Crossfire Bed Bug Concentrate is a liquid insecticide you mix with water and spray directly onto surfaces where bed bugs hide, including mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and baseboards. It kills bed bugs at every life stage, including eggs, and works on pyrethroid-resistant strains that survive many other products. Here’s how to use it effectively from start to finish.
Prepare the Room Before You Spray
Preparation is half the job. Skipping these steps means the spray won’t reach the places bed bugs are actually hiding, and you risk spreading the infestation to other rooms.
Start by stripping all bedding, linens, and fabric items from the bed. Don’t treat these with Crossfire. Instead, seal them in plastic bags, wash them in the hottest water the fabric allows, then run them through the dryer on high heat for at least 20 to 45 minutes. Keep everything sealed in fresh bags until treatment is done and dry. Do the same with clothing from closets and drawers in the infested room, plus any items on the floor.
Pull all furniture at least two feet from the walls. Remove and empty every drawer from dressers, nightstands, and armoires so you can inspect and spray inside the furniture. Stand the mattress and box spring on their sides so the undersides are accessible. Clean hard floors by mopping or vacuuming. Remove electrical wall plates (unplug equipment first) since bed bugs hide behind them, but do not spray in or around electrical outlets or equipment due to shock hazard.
For children’s toys or anything a child might put in their mouth, remove them from the room entirely. Run dryer-safe items through high heat for 20 to 45 minutes, or seal them in bags and freeze for four days. Store everything in sealed plastic bags until the infestation is confirmed gone. Don’t throw away mattresses or furniture before treating. Most can be saved.
Mixing the Concentrate
Crossfire comes as a liquid concentrate you dilute with water in a pump sprayer. Follow the label’s mixing ratio for the size of your sprayer. Use a standard hand-pump or low-pressure sprayer, not a high-pressure system. The product is not meant for broadcast spraying across open floor space. You’ll apply it as a targeted spray: crack and crevice, carpet perimeters, and direct contact with surfaces where bed bugs live.
You can also apply the mixed solution with a paintbrush on flat surfaces like walls, baseboards, and behind wall hangings. This gives you precise control in tight areas.
Where to Apply Crossfire
Bed bugs cluster in predictable spots, and those are exactly where you spray. Focus on:
- Mattresses and box springs: Spray directly onto the surface, paying special attention to seams, folds, tufts, and edges. Apply until the surface is thoroughly damp but not soaking wet. You should never see dripping or runoff.
- Bed frames and headboards: Spray all joints, cracks, and screw holes where bugs wedge themselves in.
- Baseboards and floorboards: Run a line of spray along the junction where the baseboard meets the floor and the wall.
- Furniture: Treat dressers, nightstands, desks, and chairs, focusing on joints, corners, drawer slides, and the undersides.
- Door and window frames: Spray into cracks and along edges.
- Wall hangings and closets: Treat the wall behind picture frames and inside closet trim.
- Carpet perimeters: Spray along the edges where carpet meets the wall.
- Non-washable items: Luggage, shoes, and backpacks that may have contacted bed bugs can be treated directly.
The key principle is contact. Crossfire kills on contact and leaves a residual layer that continues killing bugs that cross treated surfaces afterward. Every crack, fold, and seam you miss is a potential hiding spot where eggs and adults survive.
What Not to Spray
Crossfire is for indoor, non-food areas only. Do not use it in kitchens where food is prepared or stored unless you cover all food surfaces and utensils during treatment and wash them thoroughly before use. Never spray it on people, pets, or plants. Don’t spray near electrical equipment or inside outlets. Remove pets, birds, and fish tanks (or cover aquariums completely) before treatment begins. Bed linens get laundered, not sprayed.
Safety During and After Treatment
Wear long sleeves, long pants, closed shoes, and socks while applying. No one should be in the room during treatment: no other adults, children, or pets. After spraying, everyone stays out until all treated surfaces are completely dry. Drying typically takes a few hours depending on ventilation and how much product you applied, but for young children, elderly individuals, people with respiratory issues, and pets, plan on at least four hours away from treated areas.
Wash your hands and any exposed skin thoroughly with soap and water when you’re done. Don’t eat, drink, or smoke until you’ve washed up.
Retreat Every Two Weeks
One application rarely eliminates an infestation. The label allows retreatment as often as needed, but the standard recommendation for an active infestation is to reapply every 14 days. Crossfire’s residual lasts about four weeks on treated surfaces, though independent testing has shown greater than 90% efficacy lasting up to 12 months on certain surfaces.
The two-week interval matters because it catches newly hatched nymphs that may have emerged from eggs in untreated crevices. Keep retreating on this schedule until you go a full 30 days with no signs of bed bugs: no bites, no live bugs, no fresh dark spots on bedding or mattress seams.
Why Crossfire Works on Resistant Bed Bugs
Most bed bug populations in the U.S. have developed resistance to pyrethroids, the class of insecticides found in many over-the-counter sprays. Crossfire uses a combination of active ingredients with different modes of action, which is why it kills strains that survive standard pyrethroid products. It also prevents eggs from hatching, which is unusual for a liquid spray. Many competing products kill adults on contact but leave eggs viable, forcing you to rely entirely on residual killing power to catch each new generation as it hatches.
Independent research from Eurofins Agroscience Services found nearly 100% efficacy at three and six months after application on tested surfaces. That long residual means treated baseboards and bed frames continue working well beyond the initial spray, providing a safety net between your retreatments.
Tips for Better Results
Vacuum thoroughly before each treatment, especially along baseboards, mattress seams, and furniture joints. This physically removes bugs and eggs, making the spray more effective on the ones that remain. Seal and dispose of the vacuum bag immediately in an outdoor trash bin.
Use mattress and box spring encasements after your first treatment. These trap any surviving bugs inside and create a smooth surface with no seams for new bugs to hide in. Keep the encasements on for at least a year.
Don’t move items from infested rooms to other parts of your home. This is the fastest way to spread an infestation. Everything stays sealed in bags or stays in the room until treatment is complete. If you live in an apartment or shared building, notify management, because bed bugs travel through wall voids and shared infrastructure and treating one unit often isn’t enough.