Using Pest Control As Preventative MaintenanceUsing Pest Control As Preventative Maintenance


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Using Pest Control As Preventative Maintenance

A few years ago, I experienced a personal breakthrough as a homeowner. I realized that I waited to call pest control until my bug problem had grown out of control. Instead of simply controlling pests, we would have to work through from square one each and every time we wanted to resolve the problem. However, my pest control guy gave me some advice that has stuck with me since that day. He explained that we should consider using pest control as preventative maintenance. Since then, I have pest control spray regularly every 3-6 months, whether there are bugs in my house or not. Tips like these can be found in the articles on my website.

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The Best Ways to Banish Bedbugs

There are a few options for getting rid of bedbugs in your home. You can physically remove them by throwing out clutter where they hide or sucking them into a vacuum cleaner. You can also kill them with heat, freezing temperatures, and pesticides. Here's how you go about it.

Killing Bedbugs with Heat

Cycle all your clothes, stuffed animals, and linens through the laundry using hot water and a hot dryer. Buy a steam cleaner and use it to blow hot steam into all the nooks and cracks in your bedroom. Concentrate on your mattress, box springs, and bed since the bugs like to hide in those places.

If you call in a pest control company, they may also use a heat treatment in the form of a commercial steam machine. In severe cases, you may have to put your belongings in a bedbug heat chamber. It's like stacking your household goods into a storage unit, except this one is heated to a temperature that will kill off all the bugs. The pest control company might even suggest treating your entire house at once with thermal remediation. This process is similar to turning your home into one big oven that bakes all the bugs and kills them off.

Freezing Bed Bugs

Freezing temperatures also kill the bugs, so you may be able to put small, infected household items in your freezer. The temperature has to be at 0 degrees Fahrenheit for four days to kill off the bugs and their eggs. The easier way to freeze them is to hire a pest control company that uses frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice, to battle bedbugs. The carbon dioxide is sprayed throughout your home, killing bugs immediately by freezing them. The spray releases particles that look like snow, but they evaporate quickly so there is no damage to your belongings. Plus, there is no toxic residue left behind.

Using Pesticides

The big problem with bedbugs is that they are resistant to many pesticides. The chemicals you buy at a store won't be very effective on them, and you'll end up spraying the chemicals around your home for no reason. Pest control professionals have access to stronger chemical formulations the general public can't buy. That's because the pesticides are dangerous to work with if you aren't trained properly. Your exterminator may use pesticides in areas of your home where it is safe to do so, and use other methods, such as steam, in your sleeping area.

Whether you try to get rid of the bugs yourself or call a professional for bedbug treatment, you have to be very thorough in your efforts. All it takes is two bugs, or a few live eggs, and it won't be long until the bedbugs return.