Bed bugs are one of the hardest household pests to get rid of, but it can be done. What works is a combination: heat for everything that can go in a dryer, steam and vacuuming for the bed and furniture, mattress encasements and traps, and treatment that reaches the cracks where bed bugs hide, repeated until the eggs have hatched and died. What doesn't work is the thing most people try first: a bug bomb or a store-bought spray. This guide covers what the research shows, step by step, how to tell whether you can handle it yourself, and how to know when they're really gone.
To get rid of bed bugs: keep sleeping where you are, dry bedding and clothes on high heat for 30 minutes, steam and vacuum the mattress, bed frame and furniture, put encasements on the mattress and box spring, set interceptor traps under the bed legs, and treat cracks and crevices. Check every few days and repeat, because eggs survive many treatments.
Don't: set off bug bombs (Ohio State researchers found bed bugs showed "little, if any" effect), sleep on the couch (you can spread them), or throw out your bed before treating. A small, early infestation can sometimes be handled yourself. A larger one usually needs a professional.
First, Make Sure It's Bed Bugs
Bites alone can't confirm bed bugs, because many things cause itchy red bumps. Look for the bugs themselves or for the signs they leave:
- Black or rust-colored spots on mattress seams, the bed frame, the headboard or the box spring. These are droppings of digested blood.
- Live bugs, shed skins or tiny pale eggs in seams, folds and screw holes.
- Small blood smears on sheets.
Inspect slowly with a bright flashlight. On a YouTube video about getting rid of bed bugs, one commenter who'd been through it warned that you can miss the signs if you move your eyes too quickly. EPA notes that your local extension office can identify a sample for free. If you're still not sure, see how to identify bed bug bites.
Why Bed Bugs Are So Hard to Get Rid Of
- The eggs. A Virginia Tech study found about a third of an infestation is eggs at any moment, and that a population can double about every 13 days. Most sprays don't kill eggs, which is why treatments need repeating as they hatch.
- Resistance. When Rutgers researchers tested 13 bed bug populations from around the US in 2023, 7 were more than 160 times more resistant to deltamethrin, a common pyrethroid insecticide, than a lab strain. Pyrethroids are the main ingredient in most store-bought bug sprays and foggers.
- They can wait. In a 2015 Rutgers study, bed bugs in an empty apartment were still found alive up to 134 days later. Leaving home for a few weeks won't starve them.
- They move. The same study found bed bugs moving through apartments and into neighboring units.
- They hide. Seams, screw holes, behind headboards, behind outlet covers, in furniture joints and in clutter.
How to Get Rid of Bed Bugs, Step by Step
1. Don't move to another room
It's tempting to sleep on the couch, but bed bugs follow people, and you may start a second infestation. On Reddit (via Google search excerpts), a common answer in r/Bedbugs is to "keep living and sleeping exactly as you are," so the bugs keep coming to the one spot you're treating and trapping.
2. Heat everything that can go in the dryer
The dryer is your best tool. Research cited by Texas A&M and Cornell found:
| Method | Result |
|---|---|
| Dryer on hot, 30 minutes (about a 7 lb load) | Killed all stages, including eggs |
| Dryer on hot, only 10 minutes | Missed some: about 75% of nymphs and 85% of adults died |
| Washing at 140°F for 30 minutes | Killed all stages |
| Washing at 104°F (warm) | Killed adults and nymphs but only 25% of eggs |
| Soaking in cold water for 24 hours | Killed adults and nymphs but no eggs |
Don't overfill the dryer, because a packed drum never heats all the way through. A popular tip in the comments under Home Depot's bed bug video was to dry items before washing them, so the first thing they go through kills the bugs. Carry infested items to the machine in sealed plastic bags, and put clean items into new bags.
For things that can't go in a dryer, EPA says a freezer works only if it's at 0°F, with items sealed in a bag for three days. Check the temperature with a thermometer, because many home freezers aren't that cold.
3. Steam and vacuum the bed and furniture
EPA says steam cleaners can treat mattresses, bed frames, baseboards, carpet and furniture, but the steam must be at least 130°F, with gentle airflow (use a diffuser) so you don't blow the bugs away. Steam was the method mentioned most often in Reddit success stories (via Google search excerpts), usually together with laundry and encasements. Vacuum seams, cracks and carpet edges, then seal the vacuum bag and put it in an outdoor trash can right away, as EPA advises.
4. Encase the mattress and box spring
EPA recommends covers that seal mattresses and box springs, so any bed bugs inside are trapped and die. Encasements also give bed bugs fewer places to hide and make new ones easier to spot. Keep them on long after treatment, since bed bugs can survive months without feeding.
5. Isolate the bed and set traps
Pull the bed a few inches away from the wall, keep bedding off the floor, and put interceptor traps (cups that catch bugs climbing up the bed legs) under each leg. In a Rutgers field study, interceptors alone eliminated half of low-level infestations within 16 weeks. They're also how you tell whether treatment is working. Note that EPA says ordinary sticky traps "are not for bed bugs," even though they're often recommended online.
6. Reduce clutter
EPA says how much clutter you have is one of the factors that decides whether you'll succeed. Clutter gives bed bugs places to hide and makes treatment harder. Bag items as you clear them and heat-treat what you can. EPA notes that sealed bags of items may need to stay closed up to a year to make sure anything inside is dead.
7. Treat the cracks and crevices
EPA says to use only products registered for bed bugs, with bed bugs on the label. Silica-based dusts are one of the most effective options. In the Rutgers resistance study, a 5-minute exposure to an amorphous silica dust (CimeXa) killed more than 95% of bed bugs from every population tested. Be careful with diatomaceous earth: a 2024 study found pest-control-grade DE worked, but DE bought at a supermarket and DE sold as litter conditioner didn't. Apply dusts lightly in cracks, along baseboards and in bed frame joints, not in piles on the floor, and follow the label.
8. Check every few days, and repeat
EPA says to look for signs every few days after treatment. If you find bed bugs, either some were missed or eggs have hatched, and you'll need to treat again. Plan on weeks, not days. EPA says treatment "can take weeks to months, depending on the extent of the infestation."
What Doesn't Work
| Method | Why it fails |
|---|---|
| Bug bombs (foggers) | Ohio State researchers found field-collected bed bugs showed "little, if any" effect after 2 hours of direct exposure. Even easy-to-kill lab bed bugs survived under a thin cloth. EPA says foggers won't reach the cracks where bed bugs hide |
| Store-bought pyrethroid sprays | Many bed bugs are now highly resistant to them (Rutgers, 2023) |
| Space heaters, the thermostat or a fireplace | EPA: "this does not work and is dangerous" |
| Rubbing alcohol | A fire risk, and it doesn't kill most bed bugs or their eggs. See does rubbing alcohol kill bed bugs |
| Vinegar | No published test shows it works. See can vinegar kill bed bugs |
| Baking soda | Ineffective in a 2024 lab study. See does baking powder kill bed bugs |
| Throwing out the bed | The bugs are also in the frame, furniture and walls. EPA says not to throw furniture away if you can safely get the bugs out of it |
| Leaving home for a few weeks | Bed bugs survived up to 134 days without a host (Rutgers, 2015) |
If you do throw something out, EPA says to destroy it or mark it "Bed Bugs" so nobody else takes it home, and get it picked up quickly.
The mistakes people regret show up again and again on Reddit (via Google search excerpts). One r/Bedbugs reply told a poster that getting rid of their bed and mattress and using bug bombs "probably put you in a worse situation." On Quora (via Google search excerpts), one top answer described "a 4 yr battle with bedbugs using bedbug sprays, alcohol, and other household insecticides."
Can You Get Rid of Bed Bugs Yourself?
Sometimes. EPA says your chances depend on how many bed bugs you have, how much clutter there is, whether your neighbors have them, and whether everyone in the home helps. The field research points the same way:
- DIY has a real chance if you caught it early, it's limited to one bed or room, you live in a house rather than an apartment, and you're willing to keep doing laundry, steaming, encasements and traps for weeks.
- Call a professional if bugs are in several rooms or furniture, you live in an apartment or condo (they move between units), you're still finding bugs after a few weeks of DIY, or someone in the home is elderly, disabled or can't help with the preparation.
DIY is hard to sustain. On YouTube, a commenter under a TED-Ed video on bed bugs described a fight that took "multiple months, at least three exterminator visits, and replacing a mattress." Others described going days without proper sleep.
What Professional Treatment Involves
Professionals usually use one of two approaches, often combined:
- Heat treatment: heaters bring a room or whole home up to temperature while sensors confirm every hiding spot gets hot enough. University of Minnesota research found eggs need a higher temperature than adults (about 130°F versus 119°F) and much longer at lower temperatures, which is why the whole room has to reach temperature, not just the middle. Heat can work in a day but leaves nothing behind to kill bugs that come back.
- Chemical treatment: products applied to cracks, crevices, furniture and baseboards, usually with follow-up visits, often about two weeks apart, to catch bugs hatching from eggs.
How long it takes and what it costs depend on how widespread the infestation is. See how long bed bug extermination takes, how much bed bug treatment costs and what to do before the exterminator comes. Renting? See whether your landlord has to pay. Our bed bug control service covers South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
How to Know They're Really Gone
Don't call it done after a few quiet nights. In Rutgers field studies, researchers only counted an infestation as eliminated after interceptor traps caught nothing for 8 weeks in a row and no bugs were found on inspection. Keep the traps and encasements in place and keep checking.
Then clean up. Bed bug droppings contain histamine, a compound that triggers allergic reactions, and a 2025 study found it didn't break down on its own over 9 months. The most effective cleanup methods were bleach, hydrogen peroxide and a laundry cycle on fabric, and a multi-purpose cleaner, bleach or peroxide with hard scrubbing on wood. Test bleach and peroxide on a hidden spot first.
To keep from bringing them home again, see our travel checklist.
Key Takeaways
- Confirm it first: look for bugs, eggs and black spots, not just bites.
- Keep sleeping in your bed. Moving rooms can spread them.
- Dryer on hot for 30 minutes kills all stages. A cold soak kills no eggs.
- Steam, vacuum, encase and trap, then treat cracks with a product labeled for bed bugs.
- No bug bombs. Bed bugs barely react to them, and many resist store sprays.
- Repeat for weeks, and call a professional for larger infestations or apartments.
- Gone means 8 weeks of empty traps, then clean up the droppings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Direct heat and steam. EPA says steam at 130 degrees Fahrenheit or more, applied with gentle airflow, kills bed bugs in fabrics and cracks, and a dryer on hot for 30 minutes kills every stage, including eggs. Contact sprays can kill the bugs you hit, but they miss the ones in hiding and most eggs, so instant kills alone won't end an infestation.
For items that fit in a dryer, 30 minutes on hot with a normal-size load killed all stages in research cited by Texas A&M and Cornell. Washing at 140 degrees for 30 minutes also killed everything. For a whole home, a professional heat treatment that brings every hiding spot up to temperature, or repeated professional treatment, is the most reliable.
Sometimes, if you catch it early, it's limited to one room, and you keep up laundry, steaming, encasements and traps for weeks. EPA says success depends on how many bugs you have, clutter, whether neighbors have them, and whether everyone in the home helps. Apartments and widespread infestations usually need a professional.
A professional heat treatment can kill bed bugs in a home in about a day if every hiding spot reaches a lethal temperature. DIY methods and chemical treatments take weeks, because eggs that survive the first round hatch later and need another treatment.
Wash and dry your clothes and bedding on high heat, check your bags, and don't move to another room or a friend's place, which can spread them. Keep sleeping in your own bed while you treat it, so the bugs keep coming to one place where you're trapping and treating them.
Bed bugs are drawn to people, mainly by the carbon dioxide we breathe out and our body heat. That's why the person in the bed is the best lure, and why interceptor traps under the bed legs catch them on their way to and from you. Commercial monitors use carbon dioxide or heat for the same reason.
Yes. Bed bugs can crawl up walls, wood and fabric, which is why they can reach a bed from cracks and outlets nearby. They have trouble climbing smooth, polished surfaces, which is how interceptor traps work: bugs fall into the smooth cup and can't climb out.
They usually arrive on people's belongings: luggage after travel, used furniture and mattresses, clothing, or visitors. In apartments they also move between units. A Rutgers study found bed bugs moving into neighboring apartments within weeks. Having them isn't a sign of a dirty home.
Longer than most people think. In a 2015 Rutgers study, bed bugs in an empty apartment were still found alive up to 134 days later. Leaving home for a few weeks won't starve them out.
Sources: U.S. EPA, "Do-it-yourself Bed Bug Control"; Purdue University Extension Entomology, "Control Strategies for Bed Bugs"; S. C. Jones & J. L. Bryant, "Ineffectiveness of over-the-counter total-release foggers against the bed bug," Journal of Economic Entomology (2012); J. J. Yu, S. Ranabhat & C. Wang, "Insecticide Resistance of Cimex lectularius L. Populations and the Performance of Selected Neonicotinoid-Pyrethroid Mixture Sprays and an Inorganic Dust," Insects 14 (2023); R. Cooper, C. Wang & N. Singh, "Mark-Release-Recapture Reveals Extensive Movement of Bed Bugs within and between Apartments," PLoS One (2015); R. Cooper, C. Wang & N. Singh, bed bug elimination with interceptors, Journal of Economic Entomology (2016); A. Polanco, C. Brewster & D. Miller, bed bug population growth, Insects 2 (2011); R. Naylor & C. Boase, "Practical Solutions for Treating Laundry Infested with Cimex lectularius," Journal of Economic Entomology (2010), via Texas A&M AgriLife and Cornell; S. Kells & M. Goblirsch, bed bug thermal death, Insects 2 (2011); A. Oumarou et al., dust efficacy against bed bugs, Parasite 31 (2024); S. Principato & Z. DeVries, "Effects of aging and cleaning on bed bug-derived histamine," Journal of Medical Entomology (2025); Reddit r/Bedbugs and r/lifehacks (via Google search excerpts); Quora (via Google search excerpts); YouTube comments under bed bug videos from The Home Depot, TED-Ed and Solutions Pest & Lawn.
Photo credits: CDC / Harvard University, Dr. Gary Alpert, Public domain; New York State IPM Program at Cornell University, CC BY 2.0; via Wikimedia Commons.