Are you dealing with the pain and embarrassment of having bed bugs in your home? If you are, you are not alone. Bed bugs in VA and the rest of the region are becoming a major problem. A recent survey showed that 95 percent of all pest control operators around the country have dealt with a bed bug infestation in the last year. These numbers hold true for the local area, as providers of pest control services in MD, VA and DC have been inundated with calls from troubled homeowners and apartment dwellers looking for help from their bed bug problems.
One of the major problems with bed bugs is that there is no effective home treatment for them. If you have a bed bug infestation, you will need to call in a specialist in pest control in Washington DC or elsewhere to take care of the problem. However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t certain things that you can do to help the situation and stop bed bugs from coming back after your treatment is complete. According to the Health Department in Fairfax County, Virginia, here are three things that you can do if you are struggling to control bed bugs in VA or elsewhere:
Keep contaminated items in one room. Bed bugs spread throughout a home by moving from room-to-room on various objects. These objects can include clothing, luggage, linens and more. If you have bed bugs in Maryland, you can keep them from spreading to other rooms in your home by essentially quarantining the rooms that are already effected. Remove items from the room in tear-free trash bags and either wash them or dispose of them away from your home. This includes taking all items from walls and moving furniture to the center of the room before calling in pest control services in MD for treatment.
Wash contaminated items immediately. If you have bed bugs in Maryland, you need to take quick action to handle the situation. Along with calling in a pest controller, you also need to wash all clothing and other objects at a place away from your home as quickly as possible. Wash these items at the hottest temperature setting possible, as bed bugs are susceptible to extreme temperature changes. You also want to make sure to use a strong detergent and store the clean clothes and sheets away from the infected room.
Throw away your mattress. Old mattresses are the most common breeding grounds for bed bugs. If you need to call in pest control in Washington DC to take care of a bed bug problem, chances are that you’ll need to replace your mattress. Check to see if you mattress has any holes in it. If it doesn’t and is relatively new, you might be able to salvage it by vacuuming it thoroughly, placing in the hot sun and sealing it with a plastic cover to stop bugs from escaping.