Category: Home & Kitchen

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Bed bugs are one of the hardest household pests to eliminate, and many populations resist common insecticides. The good news is that some of the most effective tools aren’t chemical at all: heat, laundering, vacuuming and physical barriers. The honest news: established infestations usually need a professional.

Step 1: Confirm what you have

Look along mattress seams, the box spring, headboard and bed frame for live bugs (apple-seed sized, reddish-brown), shed skins, tiny white eggs, and dark spotting. Bites alone don’t confirm bed bugs. If you can, catch a specimen in tape or a sealed bag so you or your local extension office can identify it.

Step 2: Heat what you can

Bed bugs and their eggs die with enough heat. Put bedding, clothing, curtains and stuffed toys in a clothes dryer on high heat for at least 30 minutes, after washing if they’re dirty. Bag items in sealed plastic to carry them to the laundry so you don’t spread bugs on the way.

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Step 3: Vacuum and declutter

Vacuum mattress seams, bed frames, baseboards, carpet edges and furniture. Seal the vacuum bag in plastic and throw it away outside. Reduce clutter around the bed, since every pile is a new hiding place.

Step 4: Encase the mattress and box spring

A zippered encasement made for bed bugs traps any bugs inside (where they eventually die) and leaves a smooth surface that’s easy to inspect. Keep it on for at least a year.

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Step 5: Isolate the bed with interceptors

Interceptor cups go under each bed leg and catch bugs trying to climb up, which also helps you monitor progress. Pull the bed a few inches from the wall and keep bedding from touching the floor.

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What about diatomaceous earth?

Desiccant dusts can be part of a bed bug plan, but the EPA advises using one that is registered by the EPA and labeled for bed bug control. Food-grade and pool-grade DE aren’t intended for that use, and they pose more of an inhalation risk. Apply registered dusts sparingly in cracks, voids and behind outlet covers, not across beds and floors.

Check price for EPA-registered bed bug dust →

What NOT to do

• Don’t use foggers (“bug bombs”). They don’t reach bed bugs in cracks and can spread them.
• Don’t use outdoor, garden or agricultural pesticides indoors. This causes real poisonings.
• Don’t use rubbing alcohol or other flammable liquids on furniture; fires have resulted.
• Don’t sleep on the couch. The bugs will follow you and spread.

When to call a pro

If you’re still finding live bugs after two to three weeks, or the infestation is in several rooms or a multi-unit building, call a licensed pest professional. Ask about whole-room heat treatment, which can kill all life stages in one visit with no chemical residue, and about IPM-based follow-up inspections.

Always read and follow product labels. In rental housing, notify your landlord. Many states and cities have bed bug disclosure and treatment rules.

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Cockroaches are hardy, but they have simple needs: food, water and tight hiding places. Take those away and add a slow-acting bait or dust where they hide, and you can knock down most home infestations without fogging your house.

Step 1: Cut off food and water

• Wipe counters and stovetops nightly. Degrease behind and beside the stove.
• Store food, including pet food, in sealed containers.
• Take trash out nightly and use a lidded can.
• Fix dripping faucets and leaky pipes under sinks. Roaches can live longer without food than without water.
• Don’t leave pet water out overnight in heavy infestations.

Step 2: Seal hiding spots

German cockroaches, the common indoor species, hide in warm, tight cracks near the kitchen and bathroom. Caulk gaps around backsplashes, cabinet edges, baseboards and pipe penetrations. Use foam or steel wool around larger plumbing openings.

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Step 3: Use boric acid the right way

Boric acid is a low-cost, long-lasting roach dust. Roaches walk through it and ingest it when grooming. The mistake most people make is using too much. Roaches avoid visible piles.

1. Use a product labeled as an insecticide for roaches, and follow the label.
2. Apply with a bulb duster or the bottle’s applicator tip to puff a barely visible film.
3. Target hidden places: under and behind the fridge and stove, under the sink, inside cabinet hinge gaps, in wall voids behind outlet covers (power off) and along the back edges of cabinets.
4. Keep it out of open areas, food-prep surfaces and anywhere kids or pets can reach.
5. Give it one to two weeks.

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Step 4: Add bait stations

Enclosed roach bait stations put a small amount of insecticide in a food attractant inside a child-resistant housing. Place several near hiding spots, such as corners under the sink and behind appliances, and don’t spray cleaners on or around them. Some baits use borates; others use conventional actives. Read the label to see what you’re getting.

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Monitor with sticky traps

Glue traps don’t solve an infestation, but they show where roaches are concentrated and whether numbers are dropping. Put them flat against walls and in corners, and check them weekly.

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When to call a professional

If you still see roaches in daylight after four to six weeks of steady effort, or if you live in a multi-unit building where roaches move between apartments, a professional using integrated pest management (IPM) is usually worth it. Ask companies whether they offer gel baits, inspections and sealing rather than routine spraying.

Always read and follow the product label. Store pesticides in their original containers, out of reach of children and pets.

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Spraying the ants you can see feels satisfying, but it rarely solves the problem. The workers you kill are a small part of the colony, and the queen keeps laying. The most effective lower-toxicity approach is to let the ants carry a slow-acting bait back to the nest, while you remove whatever drew them in.

Step 1: Figure out what they’re after

Most kitchen ants are “sweet-eating” ants such as odorous house ants, pavement ants and Argentine ants. Follow the trail and you’ll usually find spilled juice, a pet food bowl, a sticky syrup bottle, or crumbs under the toaster. Wipe surfaces with soapy water or a vinegar solution. That removes both the food and the scent trail ants use to navigate.

Step 2: Use a slow bait, not a spray

Liquid ant baits mix a sweet attractant with a low dose of an insecticide, so workers survive long enough to share it with the colony. The best-known example is TERRO Liquid Ant Baits, whose active ingredient is borax (sodium tetraborate decahydrate, 5.4%). According to the manufacturer, the baits target common sweet-eating household ants but not fire ants, pharaoh ants, carpenter ants or harvester ants.

Check price for TERRO Liquid Ant Baits →

How to use bait well

• Put stations right on or beside the trail, plus near the entry point.
• Expect more ants for the first day or two. That means it’s working.
• Don’t spray cleaners or insecticides near the bait; it breaks the trail.
• Replace stations when they’re empty. Full control can take up to two weeks.
• Place baits where children and pets can’t reach them, as the label directs.

Step 3: Seal and block

Once activity slows, close the doors: caulk gaps around window frames, baseboards, plumbing penetrations and the spot where the trail entered. Trim plants and mulch back from the foundation, since they give ants a bridge into the house.

Optional: Diatomaceous earth barriers

A thin line of food-grade diatomaceous earth in dry places ants travel (behind appliances, along a threshold, in wall voids) can kill ants by damaging their waxy outer coating. It only works while dry, and you should avoid breathing the dust. Don’t put DE right next to your bait stations, or you’ll discourage the ants from carrying bait home. See our diatomaceous earth guide.

What about vinegar, cinnamon and peppermint?

Vinegar is good for wiping away scent trails, but it doesn’t kill the colony. Cinnamon and peppermint oil may deter ants briefly. If you have cats, skip peppermint and other essential oils on floors and counters (here’s why).

When to call a pro

• Carpenter ants (large, often black, sawdust-like debris): they can signal moisture and wood damage.
• Fire ants: they sting and need specific baits.
• Pharaoh ants: tiny yellowish ants that can split into new colonies when sprayed. They need professional baiting.
• Ants that keep returning after two or three full bait cycles.

Always read and follow the product label. Store all pest control products out of reach of children and pets.