Does steam kill bedbugs?
Generally speaking, the answer is no. While steam can be effective at killing eggs if found early enough, it won’t solve a bedbug problem unless all of the bedbug eggs are treated, not to mention all of the living bedbugs.
One of the biggest faults of killing bedbugs with steam as a “do-it-yourself” bedbug solution is finding the bedbugs AND bedbug eggs in order to treat them all. If you miss one or two eggs, the problem will spread easily and you’ll be back to square one!
The best way to kill bedbug eggs starts with finding the bedbug eggs – the best way to find bedbug eggs is a canine home inspection. Learn more about canine inspections & scent detection.
When we talk about do-it-yourself solutions being a bad idea for treating a bedbug infestation, we can’t be impassioned enough. Bedbugs are nearly impossible for the untrained eye to detect, so it’s hard to find them all in order to treat them. If you have found all of the bedbugs in your home, which is a rare in and of itself, determining the right treatment and the right length of time to kill the bedbugs is extremely difficult.
Bob Wilford, President of Presidio Pest Management has been battling Michigan’s growing bedbug problem for years and has seen the cause and effect of do-it-yourself solutions. “Even pest professionals have a hard time solving bedbug problems…that’s why so many pest professionals don’t do it!” Mr. Wilford often cautions his customers when he thinks they might attempt steam or other DIY bedbug control methods.
“The best thing you can do is to call a professional the moment you think you have a bedbug problem. The faster you get an inspection, the more control you’ll have over the problem. If you try a DIY solution, and don’t kill all of the bedbugs, you can quickly send the rest into a frenzy. This puts the bedbugs in survival mode. They’ll travel farther and burrow deeper into your furniture and fabrics to escape your efforts,” says Bob. “When we see bedbugs enter survival mode, the time, effectiveness, and cost to treat them exponentially increases.”
In short, you need to consult a professional and get treatment as soon as possible if you don’t want to have a months- or years-long bedbug problem on your hands.
