If you’ve just had pest control in your home or if you’ve ever been inside the home of someone who has recently fumigated their house, you know it can be a very unpleasant experience. It’s not as simple as running back home from work after having your house fumigated.
Here is some useful information about what to do after fumigating your house so that everything is back to normal again soon!
Step-By-Step Guide: After fumigation what to do
Here is a complete step-by-step guide on how you should clean & clear your home after fumigation. Safety comes first, so our first heading starts with safety precautions.
1. Exposure Hours
Entering your home during exposure time is dangerous and not recommended. Therefore, first, check the exposure hours written on your bill or ask the company, after how many hours of fumigation you can go inside.
After the completion of exposure hours, you can enter your home.
This varies from insect to insect, and there is no specific time for all. So must ask the exterminator.
2. Air out your House
Your house will likely be filled with strong, unpleasant fumes after fumigation. The best way to get rid of these fumes is to air out your house. Ideally, you should leave your windows, connecting doors, and fans open for at least 3-6 hours to allow your house to air out.
However, you can keep them open for longer if you notice that the smell isn’t going away. This issue may happen if your house does not have a proper ventilation system. In places like this, it can take up to 1-3 days. Air out your house as often as possible. After fumigation, you’ll want to continue to air out your house for as long as the smell lingers.
This will allow fresh air to flow through your house, which will help to get rid of the smell. However, not only will opening the windows help to get rid of the smell, but it will also help to keep your house from becoming too humid.
3. Throw out Things that were Left Open
It’s important to remember that the fumigation will kill pests inside your house. But it will also affect anything that was left out in the open, unprotected from fumes.
This means that you’ll need to throw out things like open food, medicines, and baby toys, especially those that kids put in their mouths.
Note: This is only for those things which get sprayed during the process, and now it has chemical effects on them. You can avoid this easily, check out our guide on how to prepare for pest control.
4. Clean Your Home & Don’t ON ACs
Begin cleaning the home, paying special attention to furnishings such as sofas, chairs, and linens. Vacuum all corners and move all furniture.
Don’t on the air conditioner until the smell is totally gone, because the air conditioner makes your home more humid so the smell will stay there more than usual.
5. Washing items
Before we start this point, let us be clear on one point. Since fumigation is a gas process and will evaporate from the home and its contents, washing furniture, and other items are not necessary.
One more thing because the fumigation company makes their solution in water, therefore, it doesn’t stick to anything for a longer time. However, it is a best practice to clean your item at least once with a little bit of wet cloth.
Some of the items you may have inside your home that were left out in the open, or you cannot pack, i.e: sofas, bed sets, etc. Fortunately, you don’t need to do some extraordinary effort to clean these items.
Replace bedsheets, and pillow covers, don’t use the ones which are wet from the chemical. Wash it.
For furniture cleaning, you can use any upholstery cleaner available on the market to clear furniture.
When mopping in the house, make sure to use phenyl.
That’s it. Your job is done. There is no need to overthink.
If all these tasks are hectic or for some reason, you cannot do them on your own. It’s best to have a professional cleaning company do all the cleaning for you. Tell them, that because of the fumigation process, you need their services.
So they will follow all the SOPs for it, and they will do all the work for you. It is also safe, especially if you are allergic to chemicals.
A good read on what is fumigation & types of fumigation services.
What to do after fumigation for cockroaches
Cockroaches are another pest that is notoriously resistant to fumigation. The best thing you can do after fumigation to kill cockroaches is to clean your home. The more thorough you are with your cleaning, the less likely it is that roaches will be able to hide from you.
For roach pest control, the exterminator will spray inside your kitchen cabinets. Therefore, use any upholstery cleaner and wipe down all cabinets. But don’t remove the roach gel inside the cabinets.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these tips will help you to get your house back to normal after fumigation. Remember to open your windows to air out your house, throw out any items that were left out in the open after fumigation, and clean any stained fabrics.
You should also try to varnish and clean any wooden furniture that was left out in the open after fumigation. Varnishing and cleaning wooden furniture will help to kill any lingering smells that may have been left behind after fumigation.
Fumigation is a great way to get rid of pests and insects that are plaguing your home. However, you need to follow these tips to make sure that your house comes out of fumigation in one piece.
FAQs
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What to do after fumigation for bed bugs
Bed bugs are notorious for being incredibly difficult to get rid of. After the bed bugs control service, you should change your bedsheet, and pillow covers, and follow all the above-mentioned steps.
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What to do after termite fumigation
Termite is not just a nuisance but can cost severe damage to your home. After termite fumigation, vacuum the house properly because the exterminator does a drilling vacuum to clear the dust. And follow all the above processes to clean your home
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What is exposure timing in domestic fumigation?
Exposure hours mean, for particular hours, the company recommends you keep your house closed & don’t go inside.
Because the chemical remains much active or the chemical process still going on under that period. Like in bed bugs control, the gas tablets take 12-18 hours to explode or to become powder completely.
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Why fumigation smell still in my home?
Not only does the smell linger for days, but it also leaves a lingering odor that can be almost impossible to get rid of.
This is because the ventilation process had not done properly. Follow all the processes above to get rid of the smell quickly.
Hi, My name is John Mc. I am the main editor of this blog. I love talking about pests and helping people get rid of them.
Furthermore, I have an extensive interest in zoology and entomology, and I have completed my bachelor’s in environmental science from Southeast Missouri State University.