Bed bug extermination can be a bit complicated and your first step to a clean and healthy household is preparation. Here is a list of items and actions you should take before calling an exterminator. Before you know it, you’ll be ready and able to fight these pests head on! As we fast approach the fall season and its accompanying friendly visits from one of its most famous residents, the BED BUGS, it’s important to make sure that you are prepared for these unwelcome pests. Bed bugs rely on people to travel so please remember to check all the common hiding places when preparing for your home extermination program. Bed bugs are sneaky little devils. They blend into the cracks and crevices of mattresses and box springs, so unless you know exactly what you’re looking for, you may not notice them until it’s too late. That’s one of the reasons why there’s been a massive increase in bed bug infestations in the past few years. Let me show you how to prepare for bed bugs.

Bed Bug Extermination Preparation

Wash your bedding

• Wash your bedding. Your sheets, blankets, and pillows will all need to be laundered in hot water. If you have an extra-large load capacity, you can wash everything in one go; otherwise, break it up into two or three loads. Use detergent and make sure the hottest setting on your dryer is used to kill any remaining bed bugs hiding in crevices or seams.
• Heat treat clothing and other items that can’t be washed or placed in a dryer for 30 minutes at 130 degrees Fahrenheit (or 50 degrees Celsius). This may not seem like enough time to kill all the bugs inside these materials but heat takes time to penetrate fabric so it’s important not to rush this step by putting items through more than one cycle of heat treatment—they’ll get hotter with each pass through the dryer!

Clean upholstered items

You should also clean upholstered items such as mattresses, box springs, and headboards. Use a brush to loosen dirt and vacuum the fabric. You can also use an insecticidal spray or steam cleaner (if it’s a commercial steam cleaner) on these items to kill bed bugs hiding inside them.

Vacuum thoroughly

Once you’ve identified the presence of bed bugs in your home, it’s time to begin preparation for extermination.

• Vacuum all areas of the house, including furniture and baseboards. If possible, move furniture into a garage or basement with low humidity and temperature levels.
• Vacuum your car as well, even if it has not recently been driven.
• Vacuum luggage before returning from vacation or business travel. Bed bugs can travel on luggage without being noticed until they have reached their new location!

Bag or destroy items

• Bag or destroy items.
• Bags can be used to put clothing and shoes in while they’re being treated, as well as any paper products and books. You should also use them to put any other objects that you want to protect from the chemicals, such as photo albums, toys or anything else you don’t want spoiled by the spray.
• Plastic bags are preferred over paper when it comes to protecting your belongings because they’ll seal out most of the harmful chemicals in the sprays and powders used to kill bed bugs. Cardboard boxes should be avoided because they let too much air through, which allows more contaminants through than plastic bags do; likewise for plastic bins with holes in them!

Tape furniture

When taping furniture, you should tape the legs, feet and any other place that is not attached to another piece of furniture. You should also tape around the bottom of the bed and around its frame. Tape needs to be placed around all four sides of your box springs as well as along their edges. Finally, tape should be placed around each corner where two or more pieces meet (for example: headboard meets wall).

With this being said, it is important to make sure that your tape is secure enough so that if someone with long fingernails were to try pulling on it they wouldn’t succeed in doing so without breaking off a nail first!

Bed bugs can be a challenge to eliminate, but if you take the time to prepare for their removal, it can go much more smoothly.

Bed bugs can be a challenge to eliminate, but if you take the time to prepare for their removal, it can go much more smoothly. Here are a few things you should know about bed bugs and their habits before attempting to exterminate them yourself:

Bed bugs are extremely difficult to kill when they hide in small spaces and crevices. They have been known to burrow into holes as small as one millimeter in diameter! When these tiny critters hide out, they’re almost impossible for homeowners without professional training to locate them—which means that even if you do manage to get rid of all your bed bug infestations at home (a task that requires several treatments), new ones may show up again later on due to someone else’s negligence or carelessness.

Some people mistake bites from other insects such as mosquitoes or fleas for those caused by bedbugs; however, there are some telltale signs which will help you determine whether or not it might actually be an infestation:

• Small red welts on your skin that disappear within 2 weeks (i.e., not insect bites)
• Itching sensations around mattress seams where no one has been sleeping lately
• Flecks of brown blood stains left behind after sleeping somewhere new