First, I suggest reposting your entire comment (or any follow-ups) on our Bedbugger Forums, where more people will see them and respond: http://bedbugger.com/forum

I would also commend to you Chicago vs. Bed Bugs, where Jessica offers a wealth of local information for Chicagoans, including local resources on laws and your rights, and a forum for Chicagoans.

Chicago Municipal Codes (Ch. 5-12 Landlords and Tenants) (download this PDF from Chicago vs. Bed Bugs) apply to buildings with 7 or more units. If you have a smaller building, call Chicago’s Metropolitan Tenants Organization to find out more about your rights.

Assuming you are in a building with more than 6 units, the landlord has to get rid of your pest problem. You have Chicago’s 311 number where you can file a complaint. It will help if you have visible bed bugs; collect as much evidence as you can, but try not to clean away all the evidence.

The fact that the PCO applied multiple substances from unmarked cans is not necessarily a problem — in my understanding, PCOs may be reconstituting materials or mixing them before spraying. However, you should be able to ask exactly what was applied, and be given a list. Ask the landlord if he got such a list.

It also is sometimes true that PCOs do not require prep, or do not require the laundering/bagging of clothing, for example. On the other hand, these PCOs generally take a long time to inspect and treat your home, as definitely does not sound like the case here. And no PCO can guarantee bed bugs will be gone in one visit using traditional spraying methods.

It is normal to see bed bug activity after the first treatment, but it is also common to need as many as three (or more) treatments. Your PCO should return every two weeks or so until they are gone and you have no bites or sightings.

Most PCOs probably recommend washing and drying and then sealing in bags all clothing.
This is something you might do.

However, I am more skeptical about the idea of bagging just anything (unwashed, untreated) during treatment. The reasons are detailed in the FAQ above these comments.

Basically, if you open the bags after the last treatment, bed bugs will likely come out of some of your stuff. Some PCOs recommend bagging things like this during treatment but removing them from bags before the last treatment. Others do not want you to bag them at all. Unless bed bugs are left in bags for 18 months, bagging in and of itself does not kill them.

The landlord (or you or the PCO) may want to seal any cracks that bed bugs may be coming through.

The bottom line is you may need to educate this landlord about how serious bed bugs are, how easily they spread, and how difficult they are to treat (requiring skilled, experienced PCOs). Perhaps the persistence of your problem after the first PCO came will help you convince him of this. Jessica’s resources will help enormously too.

Again, please post your original message and any follow-ups in our Forums, where I assure you they will get more readers and responses than here.

I called my landlord back and they arranged for an exterminator to come by. I assumed that they were only doing an inspection, since the extermination company told me all I needed to do was put the mattresses on their ends against the wall. Well, I was wrong. One guy comes in, lugging clanking, unmarked metal cans up the stairs. He takes a look at my painstakingly collected eggs, husks, and bedbugs caught and taped inside plastic bags and begins spraying three different substances in unmarked cans all over my room. He spent maybe a total of 10-12 minutes in my apartment. He said that this one treatment would get rid of them completely. They had no plans to check the apartments around me. Also, there are holes in the wall from crappy electric heat installation, which is how I think I got them.

I didn’t remove anything beforehand since I thought it was an inspection, didn’t wash anything, and the pesticides smelled horrific. When I came back a few hours later (head began to throb immediately), I looked at the floor and saw about 15 bugs all running around, all different sizes. I got rid of as many as I could. I bought an encasement the next day, but (surprise, surprise) am still being bitten.

My landlord wants to use the same exterminator, but they are clearly incompetent. They treat bedbugs like they’re roaches. I’m miserable, can’t sleep, etc. My bedroom is very small and has no wood other than the bedframe. I have a plastic nightstand that is one of those units with sliding drawers. I have bagged everything that was in the room into double-bagged garbage bags twisted and sealed with duct tape.

Any advice on how to prepare for another crappy treatment like this to make it most effective? Or how to compel my landlord to get better exterminators? Further incompetence examples from this one exterminator’s visit: he called me an hour after he was supposed to be there sounding like he just woke up and murmered that he was leaving his house then and would be at mine in an hour. One hour later, he calls and asks for directions because he didn’t bother to look them up. Also…just clearly did not know what he was doing. SIGH, HELP!

Most pest pros probably do not do slow, tedious careful, searches, but some do. Our forums will help if you need recommendations.

You probably don’t want a preventive spraying, but some pest pros will apply small amounts of a dust (mechanical killer) and then caulk carefully to avoid bed bugs spreading from one unit to another (and help kill any stragglers). Note: this can happen via the walls — they don’t need to be brought to the door by people walking by in the hallway. Again, you’ll find more on this in the forums (search for “caulking”).

Attention: the following FAQ was written before the invention of a tool which many readers will find useful. The Packtite allows people to remove bed bugs from items such as unwashable clothing, books, papers, shoes, etc. Items can then be carefully bagged and stored and do not need to be stored for 18 months to ensure bed bugs have died. You can read more in the Packtite FAQ.

The prep required depends on the PCO’s protocol.

And whether your entire home needs treatment or not depends on the situation.

If you have had 3 treatments and still have bed bugs it could be because there was too long a space between treatment, or because all infested areas of the home are not being treated (one reason you might want to have it all done), or because the PCO is not treating properly. It can also mean you’re being reinfested somehow (for example, bed bugs are in the car, at work, at school, and keep coming home).

Single family detached homes are theoretically easier to treat than other situations. You might at least consider using a different provider, or another method (thermal heat, vikane gas, etc.) if available in your area. Those methods can be more expensive but are also a one-shot deal if done properly, and if nothing goes wrong.

Please come to the forums if you want to discuss this further (I think you may already have done so!)