Can I get rid of bed bugs without an exterminator?

The longer bed bugs have been around, the less likely DIY alone is to clear them. That is not what you want to hear when money is tight. But what you do yourself makes a real difference. It shrinks the problem, protects your sleep, stops them spreading, and cuts what a professional has to do, which can cut the cost too.

What helps

1. Heat your fabrics. Bag bedding and clothes in the room, then hot wash and tumble dry on the hottest setting each care label allows. The dryer does most of the work.
2. Encase the mattress and base in zipped covers made for bed bugs. Keep them closed for as long as the maker advises.
3. Fit interceptors under each bed leg, pull the bed away from the wall and keep the bedding off the floor.
4. Clear around the bed. Bag clutter in the room and keep the bags sealed. Do not carry things to other rooms unbagged.
5. Hoover slowly along seams, the bed frame, skirting and carpet edges. Empty the hoover into a sealed bag and put it in an outside bin.
6. Steam carefully, if you have a steamer. Slow passes along seams and frame joints help on the surface. Steam does not reach deep, so it supports treatment rather than replacing it. Keep it away from sockets and electrics.
7. Track it. Check the interceptors weekly and write down what you find. That tells you, and any professional later, whether it is shrinking.

What makes it worse

• Foggers and bug bombs. The mist does not reach the seams and cracks where bed bugs hide. It can scatter them into other rooms and leaves residue everywhere.
• Sleeping in another room. Bed bugs follow the person, so moving to the sofa can start a second problem. Stay in your encased bed.
• Spraying the bed with general insect spray. Many household sprays are not made for mattresses, and common household sprays often fail against bed bugs. Use only products whose label covers bed bugs and beds.
• Throwing furniture out unwrapped. It can spread bugs on the way out, or to whoever picks it up.

About diatomaceous earth

It is often sold as a harmless natural powder that kills everything. Neither part is quite true. It is a fine dust that dries out insects that crawl through it, and it works slowly. It only works as a very thin layer in cracks where bugs actually walk, not as heaps on the carpet.

Puffed around a bedroom, the dust can irritate lungs, which matters if you have asthma. If you use it, choose a product labelled for insects, never the pool-filter kind, and follow the label. Our page on whether diatomaceous earth is safe goes further.

Asthma, a baby, a pregnancy or pets: skip dusts and sprays at home. Heat, encasements, interceptors and hoovering are your tools. For any insecticide, follow the label, check the product is allowed where you live, and keep it away from children and pets. Our safety page has more.

Where to look for lower-cost help

• If you rent, tell your landlord in writing with photos and dates. In many places they share responsibility. Our page on who pays for bed bugs in a rental explains the usual pattern and who to ask.
• Your council or local authority. Some treat bed bugs, some charge less for people on low incomes, and some do not treat at all. If yours does not, ask whether they can point you to local services.
• A housing association or social landlord, if that is who you rent from.
• Advice services such as Citizens Advice in the UK, or your local tenancy board or housing authority elsewhere, if a landlord will not act.
• More than one written quote. Compare how many visits, the follow-up, the prep you must do and what happens if they come back. Our page on heat treatment costs explains why quotes vary so much.

Doing the DIY steps first helps here too. Bagged, washed and decluttered rooms are quicker to treat, and some companies will tell you so when they quote.