1. RETURNING HOME: Following the treatment, your home will be very hot and will need time to cool off before re-entering. We recommend turning the air conditioner on, then leaving again for a few additional hours while the home continues to cool down to an acceptable temperature. If you or a family member suffers from COPD, asthma or any other respiratory issues of any kind, we strongly recommend staying with family or in a hotel for the night.
2. STANDARD HOUSEKEEPING: Following your heat remediation treatment, thorough vacuuming of the entire home and some contents is required to remove the dead remains of bed bugs, eggs and nymphs.
This should include :
- Vacuuming on and in seams of all mattresses and box springs
- Bed frames
- Inside and outside of all furniture (sofas, chairs, etc.)
- Carpets and baseboards
- Hard surface floors
3. CREATE A DESIGNATED CHANGING STATION: To protect your home and avoid re-infestation, we highly recommend creating a “changing station” near the entry of your home. It’s important to create a “changing station” that fits your lifestyle. When entering your home from work, school, doctor’s office, gym, movie theaters, travel, public transportation, etc. you must change your clothes immediately upon reentering your home and take one of the following actions:
- Put worn clothing into dryer, on high heat for 20 minutes.
- Placing in air tight container (20 gallon trash can with a clean trash bag and air tight lid is ideal for storing clothes until you are able to wash and dry).
- DO NOT USE laundry baskets, hampers, boxes, crates or totes.
4. LAUNDRY: The maintenance and upkeep of laundry is an essential part of ensuring your home remains a bed bug free environment.
DO NOT LEAVE worn and/or dirty laundry lying around the home.
30 – 35 DAY INSPECTION: We highly recommend scheduling a third party K-9 bed bug detection team to visit the home at the 30-35 day mark. This will ensure that you have 1) a piece of mind that we/IPS have completed our job accurately and effectively and 2) that your home is bed bug free. This will be an extra expense to the homeowner if no alerts are found in the home. If for any reason the dog alerts, IPS guarantees to reheat specific areas and/or the entire home as needed, at no cost to you and will pay the cost associated to the K-9 inspection.