solve the problem on its own, but it can help speed the process slightly.

Even following these home remedies for bed bugs, you’ll most likely still have to call in a professional. The fact is that most over-the-counter applications just don’t work because the EPA limits the use of highly effective pesticides to professionals. It can take months to eliminate the bugs using these methods, but the professionals can provide you with relief in just one treatment. However, you should still engage in these activities to improve the chances of success, ensure that the bugs are eliminated as quickly as possible, and keep them out in the future.