Bed bugs have become increasingly common in homes across the country, and although they don’t pose any serious health problems beyond allergic reactions, they are still nasty pests that should be exterminated. Since bed bugs are notorious for being difficult to find and even harder to kill, many people believe only the strongest chemicals can treat their infestation. However, for families with small children and pets, using harsh chemicals poses an unnecessary health risk.  Rather than worry about the effect that chemicals might have on your family and your home, consider using a heat treatment to kill bed bugs.

Why Chemical Treatments are Bad for Children

According to the CDC, it is particularly dangerous to allow children to reoccupy a home that has had a recent pesticide treatment, especially those that still have wet surfaces or pesticide dust. This is because children tend to put their hands in their mouths and on their faces more often than adults. In a home that has pesticide residue in it, this means they come into more contact with chemicals than adults. Children also breathe a greater volume of air per their body weight than adults which increases their intake of left over pesticide residue and can cause serious health complications. The EPA also states that the use of chemical-based pesticides should be a last choice to remove bed bugs from a home with children.

In order to avoid unnecessary contact with pesticide residue, there are many alternatives you can take to exterminate bed bugs in your home.  Of these alternative treatments, one of the most effective is heat treatment.  Heat treatment is a very effective way to  exterminate bed bugs in your home because the dry electronic heat used kills all life cycles of a bed bug.  This, paired with the high levels of heat and duration of exposure, help ensure all bugs are killed within your home.

The Heat Treatment Process

At Greenleaf Pest Control, we use a process called Thermal Remediation to safely exterminate the bed bugs in your home. The process utilizes specialized machines that emit and control high levels of heat in your home to exterminate bed bugs.  The heat treatment process begins by bringing your home to 45 – 55 degrees Celsius in order to create an environment where bed bugs can’t survive.  We then leave the heat at this level for a duration of time depending on the size of your home in order to ensure that all bed bugs are either dead or have fled the premises.  Once the heat treatment is completed, we will perform an inspection of your home to ensure no bed bugs or their eggs remain that may cause another infestation. Thermal Remediation is not only safer than chemical-based treatments, it is also faster to set up and more effective.  This is because you can leave most of your belongings in place during the treatment process. Includes furniture, books, televisions, bedding, and clothes.

In order to exterminate bed bugs from your home, professional pest control services must be utilized.  However, using chemicals in your home can be unsafe for you and your family.  At Greenleaf Pest Control, we utilize a controlled heat treatment called Thermal Remediation that provides a safe and reliable extermination of bed bugs in your home.  Through our experience and heat technology, we can assure you that no bed bugs or eggs will remain that can cause another infestation in your home.

About the Author:

Daniel Mackie, owner of Greenleaf Pest Control, is a Toronto pest control expert well-known as an industry go-to guy, an innovator of safe, effective pest control solutions, and is a regular guest on HGTV. Mackie, along with business partner Sandy Costa, were the first pest control professionals in Canada to use detection dogs and thermal remediation for the successful eradication of bed bugs. In his free time, he is an avid gardener.