Updated at: 18-07-2022 - By: Sienna Lewis

Heat treatments for bed bugs are labor-intensive processes. Treatments using high temperatures have been found to be the most efficient and rapid way to get rid of bed bugs. Upon reaching room temperature, adults, nymphs, and eggs all perish within minutes. The purpose of this page is to educate readers on the intricacy, peril, and risk that accompany heat treatments. Your active participation before, during, and after treatment is crucial to its efficacy and safety. If the preconditions on the checklist aren’t met, the treatment may have to be postponed or the guarantee may be nullified.

Before a scheduled treatment can occur, homeowners, managers, and directors must double check that all items on the checklist have been checked off (s). If heat cleanup is delayed due to a lack of preparation, the cost may increase. Thomas Pest Services (TPS) must authorize all treatment modifications in advance.

Preparation Required Prior To Walk Through With Thomas Pest Services

Prepare Beds

  • To prevent damage, deflate airbeds to a smaller than full size and unplug them from the wall before storing them.
  • In order to allow enough heat to reach the frame surfaces under and surrounding the mattress, any waterbeds should be drained completely.
  • Beds should be at least two feet from the wall.
  • Any and all boxes and other stuff stashed under the bed should be taken out. It is important that all of your goods be exposed to the heat treatment, therefore if the container under your bed is particularly full, you should take everything out of there before beginning. The goods stowed under the bed should be investigated to see if they include any emotional or irreplaceable items or if they are at risk of being harmed by the severe temperatures.
  • TPS is going to be the one to change the sheets.
  • Avoid damaging your new box spring, mattress, or other piece of furniture by removing the plastic wrapping.
  • Care must be made to prevent the spread of infestation to unaffected areas if the client wishes to dispose of badly infested mattresses and furnishings. Infested items should be tagged as such, rendered unusable, and disposed of in the garbage to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.

How to Prepare for a Bed Bug Heat Treatment

Clothing

Bed bugs frequently hide in and amongst articles of clothes. Clothing that is removed from a room after heat treatment should be treated to kill any remaining bed bugs before being replaced.

  • For the same reason, it’s acceptable to leave clothes folded loosely in drawers and laundry baskets if the space is limited.
  • Put away your clothes, but leave the drawers open. But we might still need to clear out some dresser drawers to improve ventilation.
  • Clothes can be left hanging in closets if there is enough room for the warmed air to circulate around the garments. Put some room in between what you have hung up.
  • Those items of clothes that must be left in the heated area should be folded loosely in open-weave washing baskets. To avoid damaging your clothes, never store them in a plastic bag. All the dirty bedding, clothes, shoes, and slippers that have been left lying around on the floor.
  • Clothes can be dried on high heat for 30 minutes and then stored in plastic bins or storage boxes with lids to minimize the amount of chaos left over after the treatment is done. If these containers are clearly labeled for the maintenance staff, the contents will remain undisturbed during the course of their work.

Luggage

If luggage is stored in an attic or garage, bring luggage into the structure to be heated.

Stored Items & Clutter

  • If your bags are kept in an unheated space like a garage or attic, bring them inside.
  • Restricting equipment placement, air flow, and heat penetration due to excessive clutter and stored/boxed things is a common reason of treatment failure.
  • Prior to the heat treatment, you should take care of the excessive clutter and the stored/boxed objects in one of the following ways, taking into account the kind, amount, and value of the possessions in question. During the heat treatment process, a fair number of objects (to be chosen by the sales expert) can be put throughout the home in small stacks to be heated. Second, the customer may decide to take infested goods to the local dump with warning labels so that no one else might rescue them for use in their own homes if they are not valuable enough to warrant the time and/or money required to be heated.

Others

  • Sadly, bed bugs are a common problem with mobility aids like wheelchairs and scooters. Scooters and wheelchairs must remain in the house during treatment. Transportation issues should be addressed in advance of the first scheduled appointment.
  • As we near your location, please remember to turn off any and all fans and air conditioning units and to secure any open windows.
  • Vacuum. Please throw away the vacuum bag when you’re done using it.

Items that may melt or explode

Items that can be damaged by heat should be relocated out of the treatment area and either refrigerated or placed in contractor-issued 3 mil rubbish bags.

  • Containers under pressure, such as paint sprayers, fire extinguishers, oxygen bottles, etc.
  • Explosives and bullets
  • Paints
  • Adhesives
  • Lighters for cigarettes
  • Everything that can catch fire
  • Products made of soft vinyl
  • Records made of vinyl
  • Compact discs and tapes of various lengths
  • Software for computers
  • Video discs and audio CDs
  • All vinyl window blinds should be raised if they have not already been taken down.
  • Artificial limbs made of rubber
  • Supportive medical braces
  • Meals consisting of newly harvested fruits, vegetables, and meats (Can be stored in refrigerator)
  • Soaps
  • Candles, wax figures, crayons, and lipstick all have a common wax foundation.
  • Crayons
  • Chocolate
  • The use of deodorant sticks
  • Cosmetics, including lipsticks
  • Moisturizers and creams.
  • A bottle of wine, or another type of bottled liquor
  • Beverages with carbonation
  • Sweeteners that are not natural
  • Medications, vitamins, and other supplements
  • Carpeting made of olefin (direct contact from duct)

How to Prepare for Bed Bug Heat Treatment - Synergy²

Items that may be damaged by large air blowers

  • Picture frames and other wall decor should be fastened securely to the wall to prevent them from being blown around and broken by air blowers. To prevent it from falling, either either anchor it to the floor or remove it from the wall.
  • Items that are light and easily broken may be blown around by the wind. Put fragile objects in storage boxes to avoid breaking them.
  • Totes should be used to hold paper stacks together.

Electronics

  • When conducting remediation, it is recommended that electronic equipment such as computers, flat-screen TVs, and remote controllers be left inside.
  • Unplugged electronics will be moved out of the way of incoming and heated air.
  • In order to prevent fires, turn off all laptops and remove their batteries.
  • Most unpowered devices are safe to use up to temperatures of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. In the event of uncertainty regarding the maximum safe temperature, it is recommended that the manufacturer be contacted. There is no duty on the part of Thomas Pest Services to collect such data.

Living plants and pets

  • Before applying, empty any tanks and move any plants on the floor.
  • For the sake of everyone’s safety and the success of the treatment, no one should be in the building when the heat remediation is being done.

Sentimental, Valuable and Personal Items

Inspect the following things before packing them up and putting them in storage.

  • Paintings made with oil
  • Paintings with acrylic and other media
  • Photographs
  • Crafts put together with a hot glue gun
  • Pieces of antique furniture with a delicate polish or glue joints
  • Expansion/contraction may cause musical instruments to go out of tune. Get rid of the cases.
  • Affixing magnets to a fridge (may demagnetize)
  • Pretreatment preparations should always include the safe removal of priceless artifacts such as family heirlooms and other keepsakes.
  • Take out anything of value or sentimental (e.g. jewelry and credit cards).

Preparation On The Day Of Treatment

  • Before service, please empty garbage cans and sweep or vacuum communal spaces.
  • It is imperative that all HVAC systems be disabled prior to treatment.
  • Keep the thermostat at 85 degrees. Within the first 2 hours of treatment, the TPS Service Team will switch off the heat.
  • Extreme temperatures can cause thermostat failure, however this is not typical. Please remove the thermostat (after turning off the heat) if it is something you would like done before we arrive. The customer is responsible for re-affixing. If the thermostat is forgotten and causes damage, TPS will not be held liable.

It’s important to be selective while choosing a place to stay during medical care. Unless you have absolute certainty that there are no bed bugs in the vicinity, you should avoid visiting friends and family. The same may be said for the shared spaces in apartment buildings.

It’s best if everyone in the house chooses a single outfit to wear on the day of treatment. Clothes should be dried on high heat for 30 minutes, then stored in a Ziploc bag outside the building. Besides those objects, nothing else should be brought outside. It is not encouraged, but if you must bring additional items with you on the day of treatment, make sure they are things that can be dried quickly when you get home from the clinic.

What To Expect During Heat Treatment

  • TPS will install machinery within the building.
  • In order to distribute the heat evenly around the house, huge fans will be installed strategically.
  • Representatives will conduct a final sweep of the residence before it reaches dangerous degrees in order to locate any objects that may have been damaged by the heat. Thomas Pest Services and its independent contractors are not responsible for this, but we are providing this inspection as a kindness because we are aware of how time-consuming the necessary preparations are.
  • A dust and liquid residual migration treatment will also be carried out by representatives before the property reaches critical temperature.
  • We plan to keep checking the house’s temperature at regular intervals.
  • The target temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit will be maintained for 3 hours.
  • Representatives will enter the structure every hour for 15 minutes throughout the three hours to open drawers, turn beds, shift clothing, and toss bags of stuff that were not classified as heated previously to do our best to ensure that heat reaches every part of the belongings in the residence.
  • After the property reaches the required temperatures, most (if not all) cabinet doors and dresser drawers will be opened (and left open). There may be some rearranging of drawers and cabinets necessary during the heating procedure to ensure that everything is hot enough for treatment.
  • When the desired temperature is reached, mattresses, cushions, and upholstered furniture are flipped or supported against walls and relocated.

Preparing For Bed Bug Heat Treatment?

As we are ready to cure bed bugs with heat, we must take additional precautions.

Exactly what is the first thought that pops into your head?

This is one of the only ways we’ve found to successfully get rid of hundreds, if not thousands, of them in our homes.

If you come across one, put an end to it before it can do any more damage.

Bed bugs can live in anything from old mattresses and couches to discarded clothing.

By producing eggs in the locations they have invaded, they expand their species and thereby disseminate terror.

But now, with the aid of technology, things are different.

We humans have created a wide variety of tools that serve a variety of beneficial functions.

As a result of technological advancements, new pieces of machinery are introduced to the marketplace on a daily basis.

There are many experts available at the touch of a button today.

Consequently, they are able to complete the task at hand without more anxiety.

However, they can be costly, which is why it’s helpful to have access to home treatments.

Plus, chemicals are introduced, but they do have drawbacks, so be wary.

Tips for getting ready for a heat treatment for bed bugs.

If you’ve ever found yourself worrying about things like this, know that we’ve got the solutions you’re looking for, both now and in the future.

Tip#1. Professional services

We can’t guarantee that professional services won’t set you back a pretty penny, though.

They’ll finish quickly, but their work will be of high quality.

They will also assist you in getting ready.

To minimize disruption, do everything first, then treat the bugs.

Everything was covered, from helping to remove goods that could be contaminated by chemicals to transporting items that had been infected.

Tip#2. Removing items away from the wall

Continuous air circulation is crucial for heat treatment.

Eliminating bed bugs requires clearing space adjacent to walls by moving furniture away from the surface.

One of the most crucial aspects of this location is its circulation.

As the air circulates in a circle, the heat is increased, leading to dangerously high temperatures.

Tip#3. Moving out of items

Dressers, closets, drawers, chairs, and other similar items must also be removed.

Remember that at the beginning of the heat-treating process, these items should be at least half empty so that the heat may move freely.

Less heat is generated in a condensed area, leading to a failed process.

Put your clothes and other items in an open weave washing basket to prevent that from happening.

Also, before having your home treated, be sure to remove any potentially hazardous pressurized, flammable, or explosive materials from the premises.

If you want to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, you should get rid of the stuff.

Tip#4. Cleaning and maintaining

It’s important to clean the house completely before undergoing heat treatment.

Dusty areas should be vacuumed, and the bag should be thrown away outdoors once the job is done.

Having fewer places for bed bugs to hide during treatment is a good thing.

Tip#5. Remove all electrical covers and plants too

It’s possible that bedbugs made your electrical outlets their home.

After this is done, the walls will be able to absorb more heat.

The plants should be taken down to prevent them from shriveling in the heat.

If you can get rid of them, it will improve the procedure overall.

Please isolate them from the rest of the house by placing them in a cooler area.

Everything You Need To Start Your Bed Bug Removal Business

After Treatment

  • Your home will likely still be very warm even after the therapy is finished. In order to restore the ambient temperature of your home to a more acceptable level, a cooling-off period will be required.
  • Thomas Pest recommends using fans and opening windows to speed up the natural cooling process. When the temperature outside is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, please wait to use the washing and dryer.
  • Your furniture and other household items may have been moved about during the treatment process to ensure that all areas of the house received the same amount of heat. In most cases, we will not return objects to their original locations because it is unsafe for our staff to do so while the house is heated.
  • We recommend that you use a vacuum to remove any dead insects, insect casings, or egg clusters from inside or underneath the heat-treated goods while they are still in their temporary storage location.
  • Mattresses, if purchased, will be enclosed in mattress protectors. Cases that have been ripped or torn need to be fixed or replaced promptly.
  • Climb-up Interceptors will be installed on infested beds and furniture at the customer’s request and at their expense.
  • For 30 days after treatment, carpets should not be shampooed or steam cleaned.

Conclusion

This concludes our discussion on “how to prepare for bed bug heat treatment.”

I’m assuming at least a few of you have a rudimentary understanding of how heat treatment works.