If you have a hardwood floor, vacuum every inch of it, using the brush attachment on your vacuum to get into the little gaps between the planks. Then wash it using Murphy’s Oil Soap.

See this page: http://www.colgate.com/app/MurphyOilSoap/US/EN/HomePage.cwsp for instructions on how to clean a hardwood floor with the stuff. You should test the Murphy’s on a small, out-of-the-way location first, to be sure it does not discolor the floor.

 If you have a rug or carpet, consider getting rid of it. Bed bugs love to hide in the carpet and along its edges.

If you must keep your carpet, vacuuming, followed by steaming, is a good non-chemical way to clear it of bed bugs.

High temperatures always kill bed bugs. But the standard consumer steamer from Target won’t cut it. In fact, a lot of appliances that call themselves “steamers” are not – they are more like vacuum cleaners that also use hot water to clean.

That’s not what you need to kill bed bugs.

You need a low moisture steamer (also known as a vapor steam cleaner, dry steam vapor cleaner, or simply, a dry steamer), because they leave little residual moisture on surfaces and they produce the levels of heat necessary to bake the bugs. Dry steamers use very little water and leave almost no dampness – if the steamer you are using is leaving your carpets and furniture wet, it’s the wrong kind of steamer. In fact, excessive dampness can lead to mold problems.

The kind of machines I am talking don’t kill bed bugs by dropping hot water on them. They kill them by using a thin vapor of steam to transmit very hot temperatures (200 F or more) through the nozzle or brush attachment. Allergy Buyers Club has a good description of this type of product and how it is different from the standard steamers you might be thinking of: http://www.allergyconsumerreview.com/steam-cleaning.html

Unfortunately, these steamers are pretty damned expensive. So unless you have a few hundred dollars lying around, you’ll have to rent one.

WARNING: Before using the steamer, read the instructions, and take all recommended safety precautions. These things will burn you - badly - if you are not careful.

First, you need to vacuum the carpet thoroughly. Then, get out the steamer.

When steaming, large applicators work best. Small diameter applicators often create a breeze that blows the bugs away. Also, bugs near the small heated area my scurry away, rather than be killed by it. Hold the tip directly over the area being treated. Remember, we want to blast those bugs with super-high heat, and holding the tip farther away means they may not become hot enough to die.

You should move the applicator slowly, about a foot every 10-15 seconds.

Note that even with dry steamers, there will still be some dampness – so use a fan to ventilate the room after you steam the rug and any furniture, in order to dry everything out and avoid mold growth.

 Insider Tip: Getting More Out of Your Steamer

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Michael Potter, entomologist at the University of Kentucky, recommends clipping a small towel (he recommends a small tea towel) to the brush head of the steamer.  This produces vapor so hot that killing temperatures are achieved several inches from the brush head, and that makes covering large areas faster, allows you to kill bugs in hard to reach areas.  You can find more details on his methods here: http://pctonline.com/articles/article.asp?ID=2822&IssueID=226

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