Bed Bug Treatment Guide

Always read and follow the label directions for each product that you will be using. This document is only meant to be a general guide to our customers and is not meant as a replacement for reading the label.

Step 1.         Inspect and Identify the Bed Bugs

Inspect the areas where the suspected bed bugs are. If you find any bed bugs please have them Identified by a professional.

Step 2.         Prepare the Room or Rooms for treatment

Reduce clutter in the room, such as lamps, items on the floor and other areas. This will allow for a more thorough treatment. When removing any item from the area please inspect it closely as bed bugs live in any small crack or crevice they can reach. Remember you can transfer bed bugs from one room to another just by moving infested items. Inspect your mattress and box springs for infestation and if they are in bad shape or severely infested we suggest replacing them with new mattresses and box springs. If you buy a new or keep your old mattress and box springs we recommend they be encased with a Protecta-A-Bed Bed Bug Proof Mattress Cover (sold separately). Your sheets and other items that can be washed and dried, we suggest doing so and using High Heat, as this will kill bed bugs. Sheets and other garments CANNOT be treated with insecticides.

Step 3.         Vacuum

Some companies say this step is optional, but we think not. Vacuum the floor, mattress, box springs and other areas where bed bugs are present. Pay close attention to mattress tufts and edges, inside the bed frames, behind items on the wall, inside your drawers, and the perimeter edge of the walls (edge of carpet, baseboards, and other areas). Because bed bugs and their eggs cling tightly to surfaces, you will find it best to scrape the hard end of the vacuum attachment repeatedly over the target areas. Please do not use a brush attachment, as some bed bugs and eggs will remain alive in the bristles and be transferred to other areas of the home. Once you have finished dispose of the vacuum bag in a sealed trash bag.

Step 4.          Inspect and Then Treat Each Room Carefully

This step is the Key to your Success for bed bug control. You should be spending at least 1 to 2 hours inspecting each room before treating, using a flashlight and magnifying glass. Thoroughly treat each infested room where bed bugs will hide, this means all of the cracks and crevices, in the bed, other furniture, walls, floors and ceilings. Adult bed bugs are about 3/16-inch long and reddish-brown, with oval, flattened bodies (sometimes mistaken for baby roaches). Immature bed bugs are smaller and lighter in

color (until feeding). This will make them more difficult to see. Bed bugs normally feed at night, and during the day they stay inside of the cracks and crevices of your bed and other furniture. Their small flattened bodies allow them to hide in even very tight cracks and crevices, along the tufts and seams of mattresses, and in the cracks of bed frames and other areas. When infestations first start they tend to be around your beds, but over time and population growth the bed bugs may eventually become scattered throughout the room, occupying any crevice or protected location they can find. Bed bug will even move to other rooms with you carrying them. They will even move through walls at outlets, at the top of the wall if possible and under walls to adjacent rooms. Treating all of the harborage areas and other cracks is the key to controlling your bed bugs. When inspecting look for dark fecal spots (digested human blood), light brown skin molting, tiny white egg casing, or even the bed bugs, themselves in all of the following areas.

Look at the work and decide if you want to do the job or hire a Pro. For you to control bed bugs you have to inspect and treat all of the following areas:

Room Diagram Compliments of BASF

1. Pictures and wall hangings – remove all items from the wall and treat all cracks and crevices on picture frames and behind pictures and wall hangings.
2. Wall fixtures, lamps and table-top lamps – remove all fixtures from walls and treat behind. Treat under table-top lamps and standing floor lamps. Treat inside any lamp that has holes in it or throw it away.
3. Electrical Faceplates – Remove all faceplates and treat inside the walls using a dust like Tempo 1%Dust
   
4. Drawers and furniture – Remove drawers and treat the cracks and crevices and inside corners and edges of the interior of the cabinet, as well as the tracks and support of the drawers. Turn the furniture upside down to treat the undersides of the cabinets and furniture.
5. Headboard – Remove headboards from the wall and/or dismantle it, this will allow thorough treatment of the cracks, crevices and voids located on or behind them.
6. Mattress – Treat all the corners, folds, tufts and seams of the mattress. Note: Most products do not allow you to spray the top sleeping surface of the mattress. When treatment is completed, we suggest encasings the mattress in a Protect-A-Bed Bed Bug Proof Mattress Encasement. (Highly Recommended)
7. Box spring and bed frame – Treat the undersides, corners, seams and remove the under stapled fabric of the box springs lets you treat the internal areas of box springs. Also treat the cracks, crevices, voids and screw holes of the bed frame. When treatment is completed, we suggest encasings the box spring in a Bed Bug Proof Box Spring Encasement (recommended).
8. Upholstered furniture – Inspect and treat any furniture in the bedroom in a almost the same way that you treated the mattress and box spring. Please pay very careful attention to beside and underneath the cushions, along the seams, folds, legs and dust liner on the underside of the furniture.
9. Bed and furniture legs – Inspect the wheels, casters, posts, and legs (check to see if any post are hollow) of any furniture in the room, as bed bugs may be harboring there.  We recommend setting the posts of the bed and /or other furniture can placed in Climb-Up Insect Inteceptor traps. This allows you to trap bed bugs before they gain access to the bed.
10. Wall-to-wall carpets – Inspect and treat along the edges of carpets and under the base boards along the wall. Check the edge of the carpet to see if it can be lifted away from the wall and treated underneath with a dust and/or spray.
11. Baseboards – treat any and all cracks or crevices you find in the baseboards and then treat underneath the baseboard to help prevent the bed bugs from crawling underneath and then entering the adjacent rooms in the house.
12. Curtains – Remove and heat treat in a dryer, steam clean or launder. You can spot treat the curtains with bed bug products but be careful to test treat the fabric first to avoid staining.

Step 1.        Do I need to Retreat? Yes at least 3 or more times.

Some companies say 1 to 3 retreats are all you need we suggest atleast 3 or more and even when you are sure you have controlled your bed bug problem you will still need to monitor and treat as needed on a smaller scale. We suggest after your first inspection and treatment, you should wait about 2 (two) weeks and do another inspection and treatment. You need to repeat your inspections and retreats at least 2 (two) more time and inspect on a regular basis once you are happy with your work. Retreating will allow you to inspect the rooms again to monitor activity, retreat previously treated locations and treat new cracks and crevices that you may have passed over the first time. Retreating all of the infested areas are a necessary step if you want to get rid of your bed bug problem. Also re-treating the same areas again will help kill any new bed bugs that may have hatched after your last treatment in that area.  

Remember that retreating all areas every two weeks for at least 3 or more times will continue to kill any new bed bugs until all the eggs and bugs are gone.

Here at DIYBugStore.com we some of the best and most widely used Professional Pest Control Products for Bed Bug control. We ask the Pros what they are using and research before recommending products for your use. Remember some of the companies that are giving advice are only resellers and not a full service pest control company like A & E Pest Control. We offer many single items and also to make it easier for the homeowner we offer read ymade kits. We have listed on the following pages some of the more effective products

Onslaught, Cy-Kick – All of these products are Liquid Concentrates and must be diluted with water. A & E’s first choice is Teprid sc, but all of these are excellent products for the control of bed bugs.
Using a poly sprayer (sold separately), treat some of your harborage areas including cracks/crevices, baseboards, box springs, bed frames, behind headboards, beneath all beds and other furniture using low pressure to ensure complete coverage.
DO NOT spray these products on linens, pillows, sitting areas, or mattresses.