What to Do If You Have a Bed Bug Infestation

Finding bed bugs is unpleasant, and the natural reaction is to do something drastic straight away. Most drastic things make the job bigger. This is the order that works.

Step One: Make Sure It Is Bed Bugs

Bites alone will not tell you. Plenty of things cause itchy marks, and some people do not react to bed bug bites at all.

Look for something physical instead. Strip the bed, take a torch, and check the mattress seams, the corners of the bed frame and the back of the headboard. You are looking for dark spotting like dots from a pen, pale shed skins, tiny pale eggs, or the insects themselves.

If you find an insect, catch it on clear sticky tape or in a sealed bag, or take a clear photo. Our guide to bed bug identification shows what you are comparing it against, and a pest inspection is the answer if you are still unsure.

Step Two: What to Do Tonight

• Sleep in your own bed. Bed bugs home in on a sleeping person. If you move, they follow, and a second room gets involved.
• Pull the bed away from the wall and keep bedding from trailing on the floor, so the frame is the only way up.
• Bag the bedding in the room, carry it to the machine sealed, wash it hot and tumble-dry it hot.
• Keep things in the room. Do not carry pillows, cushions, bags or clothes from that room into the rest of the house unless they are sealed.
• Vacuum around the bed if you like, then seal the bag or empty the canister outside straight away.

Step Three: What Not to Do

These are the mistakes we see most, and each one has a reason behind it.

• Do not throw the mattress out. The insects are in the frame, the headboard and the room as well. Dragging a mattress through the house and down the stairs sheds them along the way.
• Do not set off a bug bomb or fogger. The mist settles on open surfaces and misses the cracks where bed bugs actually live. It can also drive them further into the walls and furniture.
• Do not spray everything with a shop product. It rarely reaches the harbourage, and some residues interfere with a professional treatment afterwards. Tell us if you have already used something.
• Do not move out for a few nights. They can survive a long time without feeding, and you risk taking some with you.
• Do not give furniture away. Passing on an infested chair or bed frame just moves the problem to someone else.

Step Four: Tell the People Who Need to Know

If you rent, tell your landlord or letting agent early. Who arranges and pays for treatment depends on your tenancy, and it is much easier to sort out before the problem spreads.

In a flat or a shared house, bed bugs can move between neighbouring rooms and properties through gaps around pipes, cables and floorboards. A quiet word with neighbours means everyone can check at once, which saves treating the same building twice.

If you have recently stayed away, had guests, or brought in second-hand furniture, it is worth thinking about where they came from. Our post on the main cause of bed bugs covers the usual routes.

Step Five: Get It Treated and Prepare Properly

Bed bugs need treatment in the places they hide, which means an inspection, a treatment of the harbourage in every affected room, and often a follow-up to deal with eggs that hatch afterwards. Our bed bug control service page explains the process.

The price is £220 for the first room, plus £80 for each additional room, with no call-out fee. We confirm the room count and the total before anything is booked, and the bed bug treatment cost guide explains how the rooms are decided.

When you book, you get a preparation list for your rooms. It usually means stripping and hot-washing the bedding, clearing the floor and the area around the bed, and making the bed frame and skirting reachable. Doing that properly makes a real difference to how well the treatment works.

We also tell you what is being used, where, and when the rooms can be used again, and what to do about any pets. Follow those instructions; for anything about a pet's health, ask your vet. Our post on pets and family around treatments goes into more detail.

Step Six: After Treatment

• Keep sleeping in the treated room unless we tell you otherwise.
• Do not steam-clean, shampoo or wipe down the treated areas until we say it is fine.
• Expect to see the odd bed bug for a while; eggs keep hatching after the first visit.
• Keep a simple note of what you find and when, so the follow-up is based on facts.

Our treatments are guaranteed, on these terms: if the problem comes back within 14 days of treatment, we return and re-treat free of charge. If you are worried about the strain of it all, our post on the psychological effects of bed bugs may help.