How To Prepare for a Bed Bug Inspection

Bed bugs are one of the few pests that truly terrify people. A professional bed bug inspection and treatment will identify the extent of the problem and quickly eliminate the unwanted pests.

If you suspect you have bed bug bites—likely because of the tell-tale red bite marks they leave on you and your family members—it can lead to anxiety and fear, which can feel uncontrollable. Scheduling our team of bed bug experts is the easiest way to restore the peace of mind you and your family deserve.

Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to find and wipe out, but preparing for bed bug extermination will help our experts do their job: the specialized work of finding where the bed bugs are, learning how far these creatures have traveled, eliminating them, and making sure that the proper steps are taken to prevent a re-infestation

Here are some things you need to know about the process of preparing for a bed bug treatment so you can eliminate your family’s worries.

Step 1: Bed Bug Inspection

Having a professional inspect for bed bugs as part of the first treatment allows a trained technician to make adjustments in the treatment plan based on the following:

What life stage the bed bugs are in
Where they are getting their feeding source
Where their shed skins, eggs, breeding grounds, and travel lines are found.

By completing an exhaustive search of your home, our experts are much better equipped to craft a treatment plan that will eradicate adult bed bugs and their offspring quickly.

A typical bed bug inspection is completed just prior to completing treatment and takes about 30 minutes to complete. A professional will check your beds, nightstands, baseboards, couches, sofas, wheelchairs, and any other places where people sleep, relax, or watch television for an extended duration.

Once the inspection is carefully completed, you will be provided details regarding our findings. In the event of mistaken identity, we’ll give advice on what to do next.

Step 2: Bed Bug Treatment

How to Prepare Your Home for Bed Bug Treatment

Our bed bug inspection and treatment is completed on the same visit to avoid delays in effectiveness. Prior to our arrival you’ll need to ensure that your home is ready for the inspection and treatment of bed bugs.

Prepping your home for a bed bug extermination takes time. Following these steps in advance to prepare your home for a bed bug treatment will help ensure the fastest results.

(Warning: Completing every step is mandatory to a successful treatment. If all preparation steps are not completed upon arrival, then your first treatment may need to be rescheduled.)

Pick up clothes on floors and hanging over chairs and run through a hot dryer cycle for a minimum of 40 minutes. Place, these clean dry clothes in a large garbage bag sealed at the top until the treatment has been completed.

Cabin beds/beds with built-in storage. Remove all clothing items from these storage areas and dry at high heat for a minimum of 40 minutes. Place these clothes in a large garbage bag sealed at the top until the treatment has been completed.
De-clutter. This will assist in removing potential bed bug harborages. Check items for signs of infestation.
Move all furniture items away from the walls to allow access to the baseboards around the entire room.
It is not necessary to remove clean clothing or other items from drawers or cupboards unless these items within 5 feet of a bed or clearly infested (visible bed bugs). Ornaments and other items can be left in place.
Vacuum baseboards to remove dust build-up from these areas. Remove the vacuum cleaner bag or contents of the canister, place in a plastic bag, and dispose of in the trash can outside your apartment/home.
Cover fish tanks, terrariums, and small animal cages with a clean towel or sheet.
Dismantling of bed frames will be performed as part of the service program. If your bed frame requires special tools to dismantle, please have these tools available for your technician.
We will remove the cheesecloth on the underside of each box spring for the required treatment application.
Finally, remove all sheets, covers, dust ruffles, comforters, pillows, and any other bedding covers from your mattress and box spring in all bedrooms being treated. Wash all bed linens in the hottest water possible and then run through a hot dryer cycle for a minimum of 40 minutes.
DO NOT RE-ENTER TREATED AREAS FOR 4 HOURS AFTER SERVICE.
DO NOT SPRAY ANY PESTICIDES OR CLEANING PRODUCTS IN TREATED AREAS AFTER THE TREATMENT. THIS WILL RESULT IN CONTROL FAILURE.
IT IS ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL THAT SLEEPING LOCATIONS NOT BE CHANGED AFTER THE INITIAL INSPECTION. CHANGING SLEEPING LOCATIONS CAN PULL BED BUG INFESTATIONS TO NEW AREAS OF THE HOME AND INCREASE THE TOTAL TREATMENT COSTS.
Allow the treatment time to work, do not clean, or remove the spray barriers. In most cases, barriers will have been applied in inconspicuous areas, but if the infestation was suspected behind baseboards or electrical outlets, a 2” spray barrier may have been applied on the wall above or around these installations. Under certain lighting conditions, these barriers may be visible. Leave these in place until you are certain that the infestation has been eradicated. The barrier will remain active for up to 3 months if left undisturbed but is easily removed with kitchen or bathroom cleaner when required.

Our bed bug treatment process is 100% effective and is used in hotels, apartment housing, homes, and many other locations all over Oregon. One of the reasons our bed bug treatment process is so effective is that we are highly detailed. No corners are cut, no steps are skipped.

When the inspection and treatment process is carefully followed, we have no doubts about the effectiveness of our service, and we can confidently guarantee complete bed bug eradication.

What Happens after We Treat for Bed Bugs?

Usually, after a bed bug service, your technician will explain the extent of the infestation found, the locations of the bed bugs, and details regarding the service performed. Follow up services will be performed as needed 30 days after the initial service to ensure 100% eradication of bed bugs.

Live bed bugs may be visible for 2-3 weeks after the treatment. Affected bugs may be seen wandering in unusual places, this is a sign that the treatment is working. Remember that bed bugs may not leave their harborages for a number of days after treatment, and nymphs hatching from eggs will not be affected until they cross a spray barrier. However, all bed bugs will die within 3-7 days after coming into contact with treated areas. Please contact our office at 541-636-0146 if you still see live bed bugs 30 days after treatment.

It’s important to note that rather than using heat treatments that are expensive and potentially damaging to your belongings, or using harsh chemicals in your home, we use a natural product developed within the last few years. It uses natural spores that attach to the bodies of bed bugs that cross treated areas. Foraging bed bugs will bring our product back to other bed bugs in hiding and spread the product before dying. Essentially, that allows the product to be effective without directly spraying every bed bug on site. That’s important because bed bugs are incredible at hiding and can go weeks without coming out.

Our detailed inspection and treatment leads for 100% guaranteed results, that are much safer, faster, and less expensive than alternative options.

Why DIY Methods Fail

While there is nothing wrong with trying to solve a bed bug problem yourself, the success rate of those who attempt it is quite low. More often than not, the infestation seems to go away but only returns in the weeks to come. This can be very costly, and mixing store-bought pesticides is a dangerous idea. You may end up exposing yourself and your family to harmful chemicals. Not only that, but if those DIY chemicals are not effective and you call a professional in, the chemicals you applied will signifcantly slow down the effectiveness of a professional treatment.

Also, most do-it-yourself products act as repellents, which means they can push bed bug populations away from treatment areas into other parts of the room or into other portions of the house. This makes the whole problem much more difficult to solve.

As a general rule, removing bed bugs from a home on your own is a much-bigger job than you’ll initially suspect it to be, and it’s going to take diligence, time, and multiple treatments with very carefully chosen products applied just the right way to make all of it work. A misstep or unknown factor during DIY treatments can end up multiplying the cost of treatment several times over. In short, going it alone for bed bug removal is generally a bad idea.

Got a Bed Bug Infestation? We Can Help You with That!

Professionals have the experience, equipment, and knowledge to eliminate bed bugs in all stages of their life cycle. These experts can also provide you with advice on how to prevent future infestations.

Bed bugs really are a solvable problem, and we’ll act promptly to restore peace to your home and your life. If you think you have bed bug activity at home, call all or text (541) 636-0146 for information today!