They give you a creepy feeling that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on its ends. Bed bugs are a nuisance that every homeowner has witnessed at some point or the other. They are usually brought from outside via clothes, laundry, baggage or second-hand furniture. Once in, they hide in the most unnoticeable places such as on floor cracks, bed wall crevices, furniture cracks, etc.
Since they feed on blood, they usually infest in furniture such as beds, chairs, sofas, recliners, cabinets, drawers, etc. What even worse is that by the time you’ll discover their presence, you can safely assume that there are plenty of them in your home already. The following five DIY (Do It Yourself) treatment steps for bed bugs will help you fix the bed bug menace.
DIY Steps to Treat Bed Bugs
• Identify: Often homeowners confuse between bed bugs and small beetles that live off wood crumbs. Hence, it’s important to first identify if its bed bugs that you’re actually dealing with. Simply take a bright LED torch or a high power flashlight and begin checking your entire bed including all the frills and glitters added to it. The best way is to keep putting them aside as and when you finish checking them. The mattress and the surrounding plywood on your bed needs to be checked thoroughly and is you’re able to see them squashed with blood patches around (since they feed on blood), you can be confirmed that its bed bugs indeed.
• Clean it: If you happen to live in a hot climate, nothing like it. Leave all of the bedding and the fabrics out in the sun all day and then wash them in the machine and schedule the drier for more than what you usually do. However, if you live in a colder region, washing and drying twice is the only option you have because heat is the only way to kill these pests. Better still, if you can get rid of all the bug invested items at home. But that’s your call.
• Preventive measures: Preventive sprays and devices such as acclaim extra, bed bug powder from home depot can help you prevent them from coming back. However, you need to follow the instructions carefully to ensure you don’t end up harming your family and home from its smell and fumes.
• Professional examination: Consulting professional pest control services will help you establish if you’ve been able to effectively get rid of them or not. In case you were quite successful in your endeavors, you can ask them to dive in and take control.
• Future precautions: It’s important to keep in mind that any used furniture brought from the market can be a likely potential bed-bug treat. Hence, its always best to avoid buying used furniture. However, if it’s really something you’d want to buy, get it inspected thoroughly for bed bug infestation.
Regular examination and preventive measures are sure to keep bed bugs at bay. And of course, there is nothing better than seeking professional pest control services. However, ensure routine checks are in place, because pests are never really gone; like forever.
How were you able to win the fight over bed bug infestation in your home? Or, are you still struggling with it? Share your thoughts and experiences with us below.
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