Have a 15 bed facility and the exterminator has been chasing them from room to room.

Is getting everyone off site for a day or two, bagging (clothes & belongings) and spraying the whole building the best option?

Thanks

Encapsulate the structure in plastic, and heat it internally to a temp of 120F or so for 12 hours. Kills them ALL.

The absolutely only way to do it properly is to do the whole structure at a single time. Run clothes and sheets thru a dryer on high heat multiple cycles for everything you are taking with you.

They are very difficult to kill because they spend so much time dormant and hidden and they only eat blood. Contact poisons don't reAch them well.

Temperature kills them without fail.

I've heard the same thing mouth said

DDT, but fat chance getting that.

Asking everyone to leave will ensure the bed bugs spread... so there is that...

The DDT ban gets my blood pressure up every time I think about it. Think about all the people who could have been spared malaria and such in 3rd world countries but for shoddy science and the progressives. Likely hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives saved. Thanks again .gov. And this month in the news they banned powdered surgical gloves, which has really been a shot to our daily routine and ability to do our jobs well. Modern powdered gloves don't even contain talc, it's a corn starch derivative but hey let's not use facts to make decisions.

Is or is not DDT dangerous? Asking cause I have no idea.

I don't have any direct experience with them, but en masse like you've got, I'd first find a steam cleaning company and hit every square inch of interior space along with all the furnishings. You might have to toss the mattresses.

There are mattress covers you can buy that are supposed to keep any bedbugs in the mattresses from getting out.

I've thought about getting some to cover the mattresses to keep them from getting into the mattresses if we ever had a problem with them.

All of the mattresses have been sealed in the bed bug proof zipper bags. But we've found a few hiding in chairs, furniture, and pillows.

Care givers and family come and go daily so I doubt moving people off site will increase the spread.

Thanks for the advice... getting a heat treatment company to give me a quote tomorrow.

They love headboards, dresser mirrors and other wall mounted bedroom furnishing. They hide behind them when not feeding.

Someone was telling me that diatomaceous earth was a good, non chemical deterrent. Anyone have any knowledge about that?

It can be. Mostly it suffocates insects by clogging their spicales but it isn't a true pesticide.

I'm sure all you need is vinegar, theives, clove oil and something citrus.

Kidding. I got bit by some at a hotel in Florida, apparently I am fairly sensitive to their bites. Itched like crazy. Good luck.

It is my understanding that DDT is allowed in foreign countries and can be made here in the US, but not used here.
It is harmful to birds (thinning of eggshells) and fish, and IIRC it accumulates (fatty deposits) in the fish. It also has a pretty long half life (2-15 years) so it can stick around in the soil for awhile too.
Dr Boogs, I am curious regarding your comment about the 'shoddy science.' They have classified it as a carcinogen (although a study of workers in a DDT manufacturing facility showed no ill effects) but perhaps it is more likely to affect prematurity at birth or low birth rate? Or do you think that is over cautious?

I think boogs sentiment had more to do with the benefit of DDT outweighing the few, poorly documented ill effects. I'm no expert on the matter but my grandpa used to talk about how "we almost had maleria whipped" before DDT was banned. Would be interested in hearing from an expert.

Well, I am definitely not an expert, but I do like to learn things so when DDT was mentioned I explored a little bit and that was when I read about it still being used in some countries, specifically countries where malaria is prevalent. The World Health Organization even recommends a careful use of it in combination with other methods in places where mortality is high. The problem is that there are apparently insects that are becoming resistant to it Or something along those lines.

Sorry to hijack a thread on bedbugs. FWIW, when my oldest lived in an apartment that had fleas due to an earlier tenant with a dog, the pest control fellow said that thoroughly vacuuming several times a day could help bolster the spray's effect. I don't know if that works quite the same but you might try it?

There will always be some insects that manage to escape death by pesticide.

However, ineffective use of pesticides like antibiotics are what cause resistance.

The vast majority of what you read about DDT in regards to the harm it causes wildlife is true and NOT shoddy science.

Not sure where you are but if in Houston, Austin, San Antonio or surrounding I would try ABC home and commercial services. They use a dog to find the bugs and then heat to kill. Not sure it's the most cost effective however.

Update...

I'm in the DFW area and was quoted between $20-40k by a couple of different companies.

That was out of our price range so after reading your posts and a bunch of other research my exterminator and I came up with a game plan.

We found active bugs in 10 of the rooms plus on furniture in the TV rooms & etc.

We treated the building with a super fine powder, the name escapes me, but it's like an industrial version of DE. Then we started heat treating the rooms beginning with the outer rooms first.

Theory was that the powder will only work if the bugs are in contact with it and the heat will get the bugs moving to cooler rooms and travel through the powder.

We also bagged and stripped all clothes, shoes, everything with Hot Shot Nuvan strips then to the laundry mat to dry after 5 days.

I rigged up my trailer with a plywood wall and ran a duct to a propane heater. We were able to bake all the furniture, beds, wheelchairs, everything at 150 for several hours.

You should've seen all the crunchy bed bugs I had to sweep out of there.

We haven't see any signs of bugs since and it only cost about $6-7k to get it done.

PooDoo said:

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Update...

I'm in the DFW area and was quoted between $20-40k by a couple of different companies.

That was out of our price range so after reading your posts and a bunch of other research my exterminator and I came up with a game plan.

We found active bugs in 10 of the rooms plus on furniture in the TV rooms & etc.

We treated the building with a super fine powder, the name escapes me, but it's like an industrial version of DE. Then we started heat treating the rooms beginning with the outer rooms first.

Theory was that the powder will only work if the bugs are in contact with it and the heat will get the bugs moving to cooler rooms and travel through the powder.

We also bagged and stripped all clothes, shoes, everything with Hot Shot Nuvan strips then to the laundry mat to dry after 5 days.

I rigged up my trailer with a plywood wall and ran a duct to a propane heater. We were able to bake all the furniture, beds, wheelchairs, everything at 150 for several hours.

You should've seen all the crunchy bed bugs I had to sweep out of there.

We haven't see any signs of bugs since and it only cost about $6-7k to get it done.

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