If you’re a property manager or an owner of a multi-family dwelling, there’s a good chance you already know that dealing with the presence of bed bugs can become a major headache. What begins as a problem in a single unit can quickly develop into a much bigger infestation. In order to succeed, conventional insecticide treatments require near-perfect preparation on the part of your tenants. Haphazard preparation and the spray and pray approach will often drive bed bugs into adjoining rooms or neighboring units, potentially creating a building-wide epidemic. Heat treatment can avoid these pitfalls and provide additional benefits as well.
- The need for tenant preparation is greatly reduced when using heat treatment. Since tenants are not experienced bed bug exterminators, the less they have to do, the better.
- The job can be accomplished in just one visit. The rooms are prepped, the heaters are placed, the temperature rises, and goodbye bed bugs.
- By massively reducing the usage of insecticides (which often function as a repellent), the chance of bed bug migration is greatly reduced.
- Bed bugs are becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides. This often results in the need for multiple applications to solve the problem. There is no resistance to heat, so a single heat treatment is much more likely to solve the problem.
- The use of additional heaters allows multiple units to be treated at once.
- K9 inspections can be performed the day after a heat treatment. With most insecticides, there is a waiting period before the dogs can be called in.
- If necessary, residual insecticides can be used to reduce the chances of a tenant causing a new infestation.