Remove clothing and other items before returning home. Place all items that can be laundered in Green Clean dissolvable bags, wash in hot water, and dry on high heat. Items that cannot be laundered should be carefully inspected and treated with Sterifab or Luggage spray.

Wash bed linens regularly in hot water and dry on high heat. This is also a good time to inspect mattresses and box springs for signs of infestation.

Photo by jdwhitley2nd

Vacuum carpets, cracks and crevices, and all furniture as often as possible. Use a brush attachment or crack and crevice tip to scrape along seams where bed bugs are likely to hide. Be sure to dispose of vacuum bags, or for bagless vacuums clean out with boiling water often.

Caulk all cracks and crevices throughout the house. Pay special attention to baseboards, bed frames, and all other furniture. Sealing cracks and crevices will eliminate many of the potential harborage sites for bed bugs that happen to be accidentally introduced.

Photo by anneh632

Install mattress covers on all mattresses and box springs, either active (which are impregnated with permethrin) or passive (which trap bedbugs inside). These will eliminate any bed bugs already present, and will also reduce the number of in which bed bugs like to hide.