Improving Pest Control with Steam Cleaning

Pest control can feel like a losing battle at times.  Routine pest control, such as monthly visits, is not only costly but they fill your home or business with chemicals.  Chemicals that you and your family or coworkers all breathe in or touch.  While pest control chemicals have their place, more and more people are looking for effective ways to eliminate pests without the use of dangerous and harmful chemicals, especially in their living spaces.  Steam is an effective multi-purpose cleaning solution but it can be used for more than cleaning, it can be used as an effective tool in your pest control and elimination arsenal.  We have all heard about dreaded bed bugs.  They sound terrifying and disgusting but many of us cannot imagine it happening to us. If bed bugs do happen to you, they are not only upsetting but can be very hard to get rid of.  This is because chemical cleaners are not always effective at getting rid of them.  Bed bugs are resilient but steam cleaning is their kryptonite.

If chemicals cannot kill bed bugs and certain other insects, how exactly is steam going to do it?  Steam is, after all, only water that has been heated to a high temperature.  The University of Minnesota explains how steam effectively kills and stops bed bugs in their tracks, “Steamers work by delivering lethal temperatures to where bed bugs may be hiding. Steam is very effective when bed bugs are on the surface of items and can be effective up to 3/4″ into fabric surfaces. In cracks and crevices, steam will kill bed bugs up to 2-3/8” into a gap. Use an infrared thermometer to monitor the surface temperature of the area being treated. To effectively kill bed bugs the surface temperature should be at least 160-180°F immediately after the steam brush has passed.”  The reason steam is so effective at not only killing bed bugs but eliminating them going forward is that steam kills bed bugs and their eggs on contact.  This means that steam cleaners that you can find at a big box store are probably not going to be sufficient.  To get a steam cleaner that can effectively clean, sanitize and eliminate pests you need to purchase a commercial steam cleaner such as the Vapamore steam cleaner.  Only specialized commercial steam cleaners will heat to the temperatures necessary and come with the appropriate tools to safely and effectively eliminate pests such as bed bugs.