Preparing your home before a bed bug treatment is one of the most important steps in actually eliminating the infestation. Skip it or do it wrong, and you risk spreading bugs to other rooms or reducing the treatment’s effectiveness. Here’s a complete, step-by-step prep sheet you can print or bookmark before your exterminator arrives.
The One Rule That Overrides Everything
Do not move items from infested rooms to other parts of your home. This is the single most common mistake people make during prep, and it spreads bed bugs into rooms that were previously clean. Everything you bag, wash, or sort should stay in the room it came from until your pest control company says otherwise. If you need to transport bagged items to a laundry area, seal them completely first and move them directly there.
Laundry and Fabric Items
Start with anything made of fabric: bedding, curtains, clothes in dressers, throw pillows, stuffed animals. Wash these using the hottest water temperature the fabric can handle, then dry on high heat for at least 30 minutes. A loosely filled dryer on high kills all bed bug life stages, including eggs. The key word is “loosely filled.” An overstuffed dryer won’t reach lethal temperatures throughout the load.
Bed bugs die within 20 minutes at 118°F, but their eggs are tougher and need 90 minutes of sustained exposure at that same temperature to reach full mortality. Your home dryer on high typically exceeds 118°F, so a standard 30-minute cycle handles adults and nymphs easily. For items you’re less sure about, running the dryer longer provides extra insurance.
Once items come out of the dryer, immediately seal them in plastic bags. Sealable storage bags or tightly knotted garbage bags both work. Do not put clean items back into drawers or closets until treatment is complete. Dry-clean-only items should go into sealed bags and be taken directly to the dry cleaner.
For items that can’t be washed or dried, you have a second option: seal them in plastic bags and place them in a freezer for four full days. This works for delicate fabrics, some shoes, and small items that can’t take tumble drying.
How to Bag Items Properly
You’ll go through a lot of garbage bags during prep. Two things matter most: the bags can’t have holes, and they must stay sealed when not in use. Even a small rip makes a bag useless as a containment tool. Use bag clips with a solid grip for bags you’ll open repeatedly, like the one holding your clean daily clothes. Constantly tying and retying bags stretches them out and creates tears.
Keep clean clothes in sealed bags outside the infested rooms until your pest control company clears you to unpack. Only open a bag when you need something from it, then reseal immediately. Dirty clothes should go into their own separate bags so you’re never mixing treated and untreated items.
Furniture Preparation
Move all furniture at least two feet away from the walls. Technicians need to access the space behind dressers, nightstands, desks, and bed frames where bed bugs commonly hide.
Stand your mattress and box spring on their sides so the exterminator can inspect and treat the underside. Remove everything from headboards, wash or dry what you can, and bag the rest. Pull out every drawer from dressers, nightstands, vanities, and armoires. Empty the contents, bag them in sealed plastic, and leave the empty drawers accessible for inspection.
If you have mattress and box spring encasements, installing them after treatment helps trap any remaining bugs inside and makes future inspections much easier. Even inexpensive vinyl encasements in the $5 to $10 range work, though they tear more easily than fabric-backed versions.
Floors, Electronics, and Wall Plates
Clean or mop all hard floors (wood, tile, vinyl) in the rooms being treated. Vacuum carpeted areas thoroughly. Clear the floor of clutter so the technician can treat baseboards and carpet edges without obstacles.
Unplug all electronics in the treatment area: computers, TVs, alarm clocks, gaming consoles, lamps. Remove electrical outlet covers and light switch plates from the walls. Bed bugs frequently hide inside outlet boxes, and your technician needs access to treat or inspect them.
Remove all children’s toys and anything a child might put in their mouth, especially items on the floor. Bag these and store them sealed.
If You’re Getting Heat Treatment
Heat treatments raise the room temperature high enough to kill bed bugs throughout the space. The prep is similar to conventional chemical treatment, but you’ll also need to remove anything that can melt, explode, or degrade in extreme heat. This typically includes aerosol cans, candles, wax items, medications, cosmetics, and certain plastics. Your pest control company should provide a specific list, since room temperatures during heat treatment far exceed what everyday household items are designed to withstand. Ask about electronics too, as some companies want them removed and others leave them in place.
Pets and Vacating the Home
For a standard chemical application, plan to keep everyone (people and pets) out of the treated areas for four to six hours. A severe infestation requiring fumigation can mean vacating the entire home for up to three days.
Birds and reptiles are more sensitive to pesticide residues than dogs and cats, so if you have exotic pets, tell your exterminator before treatment day. No bed bug products should ever be applied directly to animals. Remove pet beds, food bowls, and toys from treated rooms and bag them the same way you’d bag any other fabric or floor item.
Prep Timeline and Checklist
Most pest control companies want prep completed the day before or the morning of treatment. Give yourself more time than you think you’ll need. For a one-bedroom apartment, expect the prep alone to take several hours. A larger home with a heavier infestation can take a full day or more.
Here’s a condensed checklist to work through room by room:
- Laundry: Wash on hot, dry on high for 30+ minutes, seal in bags immediately
- Non-washable items: Bag and freeze for four days, or bag for dry cleaning
- Drawers: Remove from all furniture, empty contents into sealed bags
- Furniture: Pull at least two feet from walls
- Bed: Stand mattress and box spring on their sides, clear headboard
- Floors: Mop hard surfaces, vacuum carpets, remove clutter
- Electronics: Unplug and move away from walls
- Wall plates: Remove outlet covers and light switch plates
- Children’s items: Remove toys and mouthable objects from floors
- Pets: Arrange to be out of the home for 4 to 6 hours minimum
- Dry-clean-only items: Bag and take to dry cleaner
After treatment, keep clean items in their sealed bags until your pest control company confirms it’s safe to unpack. Only open bags as needed and reseal them right away. Your technician will likely schedule a follow-up inspection or second treatment two to three weeks later, since eggs that survived the first round may have hatched by then. Continue using sealed bags for storage until you’re given the all-clear.