What bed bugs are, and why they spread
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are small, flat, reddish-brown insects that feed exclusively on blood and hide in the immediate environment of a bed or resting area during the day — mattress seams, box spring frames, behind headboards, inside electrical outlet boxes, and in baseboard cracks within a metre or two of the bed. Adults are roughly 4–5 mm long when unfed, about the size of an apple seed, and flatten their bodies to fit into tight spaces.
They are not a hygiene problem. Bed bugs travel passively on luggage, used furniture, clothing, and shared laundry facilities, and turn up in hotels, hospitals, transit, and private homes across every income level. What they do indicate is that, once introduced, they establish quickly if untreated — a single mated female can lay 1–5 eggs a day, and an infestation left alone can spread to adjacent rooms within weeks.
Signs of a bed bug infestation
- Small rust-coloured spots on mattress seams, sheets, or the wall behind the headboard — bed bug excrement
- Live insects in mattress seams, the box spring frame, or behind the headboard — reddish-brown, flat, roughly apple-seed sized
- Shed skins (cast exoskeletons) in the same hiding areas
- Itchy red welts that appear overnight, often in a line or cluster pattern on exposed skin
- A faint sweet, musty odour in a heavily infested room
- Small white eggs, about 1 mm, in the seams and folds of mattress fabric
Before treatment day: the prep checklist
Preparation is not a formality — an incomplete prep, with items left in place that block heat circulation, can leave cold spots where bed bugs survive. Before the technician arrives:
- Remove heat-sensitive items from the room — candles, aerosols, certain medications, and live plants
- Reduce clutter so heated air can circulate through every corner, closet, and under furniture
- Launder fabrics on the highest dryer heat setting as a precaution, then keep them bagged until treatment is complete
- Leave furniture and drawers roughly where they normally sit — heat needs to reach the same hiding spots the bed bugs use
How treatment day works
Inspection and mapping
The technician inspects every likely harborage site — mattress seams, box spring, bed frame, headboard, nightstands, baseboards, outlets, and upholstered furniture — to confirm the infestation and check whether it has spread to adjacent rooms.
The heat cycle
Portable electric heaters raise the room to a sustained lethal temperature — above approximately 50°C at the hottest points, verified with calibrated thermal sensors placed throughout the space. That temperature is held for several hours so heat penetrates wall voids, furniture frames, and other insulated hiding spots, not just open air.
Post-treatment inspection and follow-up
Once the cycle ends, the room is inspected again, and a residual barrier treatment may be applied along baseboards as a post-heat precaution. A follow-up visit confirms no survivors or newly hatched eggs have established.
Heat treatment requires occupants to vacate the room for the day. Re-entry is normally possible the same evening once the space has cooled to a comfortable temperature.
Heat vs. chemical: why one-visit kill matters
Heat treatment is the most effective method for bed bug elimination because it reaches a threshold — sustained temperature above roughly 50°C throughout the room — that chemical treatments cannot reliably reach in every hiding location.
Factor
Kills eggs
Heat treatment
Yes — sustained heat above 50°C kills every life stage, including eggs, in the same cycle.
Chemical-only
Eggs are more resistant to many pesticides than adults, which is a common reason chemical-only programs need repeat visits.
Factor
Reaches hiding spots
Heat treatment
Heat fills the whole room, including wall voids and furniture frames — the exact spots bed bugs retreat to.
Chemical-only
Coverage depends on direct contact or residual contact with treated surfaces, which can miss a hiding spot heat would still reach.
Factor
Visits typically needed
Heat treatment
One heat cycle, with a follow-up inspection to confirm the population is gone.
Chemical-only
Often several visits spaced over weeks, since surviving eggs can hatch after the first application.
Factor
Residue in the room
Heat treatment
None — the mechanism is temperature, not chemical exposure.
Chemical-only
Residual product typically remains on treated surfaces between visits.
A residual barrier treatment may still be applied along baseboards after the heat cycle, as a post-heat precaution — but the elimination itself happens through temperature, not chemical exposure, and no chemical residue is left in the treated space.
Toronto and GTA service
Durapest dispatches from East York, with Toronto and the inner GTA closest to our base. Bed bug treatment starts at $395, with the final price depending on the size of the infestation and the number of rooms involved — you get that number after the inspection, not before.
See the full bed bug heat treatment service page, or our coverage in East York and Downtown Toronto.