Can dry cleaning kill bed bugs? A Quick Guide

Bed bugs are a nightmare for anyone who finds them in their home. When people find bed bugs in their homes, one question they often ask is: “Can dry cleaning kill bed bugs?”

Bed bugs are small insects that hide in the seams of your mattress, in furniture, even in your clothes or anywhere people sleep or stay for a long time. They bite at night and can be really annoying to deal with.

If you find bed bugs, it’s really important to do something quickly before they spread even more. Noticing bed bugs early helps you stop them from taking over your home or other places. Once they’ve made their way in, it can be incredibly hard to get rid of them.

One of the questions that often comes up is: Does dry cleaning eliminate bed bugs? Let’s explore the answer to this question step by step

What Are Bed Bugs and Why Are They So Tough to Get Rid Of?

To understand how to get rid of bed bugs, we first need to know what makes them so difficult to handle.

What actually The Bed Bugs Are?

Bed bugs are small, flat insects that feed on human blood, usually at night. They can hide in the tiniest of spaces, and they reproduce quickly. A female bed bug can lay hundreds of eggs during her lifetime, which is why a small infestation can turn into a large one in no time.

Bed Bugs Survival Temperature

Before figuring out how to get rid of bed bugs, it’s important to know how they survive. Bed bugs can live in really cold places, or even in hot temperatures up to about 122°F (50°C). However, they can’t handle very hot temperatures for long and will die if it gets too hot. This is why it’s really important to take care of your clothes properly if they get bed bugs on them. If you don’t treat them the right way, you might accidentally bring bed bugs bugs back into your home on your clothes.”

Why Bed Bugs are So Hard To Eliminate?

The key reason bed bugs are so hard to eliminate is their resilience. They can go months without feeding, hide in cracks, and are often resistant to over-the-counter treatments. To make matters worse, they can lay eggs that are tough to destroy. This is why many people seek professional solutions, including dry cleaning, when they discover bed bugs in their clothes or home.

What are the signs of a bed bug infestation?

Bed bugs are little bugs that can cause a lot of trouble, so it’s important to know the signs they’ve moved in and take action right away. Here’s how you can tell if bed bugs are in your home:

1. Bite marks: Bed bugs bite at night because they feed on your blood. Their bites often show up as red, itchy bumps, usually in a line or a group on your skin.
2. Bloodstains on bedding: If you see tiny bloodstains on your sheets or pillowcases, it might mean that bed bugs have been feeding on you while you sleep.
3. Dark spots on bedding or furniture: Bed bugs leave behind little dark spots, like tiny black or brown dots, on your sheets, mattress, or furniture. These spots are their poop!
4. Musty smell: Bed bugs give off a bad smell, kind of like old, musty clothes. If your room or bed has a strange smell, bed bugs could be the reason.
5. Seeing bed bugs or eggs: If you spot small, flat bugs about the size of an apple seed, those are adult bed bugs. You might also see their tiny eggs, which are hard to spot but usually found in the seams of mattresses, in furniture cracks, or behind wallpaper.

Since bed bugs are great at hiding, it’s really important to check your house carefully if you think they’re there. If you find any of these signs, it’s best to call a professional to help get rid of them.

Can Dry Cleaning Kill Bed Bugs?

Dry cleaning is often thought of as a solution to many fabric-related issues, but does it work on bed bugs? The short answer is yes, it can help, but it’s not a 100% guaranteed fix for every scenario.

To understand if dry cleaning can help get rid of bed bugs, it’s important to know how dry cleaning works. Dry cleaning doesn’t use water like a washing machine. Instead, it uses special chemicals and heat for garment sanitization

How Dry Cleaning Works?

Dry cleaning is a way to clean clothes and fabrics without using water. Instead of water, it uses a special liquid called perchloroethylene (for short called “perc”) to get rid of dirt and stains. The clothes are put inside a machine that looks like a regular washing machine, but instead of using water, it sprays the special cleaning liquid (the solvent) onto the clothes.

As the machine spins and tumbles the clothes around, the solvent breaks up dirt and stains, separating them from the fabric. After the cleaning is done, the clothes go through a drying cycle in the same machine to make sure no liquid is left on them. Now the clothes are clean and dry!

Dry Cleaning vs Bed Bugs: Can They Survive?

No, Bed bugs can’t survive the dry cleaning process. Professional dry cleaning uses two main ways to fight bed bugs: high-temperature cleaning and chemical treatment. First, they use a special chemical called PERC (perchloroethylene), which is really good at killing bugs.

Dry Cleaning Process

During dry cleaning, clothes and bed sheets are heated up to around 135-140°F (55-60°C), well above the lethal temperature for bed bugs, which eliminates most of the Bed Bugs including their eggs, adults’ & baby bugs.

Dry Cleaning Chemicals

The chemicals used in dry cleaning, like “PERC”, are also very strong and poisonous to bed bugs, so they can’t survive that either. The heat and chemicals together make sure bed bugs are completely wiped out from clothes and fabrics.

But, not all things can be dry cleaned, so it’s important to check the label on your clothes or ask a dry cleaner if your item is safe for dry cleaning.

Professional Dry Cleaning vs. Home Treatment for Bed Bugs

Washing clothes at home can help with bed bugs, but getting them cleaned by professionals is usually better. Experts know more about how to get rid of bed bugs, and research shows that professional cleaning works really well. Let’s see why it’s often the best choice!

Dry Cleaning Temperatures For Bed Bugs

Professional dry cleaners are really good at getting rid of bed bugs because they control the temperature very carefully. Home dryers usually get up to 120°F, but the special machines at professional cleaners get even hotter—135°F to 145°F! This high-temperature cleaning is strong enough to kill bed bugs at every stage of their life.

Specialized Handling Protocols

Professional facilities follow strict laundry bed bug protocols to make sure bed bugs don’t spread to other clothes. These rules include:

• Putting any clothes with bed bugs in sealed bags right away.
• Cleaning the bed bug infested clothes in their own special areas, so they don’t touch other clothes.
• Storing the clothes in special places before and after cleaning.
• Carefully checking the clothes with special tools to make sure no bed bugs are left.

Chemical Treatment Advantage

Professional dry cleaning is extra good at getting rid of bed bugs because it uses two powerful things together: heat and a special chemical called PERC. The heat kills the bugs, and the PERC goes deep into the fabric, reaching places where bed bugs might hide. When they use both, it works really well—about 98% of the time, the bed bugs are gone.

Expert Textile Management

Professional cleaners know that different types of fabrics need different kinds of care. They are experts at making sure the bed bugs are gone, but they also protect your clothes from getting ruined. This is especially important for things like:

• Expensive designer clothes
• Delicate fabrics like silk
• Clothes that can’t be washed
• Clothes with a special shape or structure
• Leather and suede items

They make sure your clothes are safe while getting rid of the bugs!

Cost-Effectiveness

At first, professional cleaning might seem more expensive, but it can actually save you money in the long run. For example, if your clothes get bed bugs, it could cost over $800 to replace them. But getting them professionally cleaned usually only costs between $30 and $75 per load, with with guaranteed results.

Bed Bug Eggs and Dry Cleaning

While dry cleaning is great at eliminating adult bed bugs, it’s less effective at killing bed bug eggs. Bed bug eggs have a tough outer shell that protects them from many treatments. This means that even if your clothes or bedding go through the dry-cleaning process, it’s possible that some eggs will survive.

The problem with surviving eggs is that they can hatch later and restart the infestation. So, even if you dry clean your clothes, it might not completely solve the issue if eggs are left behind. For this reason, many experts recommend combining dry cleaning with other treatments, like professional heat treatments, to ensure that both bed bugs and their eggs are completely eradicated.

Does Dry Cleaning Kill Dust Mites?

Dust mites are tiny bugs that are too small to see, and they like to live in your bed, carpets, and furniture. They feed on dead skin cells that we shed, which is why they’re found in places we use a lot, like our beds and couches.

Dry cleaning can help get rid of some dust mites because it uses special chemicals and heat. But dust mites are strong little creatures, so not all of them will be killed during dry cleaning. Some might still survive the process.

A better way to kill dust mites is by washing your clothes and bedding in hot water and drying them on high heat. You can also vacuum your home often and keep things tidy so dust mites don’t have as much of a place to live.

Which Laundry Detergent Kills Bed Bugs?

People have different opinions about which laundry detergent kills bed bugs, but here’s the general idea. If you wash your clothes on a hot cycle ( keeping in the temperature measure as mention on the labels of your cloths) and use detergent, it will usually be enough to eliminate bed bugs. But there’s a catch: the wash needs to be hot enough, long enough, and the detergent has to actually touch the bed bugs and their eggs.

According to a research which is conducted in co-operation with Hamilton-Thermal Pest Control, scientist form the University of Minnesota, found that bed bugs can’t survive if the temperature gets to 118°F (48°C). They die in just 20 minutes when it’s that hot!

Dry cleaning works too, but most people can’t do that at home. So, it really comes down to the detergent. Even regular dish soap can work, as long as it reaches the bed bugs!

Why Dry Cleaning Can’t Solve Everything

While dry cleaning can help with clothes, sheets, and some fabrics, it won’t solve a larger infestation in your home. Bed bugs don’t just live in fabrics; they also hide in furniture, wall cracks, baseboards, and even electrical outlets. You might dry clean your clothes and bedding, but if bed bugs are living in your mattress or other furniture, they will come back.

If you have a full-blown infestation, dry cleaning alone won’t be enough. You’ll need to treat the rest of your home. Pest control professionals often use methods like heat treatments, which raise the temperature of your entire house to a level that kills both bed bugs and their eggs. This kind of treatment is usually more effective than relying solely on dry cleaning or even chemical sprays.

How to Prepare Clothes for Dry Cleaning if You Have Bed Bugs

If you suspect bed bugs in your clothes, you don’t want to spread them to other areas, including the dry cleaner’s facility. So, what’s the best way to prepare your clothes for dry cleaning?

1. Seal Clothes in Plastic Bags: Before taking your items to the dry cleaner, place them in sealed plastic bags. This prevents bed bugs from escaping and infesting other areas.
2. Inform Your Dry Cleaner: Be sure to inform the dry cleaner that your items may have bed bugs. This ensures they take extra precautions during the cleaning process and don’t accidentally spread the bugs.
3. Inspect Clothes After Cleaning: Once you get your clothes back, inspect them closely. Make sure the dry cleaner followed proper procedures and that your clothes are bed bug-free.
4. Keep Clothes Sealed: After dry cleaning, keep the items in sealed bags until you’ve addressed the bed bug problem in your home. If you just put your clean clothes back into an infested room, the bed bugs will likely return.

Prevention and Best Practices for Bed Bug Control

Dry cleaning is not just one option for killing bed bugs in your fabrics, but there are a few other methods you can try. Here are some of the most common:

1. Heat treatment + bed bugs (since dry cleaning uses heat): Washing clothes in hot water (above 120°F) and then drying them on high heat can kill both bed bugs and their eggs. Bed bug heat treatment is one of the most effective home methods for killing bed bugs in fabrics.
2. Steam cleaning bed bug elimination: For items that can’t be washed or dry cleaned, steam cleaning is another effective method to eliminate bed bugs from your clothes. The high heat from the steam will kill bed bugs and their eggs.
3. Professional Heat Treatments: Some pest control companies offer heat treatments for fabrics that raise the temperature high enough to eliminate bed bugs in all stages, including eggs.
4. Freezing: If you have delicate fabrics that can’t be exposed to high heat, freezing is another option. Bed bugs and their eggs will die if exposed to temperatures below 0°F (-18°C) for several hours.

Conclusion: Is Dry Cleaning the Right Solution To Kill Bed Bugs?

Dry cleaning can certainly help when it comes to killing adult bed bugs in your clothes, bedding, and other fabrics, but it’s not a silver bullet. While the high heat and chemicals used in dry cleaning can eliminate bed bugs, the process is not always effective against eggs, which may require additional treatments.

To completely get rid of bed bugs, a combination of treatments is usually necessary, especially if the infestation has spread to other parts of your home. Dry cleaning should be part of your overall strategy, but don’t rely on it alone.

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