The seven questions we ask
Each guide answers the same questions in the same order. This keeps the comparison fair, because every method gets the same test. It also makes quotes from providers easier to check.
- What evidence backs the method?
- What can it reach?
- Does it leave residual action?
- What preparation does it need?
- What are its safety limits?
- Where does it fail?
- How will you check the result?
Evidence hierarchy
UK safety facts come from HSE, NHS and GOV.UK pages. Council pages show how local services work. Claims about how well a method works come from peer-reviewed studies, where a good one exists.
A lab figure is not a whole-home promise. For example, a University of Minnesota study found that adult bed bugs needed 48.3C, and eggs 54.8C, for a 99% kill in tests built around commercial heat treatment. A real room has cold spots, clutter and hiding places, so a guide must say what a figure proves and what it does not.
We prefer studies that explain their method. A study that states its test room, its temperature and its sample size is easier to trust than one headline figure. We also say when a study used a lab rather than a home.
Where the evidence is thin or mixed, we say so. If we cannot source a claim, we leave it out.
What we leave out
We leave out home recipes that mix chemicals or bend a product's directions. The HSE says a biocide must not be used for any other purpose than the one it is approved for. Meanwhile, a CDC report listed excessive spraying among the most common factors in illness.
We also leave out cure-all claims. A review of the Australian response to bed bugs describes eradication as a joint effort between the pest manager and the client, using all suitable means. So you will not find a one-step fix here.
We say where to get local help, too. The NHS tells readers to contact their council or a pest control service if they think they have bed bugs. Where a council runs its own service, as Haringey does, our sources show it.
No universal winner
A method can be strong against bugs in the open and weak against bugs in hiding. Another can leave residual action, yet show no quick results. The useful comparison states both.
Resistance is one reason no single product wins, because some bugs survive common sprays. A UK-led review in Medical and Veterinary Entomology described how pyrethroid resistance helped drive the bed bug comeback. The NHS also warns that bed bugs may resist some insecticides. Our treatment resistance guide explains what this means in practice.
No treatment method pays for position in the comparison. Page order is editorial, not a ranking. The method comparison applies the seven questions side by side.
How the practical posts fit in
Short posts go deeper on practical questions, while the guides compare methods. They follow the same rules and list their own sources. Read how to prepare a room before any treatment.
Then see steaming a mattress and mattress encasements for questions about kit. For prevention, read avoiding bed bugs after travel.
Safety advice follows our label checklist. However, the label on a real product always beats our summary of it.
Commercial boundary
This site now passes enquiries to pest control professionals. If you use the enquiry form, we send your details to a vetted professional who covers your area, as our privacy notice explains. However, enquiries never affect how we compare methods, because no method or company pays for a place or a position.
Some links lead to other sites in the same network. For example, monitoring links open BedbugTraps.co.uk and identification links open IsItABedBug.co.uk, while each one has its own disclosure and privacy information. Our about page explains who writes these guides.
We do not name or rate branded products, because a name is not evidence. Each guide ends with its sources, so you can check us. If a source changes its advice, the source wins over our summary.
Sources and further checks
Open each source before you act on anything that can change, such as council services, prices, tenancy rules and product labels. Labels and official guidance are revised from time to time, so the source always wins over our summary.