Buying a fixer upper with bed bugs

[Brandon Allen Mower]

I may have the opportunity to buy a home as a fix and flip that previously had bed bugs. They said it was pretty bad but I haven't had a chance to investigate myself. Does anyone have an tips on dealing with bed bugs?

[Steve K.]

@Brandon Allen Mower just FYI an ozone machine will work but it won’t kill the eggs, so it’s recommended to run it 6-8 hours a day for about a week in order to get the eggs too as they hatch (check me on this but I believe that’s right). Also the bugs will leave during the treatment but then return so you have to make sure to completely seal every possible escape route off including wall outlets, cracks, doors windows etc. so they can’t escape and are actually killed by the ozone. Heat treatment is a more commonly used technique: again completely seal the unit so the bugs can’t simply escape and come back, remove any fire extinguishers, cans of propane, hairspray, anything that can explode in high heat or food that will melt etc, and heat the unit to 135 degrees for about a day to kill all the bugs. I believe heat will also kill the eggs while ozone does not. Check me on this, I’m not the expert but we’ve had bed bugs (lovely creatures) and that’s what I remember. If the problem isn’t that bad sometimes just fumigating can take care of it too I believe.