You’ve probably heard the phrase “sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite,” before, right? For most, it’s just a cute little rhyme to send their kids off to sleep with but the truth of the matter is that bed bugs are real and unless you take proper precautions you won’t actually have much of a say in the matter of whether or not they bite you.
The good news is that keeping the bed bugs out of your nighttime routine isn’t that difficult. Today we will be going over how you can eliminate bed bugs using a steam cleaner!
First, What Are Bed Bugs?
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Good question! Bed bugs are tiny insects that feed exclusively on your blood. You won’t usually be able to see them (as they are great at hiding) or feel them, but if they start paying you visits you will probably realize it pretty quickly.
There are plenty of reasons to take a bed bug infestation seriously. They cause skin irritation as well as a number of other adverse side effects. While they are not known to spread to disease, they also definitely aren’t good for your health either.
The reason to eliminate bed bugs from your home and life is pretty straightforward. They are gross, creepy, and just plain bad for you.
Ok, but What do Steam Cleaners Have to do with it?
Another good question. Let’s first start by going over what a steam cleaner is. A steam cleaner is a tool that uses applies a lot of heat to water to create, you guessed it, steam.
The steam can be used to lift dirt and sanitize just about any surface in your home, including your mattress.
That brings us to our point of the day. A steam cleaner applied properly to the surface of your mattress is able to kill bugs without issue.
How To Eliminate Bed Bugs Using Steam
We will now illustrate exactly how steam kills bed bugs.
How to Do It?
Below you will find a few simple steps to rid your bed of bed bugs using steam.
Prepare the Steam Cleaner
Before you do anything else you are going to need to prepare the steam cleaner. Fortunately, this is very easily done. Preparing a steam cleaner essentially only requires filling its tank with water, and allowing it the time to heat up.
Since steam cleaners are all natural you won’t need to worry about using any extra chemicals or solutions either. You can get everything that you need right from the faucet!
Vacuum
For the steam cleaner to work best you are going to first want to vacuum the surface of your bed, as well as the carpet around it. Doing so will make the threads of your mattress a little bit more susceptible to the steam so that you will be able to kill more bugs!
Safety First
When properly used steam cleaners definitely are not dangerous but do keep in mind that they utilize very high temperatures. That being the case there are some simple safety precautions to consider before you get started.
First and foremost you will want to make sure that your clothes do well to cover your arms and legs. You will also want to wear protective gloves and consider keeping protective eyewear such as goggles nearby.
While eye injuries are not typical of steam cleaners when excessive steam builds up irritation can occur.
Once you have made sure that all areas of your body that are vulnerable to steam exposure have been covered you can move on to actually use the steam cleaner!
Steam Away
For this portion of the treatment process, you will actually want to steam everything within an eight-foot radius of your bed. While bed bugs concentrate on your mattress while you sleep they can actually be found just about anywhere in a home, so do your best to be thorough.
The general rule of thumb when using a steam cleaner is to move slowly, but not to allow the head to linger in any one spot. For best results, allow the nozzle to move about an inch a second.
It is worth noting that you may need to steam your home several times before all the bed bugs have been killed.
It is also worth noting that often times a second chemical treatment is also required.
Vacuum One More Time
Finally, you are going to want to vacuum around your home one final time. Why? Because while steam cleaners are great at killing bugs they aren’t so good at disposing of their bodies.
Unless you want your home to be littered with bed bug carcasses and eggs, you are going to want to vacuum very thoroughly once you conclude your treatment.
And that’s it! While the process might sound a little bit lengthy, it is still one of the easiest and most effective ways to take care of an infestation!
Conclusion
As you can see, steam cleaners a are a really great and simple way to keep your bed free of bed bugs. That said I think I can probably guess what a lot of you are thinking. “Yeah, the steam cleaner sounds alright at killing bed bugs, but do I really need to buy a new appliance just for this job?”
The answer is no. You don’t have to buy a steam cleaner to kill bed bugs, even if it is a really great method of doing it. There are other ways to get the job done, but those other ways don’t leave you with a tool as versatile as the steam cleaners.
Not only can steam cleaners be used to kill bed bugs, but they can also be used to clean tiles, car interiors, carpets curtains, and grills. You can also use them on bathtubs or even to quickly and effortlessly remove wallpaper.
When you buy a steam cleaner you aren’t just getting a tool that is great for killing bed bugs. You are getting an appliance that will empower you to clean just about every room of your house.
