Do I Need to Wash Everything After an Exterminator Sprays?

Trying to get your home ready for an important exterminator treatment can be enough of a chore, but what about how you handle cleaning issues after they are finished? Many people ask about what needs to be washed once an exterminator has come and gone.

Fox Pest Control of Arlington Heights is always very clear with customers what is required of them, both before and after an appointment. Most good professionals will be. Feel free to ask. The important point is that there is no one single answer because your situation will heavily depend on what insects are being targeted and what method of treatment is being used.

Solid or Granular Poisons

If your treatment involves the placing of solid products around the house, you shouldn’t have any work to do afterwards at all. There wouldn’t be any washing or cleaning required whatsoever. Nice and simple.

Sprays

This is when people start to get worried about washing. After an exterminator has sprayed pesticide all around your house, do you clean up? Actually, the answer is typically no. First of all, sprays are directly with long wands directly to the baseboards and sills around the house. It’s not all in the air and getting on your stuff. Secondly, it dries within 30 minutes to an hour, also minimizing further mess or spread.

And lastly, the chemicals used are generally intended to leave a residue to keep acting as a deterrent to the bugs long after the treatment itself is over. You’re not supposed to wash it off, and your pest control specialist will actually tell you not to clean in the sprayed areas for a certain number of days or weeks.

For flea treatments, there can be more washing involved but that’s usually before treatment rather than after. You’ll be asked to strip the bedding off the beds, wash everything and bag it up until after they’ve sprayed. Carpets and upholstery will be treated, which isn’t usually done for other insect pests. The same premise applies though. The chemicals are intended to last over a period of time, so you are not supposed to wash anything for several days. That includes carpet cleaning.

Fumigation

After the entire house has been fogged, getting things cleaned up is more of a concern. Unlike the highly targeted sprays, the pesticides in a fumigation will literally get everywhere. The bright side is that most of the fumigants that are used for household treatments leave no residue behind. As soon as the building is vented out, there should be no fumes or anything left. It might make you feel better to wash the dishes and possibly your clothes but most exterminators will tell you its unnecessary.

With so much concern about indoor air quality, knowing the proper clean-up procedures after a pest control treatment is important. Take your professionals advice though. If they say that things shouldn’t be cleaned, then don’t start scrubbing. You’ll just undo all their hard work.