The day you suspect that your home has been invaded by bed bugs, you will usually dread it as you are aware of the difficulty of getting rid of them. Also, there are some people who are extremely sensitive to bites of these crawling, blood sucking insects. In case you are also one of them, the best thing to do is to isolate your bed as a temporary measure until the bed bug removal company arrives. Some people also isolate their beds as a precautionary measure even though a bed bug infestation has not occurred.

What are the benefits of isolating the bed?

The very first obvious benefit is that you will not be bitten by the bed bugs when you sleep on the bed. Because you know that there are bed bugs in your house, you can also control its spread to your bed by isolating it. What’s more, if you are allergic to bed bug bites, it could become a big medical emergency if you do not take measures to isolate your bed.

One other benefit of isolating the bed is that once you deprive the bed bugs from food and nutrition (You are their food and nutrition), these creatures become more susceptible to die when insecticide is used on them. In addition, suffering from bed bug bites can be a harrowing experience that causes you to lose sleep or suffer emotional distress, so by isolating your bed, you can spare yourself from such a mental nightmare.

The main considerations for isolating your bed

Basically, think of the isolation exercise of your bed as a way to create the least amount of “bridges” the bed bugs can access to reach from other parts of the house to your bed. Therefore, you need to create safety barriers at these “bridges” so that you can keep the bed bugs at bay. The other factor you need to consider is how to keep your mattress on your bed as well as other materials such as pillows protected so that it is bed bug free.

Is isolating your bed a foolproof method?

To be honest, the only foolproof method I would consider is to get a bed bug control team into your house to do damage control and eliminate the problem. Therefore, isolating your bed is not a foolproof method. This is because:

• Even after making sure you isolate your bed, the bed bugs can actually infest your ceiling and drop onto your bed form the ceiling.

• When you are sleeping, your blanket or comforter might actually shift and touch the floor, creating a huge “bridge” for the bed bugs to access and join you in your sleep.

• You might actually have a tear in your mattress cover that you did not know about.

• Isolating your bed only works against bed bugs that are not on your bed already, so if you already have these creepy crawlies on your bed already, suffering from bed bug bites is a given.

Tips and tricks for isolating your bed

Even though we have established that this is not a foolproof method, it is still one that will benefit you if those exceptions we have mentioned earlier do not exist. Here are tips and tricks you can use to help you isolate your bed:

• There are encasements used for mattresses that prevent any bed bug inside from coming out. You will need some of them. Some bed bug extermination companies include them in their bids for jobs.

• In case you are going to use old pillows, buy encasements for them. If not, getting new pillows is a good idea.

• It is necessary to buy pillow cases and white sheets as well. In case you want blankets it is always good to buy cotton blankets as they could be washed easily and dried in the drier. Synthetic blankets are not the easiest to wash and dry.

• Bed risers are a must as you need to raise your bed so as to not to allow your bed sheets to touch the floor.

• Tea tree oils or mineral oil which is hated by bed bugs should be at hand to prevent the bed bugs from crawling into your bed from the floor. When you isolate your bed with them bugs will not cross that border. Tea tree oil is the better choice but it is a bit more expensive.

• Duct tape will come in handy to cover any edges that are sharp enough to penetrate the encasement for your mattress.

• Buy some Murphy’s oil soap to clean your furniture. When this is applied on furniture bed bugs will get destroyed. So, your furniture will be free of bed bugs before you even you start the treatment on other areas.

• You will need four bowls of some hard material such as stainless steel or hard plastic in order to fill them with tea tree oil or mineral oil before leaving the legs of your bed on them.

What is your best solution for bed bug control?

Isolating your bed is just a method you can try to reduce the chances of a bed bug infestation but a professional pest company is the real best solution for bed bug control by eliminating the possibility of bed bugs showing up in your house. What’s more, if you are already facing a bed bug infestation, isolating your bed isn’t going to help you win the war against them!