How To Eliminate Bed Bugs

Finding bed bugs in your home can be scary and costly, but the good news is that you can take care of the problem and eliminate bed bugs with our Professional Bed Bug Control Kit. Before you begin any treatment it is important to know where to look for them and the main areas of treatment for a bed bug problem.

Detecting Bed Bugs:

You will want to inspect the mattress, box springs and furniture for bed bug activity. Adult bed bugs are the size of apple seeds and leave blood spots. Inspection Areas:

• Behind Baseboards
• Around the Carpet Edges
• Upholstered Furniture
• Bed Frames
• Box springs
• Mattress
• Outlets
• Wall Hangings
• Headboards
• Dressers

Use traps as detection devices only. If bed bugs are detected, begin a full treatment program. We recommend the Harris Bed Bug Control Kit.

5 Steps To Prepare for Bed Bug Treatment:

1. Wash and dry bed linens and furniture covers at high temperatures. Minimum drying time: 20 minutes.
2. Disassemble bed. Thoroughly vacuum all six sides of box springs (removal of woven fabric on bottom of box springs recommended), mattress and bed components. Vacuum furniture, carpets and floors. Dispose of sealed vacuum bags or empty vacuum canister into trash bag, seal and dispose in trash.
3. Shake container prior to spraying mattress, box springs, bed components, flooring and baseboards. Allow to dry completely.
4. Enclose mattress and box springs in encasements to prevent bed bug entry and exit. Do not remove encasements.
5. Apply powder into cracks and crevices in furniture and rooms.

Most insecticides used for bed bug control are primarily of the pyrethroid class of pesticides, like Harris Bed Bug Killer Spray. Elimination of bed bugs in a home involves use of effective insecticides applied to all points where bed bugs are present. Our water-based, odorless treatments must directly contact the bed bugs during application.

Treating for bed bugs in 6 easy steps:

1. Dryer
2. Vacuum
3. Spray
4. Covers
5. Kill Eggs
6. Apply Dust

Repeated insecticide applications within 4 weeks may be required to kill bed bugs that later hatch from eggs, along with those that may have been missed during earlier treatment. Aerosol “foggers” of non-persisting insecticides are less effective for bed bug control. At most, these kill a few of the insects that are directly contacted with sufficient quantity of the insecticide. However, they don’t adequately penetrate hiding sites of some bed bugs, resulting in failure of eradication. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luOQX4zU0ik&rel=0

Vacuuming

Thoroughly vacuum all 6 sides of box springs and mattresses. Vacuum all cracks and crevices within the furniture of the bed and nearby electrical outlets, baseboards and floors prior to treatment. Empty the vacuum contents into a plastic bag and discard in trash. 

Handling Bedding

Sheets and other bedding can be easily disinfected by laundering that involves a dryer cycle. The high temperatures involved in drying are critical to successfully kill bed bugs, with exposure to temperatures exceeding 120º F for 20 minutes usually sufficient to kill all life stages. When stripping beds during a bed bug treatment, pull the sheets carefully so as not to dislodge eggs or drop bed bugs onto the floor where they may be missed by other treatments. Accidental spread of bed bugs can also be prevented by bagging the bedding as it is moved to the laundry. Make sure to bag up all linens and pillows when transporting to other rooms. Treatment of mattress, box spring, frames, headboard should now be done. Pay attention to seams, and tight cracks and crevices. Remove the liner on boxspring to inspect and treat the inside of the box spring.

Mattress / Boxspring Encasements

Mattress encasements enclose your mattress and box spring and are an integral step in the treatment process for two reasons: 1. They protect your investment in bedding 2. They reduce the areas where bed bugs can hide nearest to you. The water-resistant, tight-weave fabric prevents the entry of even the smallest bed bug.

Disposal of Infested Items

Disposal may be considered for mattresses, box springs, couches or other furniture that is heavily infested with bed bugs. If this is done, proper disposal should be ensured. Leaving such items on the street for disposal may cause them to be scavenged, which will spread infestations to new dwellings. Be careful when removing the items from the structure so that bed bugs will not become dislodged and infest other areas inside.

4 Easy Steps to Get Rid of Bed Bugs from Your Bed

When it comes to bed bugs you will want to start with eliminating bed bugs from your bed, which includes the mattress, box spring, bed frame, headboard. The Mattress, bedding, box spring and bed frame are the most common areas for bed bugs to hide

Step 1

• Remove your bedding and place in plastic garbage bags
• This will prevent bed bugs from escaping while you transfer them out of the room.
• Take the bags with bedding directly to your washing machine and wash and dry on high heat.
• Keep them out of the room until you have treated the area. If possible you should keep your bedding out of the room until you are 100% sure all bed bugs have been eliminated.

Step 2

• Remove the box spring and mattress from the bed frame and use a vacuum cleaner to suck up and bed bugs, fecal droppings and shells. You will want to concentrate on the seams, and tufts of the mattress. Remove the box spring line and vacuum the inside of the box spring.
• Follow up using a steamer to treat seams and entire surface of the mattress and box springs, bed frame. This is a great way to ensure that the bed bugs and eggs are completely eliminated, although not necessary.
• Apply Harris 5 Minute Bed Bug Killer Aerosol Spray to the mattress, box spring, bed frame. This will leave a residual that lasts for a month. Make sure to treat all the seams, tufts and surfaces. With Bed Bug Elimination being as thorough as possible is the key to getting rid of bed bugs.
• You can also apply Harris 5 Minute Bed Bug Foaming Aerosol to tight cracks and crevices. (please note the straw is no longer included) Our newest addition to the Harris Bed Bug Control product line, this foaming aerosol helps to provide good coverage. You will see where the foam has actually covered an areas.
• After everything has completely dry, apply PF Harris Bed Bug Dust. Use the included brush to apply a lite application of dust to flat surfaces of the headboard, bed frame, mattress tufts and folds, box spring, bed rails. A bed bug killing powder, is a great product as a long term solution, because it will remain there and continue to kill the bed bugs that come through the surface of the powder.

Step 3

• After your mattress and box spring has been treated and is completely dry seal them up with a mattress encasement and Box spring encasements. This will lock in any left over bed bugs, but also help with inspection and any retreatment that might be required. You are protecting your mattress and box spring from bed bugs, it is worth the small investment.

Step 4

• Put your bed bug free bedding back on the mattress. Prevent bed bugs from reaching your bed again use harris bed bug traps to place around the bed. This can be used as a monitoring device to inspect in 10 to 14 days to see if there are any additional bed bugs that might require a spot treatment.

Remember the Key to a Successful bed bug elimination is to take your time, be thorough and use the right products. It's just that easy to be bed bug free with Harris Bed Bug Professional Products. Please do not hesitate to leave a comment, email or call if you have any questions.

How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Bedrooms

Bed Bugs are also found in clothes, in your furniture, and around the walls and floors. So it can be difficult to eliminate bed bugs, but with the Harris Bed Bug Killer Kit and our instruction guide, we make it easy to get rid of them for good. Lets first remove any clutter on the floor, such as clothing, shoes, baskets, We recommend you place them in garbage bags and seal them so you do not contaminate any other room. Books can also be a harborage area for bed bugs so you will want to remove them from the room. Launder what you can on high heat wash and High Heat Dry. At least 45 minutes. Now we want to deal with the surrounding areas in the room. Using a high quality vacuum cleaner to remove as many bed bugs as possible, vacuum around the baseboards, seams between the floor and carpet. Also, Vacuum Baseboards, window sills, vacuum all furniture and concentrate on the corners, and seams. Now we are ready to apply a combination of contact and residual sprays. As well as a residual bed bug dust. Using the contact and residual spray, you will want to Spray along baseboards, around nightstands, furniture cushions. Focus your spray on tight spaces as bed bugs are not in open areas. Treat seams, zippers, cracks and crevices of furniture. Make sure that everything has completely dried before you move on to apply a residual dust. Next you will want to apply a residual dust to the areas that you could not reach with a residual spray, such as the areas under the carpet and baseboards. Apply to Door and window frames, around electrical and light outlets. Remove the outlet covers and apply dust into the opening around the outlet but not into the electrical plugs. To prevent any further infestation of bed bugs we recommend you retreat at 2 weeks, and then again 2 weeks later. To help keep things simple we offer Our Harris Bed Bug Control Kits that include all the recommended products and we recommend you follow product labels and instructions included in the kits. Instructions are included, so you will know how to use the Harris bed bug killer spray and all the products included in our bed bug elimination line and kits.