How to Fight Bed Bugs
1. Remove all material articles from your bedroom, put them in a plastic bag and wash them in hot water. This means removing all material articles from the floor (clothing, towels, blankets, small rugs, etc.), taking down any curtains or other material window coverings, and removing all the bedding from the bed(sheets, pillowcases, blankets, bed skirts, etc.). If you can’t wash your curtains; steam them or vacuum them. Repeat this step often until bed bug problem is resolved.
2. Remove and/or clean bed bug hideouts. Remove any hanging pictures in the bedroom and thoroughly clean the frames and the wall behind them (bed bugs are known to hide out behind picture frames). Clean your headboard and footboard (wipe down wood and iron headboards and vacuum material ones). Clean out any under the bed storage boxes, containers, baskets, etc., and try not to use under the bed storage again until your bed bug problem is resolved. Clean your bed frame. Thoroughly, wipe down other bedroom furniture and the walls behind the furniture. Clean around doorframes and window frames. If your infestation is really bad, then you may need to clean out your closets too.
3. Vacuum your mattress and box spring, especially along any seams.
4. Seal any holes in your mattress or box spring.
5. Seal mattress and box spring in plastic covers. If your mattress and box spring are extremely infested it may be a good idea to throw them out and buy new ones. If you do buy new ones; try to wait to have them delivered until you have your bedroom is well cleaned and definitely seal the new mattress set or box spring in plastic covers before putting them in the bedroom.
6. Seal up additional hiding spots. Get out the spackle and fill any cracks in the walls, ceilings, or doorframes of your bedroom.
7. Vacuum carpeted floor or rugs repeatedly and thoroughly. Some people find having the carpet steam cleaned also helps.
8. Buy and apply insecticide. This can be a bit tricky for a couple of reasons. First, insecticides cannot be used on a mattress or sleeping areas, however they can be applied to along the floorboards, which may help prevent bed bugs from climbing the walls. Second, many bed bugs have become insecticide resistant, so an insecticide may or may not help.
9. Hire a professional. If you are uncomfortable chemically treating your bed bug
problem yourself or what your doing doesn’t seem to be working: get professional help.
10. Apply double sided tape along the floorboards all the way around the room and on the legs of bedroom furniture. Ok, this step is extreme, but when fighting bed bugs sometimes extreme actions are needed. The idea of the double sided tape is to keep the bed bugs from crawling up the walls and dropping on the bed and to keep them from crawling up the bed itself.