Commercial Bed Bug and Insect Heat Treatments

The answer is yes. It's becoming fairly common place to find bedbugs in commercial properties. Bed bugs are tiny, and they count on both stealth and hitchhiking for their survival and population growth. They can be introduced into a building on anyone's clothing, briefcases, hand bags or shoes, as well as being brought in from suppliers.

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How do they get in?

Trying to find the point of entry can be challenging and near on impossible. Even when an infestation appears obvious (for example, limited to a certain area within an office or hotel) it is considered inappropriate to assign “blame” to anyone for the area of infestation. For example, the bugs may be infesting a single cubicle, but could have been introduced by an individual in a nearby cubicle, or were received in a shipment of files or supplies from another location. The bugs also could have been brought in by a visitor or a supplier.

Additionally, bed bugs often go undetected in commercial buildings for long periods, and by then the infestation may become widespread. Bed bugs tend to avoid well-lit and busy human environments, and can go for months without feeding. Office workers therefore typically don't get bitten until bedbugs have adapted their feeding patterns and begin seeking a blood meal during the daytime hours when hosts are present. By that time, their numbers can have grown considerably.

In commercial buildings, there are no beds or other "traditional" bedbug sites. Rather than clusters of bedbugs as seen in a home, there are typically numbers of small groups spread throughout an area, and these areas that the bugs are gravitating to can be difficult to inspect. Bedbugs will hide in office seating dividers, underneath raised floors, beneath alcove mouldings, in folders, files & books, even in computers and other equipment.

Bedbugs travel in two ways: walking or hitchhiking. Studies show that bedbugs often travel in straight lines- for example, inside the base of office seating dividers or along mouldings of walls, or by traveling inside under floor voids. Bedbugs can also move around the office and to other floors within a building, or even to other buildings occupied by the same company, or by hitchhiking on files, boxes, and personal items.

Common infestation origin points can also include kitchen, reception and seating areas, around copiers and file storage areas (and in the exchange of files and other materials between individuals), and mail and receiving rooms. Co-workers can unwittingly carry bedbugs into different departments or buildings. Ironically, another point of origin and infestation can be within the cleaning contractors of the building. Most commercial properties are cleaned at night, when bedbugs are most likely to be active. Cleaning contractors will often store their machinery and supplies, including hoovers, onsite. While remaining difficult to spot, bedbugs can infest these items and can thus be spread into other areas of the building.

Unfortunately, some items in commercial buildings are difficult and expensive to disinfest. Bedbugs have been seen inside computers, photo-copiers, file cabinets, telephones, security devices, and personal items. These will require a special heat treatment on or off site.

All this can sound overwhelming. However, with an appropriate heat treatment plan developed for the needs of an active commercial property, bedbugs can be eradicated with a minimum of disruption to operations.

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Please read our Bed Bug Preparation Page