Its often better to prevent infestation than deal with the costs of treating an infestation after the fact. Treatment includes products, dry cleaning and laundry bills, replaced furniture, loss of sleep and even prolonged psychological impacts. There are several steps you can take to drastically reduce the likelihood of getting infested with bed bugs:
Seal your Apartment or House
If you live in an apartment building, sealing your apartment from migrating bed bugs will help eliminate the possible intruders. It is very common to have bed bugs migrate into your apartment from a neighboring apartment. To seal your apartment you can use silicone caulk and spray foam. Seal the baseboards, and cracks and crevices with the silicone caulk. You can use the spray foam around pipes and radiators to seal the larger gaps.
Treat your home with effective residual insecticides
We sell 2 specially designed residual insecticides for bed bugs. The first, which we recommend for most residual treatments is our organic Diatomaceous earth. The product should be applied along all perimeter walls of your home. In an infested building, the baseboards of exterior walls are the number one entry point for bed bugs into your home. The second product is Garden.com Residual Bed Bug Killer (quart) This is typically recommended for commercial applications as it is not visible. Again, it would be applied to the exterior walls of the infested home as well.
Treat your luggage before travel
We carry an exclusive product that is the only one of its kind designed to be put on luggage before you travel. The specially formulated insecticide will deter bed bugs from crawling onto your luggage and you taking them back home with you. You can see more on this product here.
Be cautious while staying in hotels
Inspect any hotel room for signs of bed bugs before settling in. Search the seams of the mattress and box spring as well as the headboard for signs of bed bugs. Look for bed bugs themselves along with dark streaks or spots that could indicate the presence of bed bugs. Keep your luggage as far away from the bed as possible and do not put luggage where previous visitors would have most likely put theirs. You can also spray the sidewalls of the mattress with our Bed Bug Luggage Spray to kill any visible or non-visible bed bugs as well as deter them from biting.
Disinfect luggage and clothes upon returning home
Unpack your luggage outside of the home or far from living spaces. Immediately put clothes into a washing machine with water or straight into a dryer on high for about 30 minutes. Vacuum all surfaces of your luggage and spray with our with our Contact Killer Spray. Make sure you seal the vacuum bag or vacuum contents in a ziploc bag once complete.
Wash All Linens in Extremely Hot Water
Turn the washing machine to its hottest water setting. For a really bad case run the bedding in the hot water wash twice. Take bedding out of the washing machine and place in the dryer. Make sure that the dryer is on the hottest setting.
Encase your Mattress and Box Spring
Shortly after bed bugs enter your home, they will find their human feed
source and infest as near them as possible. This typically means bed bugs will infest in and on our mattress and box spring. Because of the structure of the mattress and box spring bed bugs can often live in them undetected. They will infest along a seam or deep within the mattress/box spring, where you may never see them. Encasing your mattress and box spring will prevent bed bugs from penetrating them and limit any potential places of infestation. Not only will this deter infestation, but it makes for quick and easy inspection of infestations. Also, encasing your mattress and box spring will protect your investment from possibly having to be thrown out in the future.
Be aware and educate Yourself
Knowledge can go a long way in your efforts to prevent and infestation. Learn what bed bugs look like and how to identify an infestation . Be cautious of any incoming packages, luggage, laundry, bundles, etc. Don't place items on the ground in common areas of apartment buildings, including hallways. Be extra cautious in common areas such as the lobby, elevators, and laundry room. Inspect any shared washer and dryer before use.
No comments:
Post a Comment