Bed Bug Treatments

HOW MUCH DOES BED BUG TREATMENT COST?

The price you can expect to pay for a bed bug treatment will vary substantially. Large-scale commercial bed bug infestations can be difficult to price, but as a general rule the bigger the problem is the higher the overall costs will be.

However, water treatments can take time to complete and the mattress vacuuming process involves the use of special equipment. As a result, these types of treatments can be more expensive to complete – depending on the scale of the problem.

Mattress sealing is quite economical but costs will exponentially increase if you have a large number of mattresses.

WHAT ARE THE MOST EFFECTIVE HOME TREATMENTS?

If you would like to try home treatments, tea tree oil can be one of the most effective solutions to small scale problems. Other essential oils you can try include peppermint oil, cinnamon oil and clove oil. Further basic home treatments such as sprays may also help low-level problems before they get out of hand.

A popular home remedy for mattresses is to use baking soda. The belief is that putting baking soda powder on the surface of a mattress will help absorb fluids and dry out the shell of the bed bugs – thereby killing them. While it might help, and it may be harmless to try, there is no scientific evidence that baking soda kills bed bugs.

CAN I PREVENT BED BUGS?

Bed bugs can be present on any piece of fabric, so it might not be possible to prevent them in all cases.

Any piece of luggage, a cloth slipper, hat or other fabric is susceptible to bed bugs as it provides ideal conditions for them to feed and lay eggs – as a result, prevention is best achieved by practising constant vigilance.

To prevent bed bugs you can introduce the following strategies, most of these are good practices for general hygiene and can help prevent other pest problems too:

• Frequently washing bedding, clothes and other fabrics.
• Washing bedding at very high temperatures.
• Frequently vacuuming floors, especially carpets.
• Reducing or removing carpets in a house, bed bugs hate tiles and wooden floors.
• Avoiding second-hand furniture or thoroughly checking and cleaning any second-hand items.

Sometimes you will bring bed bugs home with you. This is a horrible thought, but a bed bug can easily crawl onto your suitcase or clothing. You can help reduce the chances of this by doing the following:

• Check hotel rooms and mattresses before you use them.
• Hanging up clothes and avoiding dropping clothing on the floor, in a hotel you can leave all your clothes in your suitcase.
• Putting suitcases on a raised platform, such as a shelf or suitcase stand.

You cannot avoid all contact with bed bugs as they are so common, but you can prevent them from spreading and becoming an issue. If you often experience skin reactions from bed bug bites these preventative measures will help a lot.

THE BEST BED BUG TREATMENTS EXPLAINED

If you have a significant problem then a professional solution is the only option. Professional solutions involve the use of heat treatments, vacuum treatments and mattress sealing, which will be the most effective options for most cases. The costs of treatments depend on the scale and nature of the infestation.

Home treatments can help, but basic sprays and powders do not work as well for larger bed bug problems. We are happy to explain the most effective treatments for bed bugs, which we use in our role as pest controllers in the Midlands region of the UK. For a professional bed bug treatment service in this area please get in touch.