Table of Contents
1. Dealing with Bedbugs
Bedbugs are hitchhikers who feed on you while you sleep. They travel home in your luggage from hotels, hide in secondhand furniture, and infest apartments through shared walls. The bites itch like hell and leave welts. Some people have allergic reactions. And the psychological aspect of knowing bugs are feeding on you at night is worse than the bites themselves.
Getting rid of them takes effort. Not backbreaking effort, but sustained effort over three weeks minimum. They’re hardy, they hide everywhere, and their eggs survive most casual attempts to kill them. But it’s absolutely doable if you commit to the process.
2. Strip the Room and Seal Entry Points
First: remove everything that gives bedbugs places to hide. Area rugs, piles of clothes, stuffed animals, clutter under the bed. Bag it all up. You can wash fabric items in hot water (130°F minimum) to kill bugs and eggs, then seal them in plastic bags until the infestation is cleared. Don’t just toss things in a corner of another room or you’ll spread the problem.
Take down wall hangings. Bedbugs hide behind picture frames, clocks, and posters during the day. The room needs to be as bare as possible before treatment starts.
Seal cracks around baseboards, outlet covers, and door frames with caulk. Check window seals. If you’re in an apartment or condo, bedbugs migrate between units through wall voids and this step slows them down considerably.
Inspect your mattress. If it’s torn or has holes, replace it. You can’t treat the inside effectively. A mattress in decent shape can stay for treatment, but consider getting a bedbug-proof encasement afterwards (it traps any survivors inside where they’ll eventually starve).
3. Insecticide Treatment (Three-Week Protocol)
Use insecticides labeled specifically for bedbugs. Most are either aerosol sprays or dusts (diatomaceous earth or silica gel). Get both. The spray hits bugs on contact and works in cracks you can reach. The dust works long-term in areas where bugs travel (they pick it up on their bodies and it kills them slowly).
Target hiding spots: bed frame joints, box spring seams, baseboards, behind outlet covers, furniture joints, closet corners. Bedbugs avoid light, so focus on dark crevices and enclosed spaces. Apply dust along baseboards and under furniture where it won’t be disturbed. Use spray in visible cracks and on surfaces.
Repeat the full treatment one week later. Then again one week after that. Three treatments total over three weeks. This catches eggs that hatch between applications (eggs are resistant to most insecticides, but newly hatched nymphs aren’t).
Don’t skip treatments or stretch the timeline. Bedbugs breed fast and missing a cycle gives them time to reestablish.
4. Professional Heat Treatment
If insecticides aren’t working or you’d rather pay someone else to handle it, heat treatment works. Professional exterminators bring equipment that heats your entire room (or house) to 120-140°F for several hours. This temperature kills bedbugs and eggs in all life stages, including the ones hidden deep in furniture or wall voids.
It’s expensive (often $1,000+ for a single room) but it’s thorough and you’re done in one day instead of three weeks. The catch: if bedbugs are coming from a neighboring apartment, they’ll just migrate back after treatment unless the source is handled.