A homeowner schedules heat treatment, gets a one-page checklist by email, and reads through items like “remove all aerosol cans” and “remove medications” without understanding what counts, what doesn’t, and why any of it matters. By the morning of the treatment, the prep is half-done and the technicians spend the first hour rechecking what the homeowner already moved instead of starting the heat. The team at Hot Bugz has watched this scenario play out enough times to know that the prep list is the single biggest source of treatment-day delays and avoidable damage to belongings. The companies that explain the prep clearly tend to have smoother treatments and fewer problems. The ones that hand over a checklist without context end up doing damage control. This walkthrough goes deeper than the standard checklist because the reasoning behind each item is what actually drives good prep decisions.
The treatment temperature is sustained at 135°F or higher for several hours. Anything in the treated space that cannot tolerate that exposure either needs to come out or be specifically prepared.
Items That Must Leave the Treated Space Entirely
Some items cannot stay in the treated space under any circumstances, and confusion on these creates the most expensive problems on treatment day.
All living things leave. Pets, including the obvious cats and dogs, but also fish (the aquarium goes, not just the fish), reptiles, birds, hamsters, and any other small animals. Aquariums cannot be heated to lethal bed bug temperatures without killing the fish, and the equipment cannot be safely run in a space where animals remain. Houseplants do not tolerate the temperature and need to relocate to a non-treated area for the day.
Pressurized containers and aerosols come out without exception. Hairspray, deodorant, spray cleaning products, air fresheners, asthma inhalers, propane camp stove canisters, butane lighters, fire extinguishers, oxygen tanks for medical use, and any other compressed-gas product can rupture or explode under sustained high heat. The risk is real and the consequence is catastrophic.
Flammable liquids come out for the same reason. Lamp oil, lighter fluid, solvents, paint thinner, nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol, hand sanitizer in larger quantities, and similar products. Standard cleaning products in plastic bottles can also rupture or release fumes at sustained temperatures and should be removed.
Ammunition, gunpowder, and fireworks must be removed from the structure. Ammunition primers can ignite at temperatures within the treatment range, and the consequences are obvious.
Wax-based items cannot survive the treatment. Candles will melt and pool. Crayons, lipsticks and lip balms, wax figurines, decorative wax fruit, scented wax warmers, and similar items all need to leave. The melt itself ruins the item and the runoff can damage furniture, fabric, and flooring.
Items That Need Refrigeration or Specific Handling
A second category of items can stay in the home but should be moved to the refrigerator or another safe location.
Prescription medications generally need refrigeration during treatment. Many medications lose efficacy at sustained temperatures above 86°F, and the treatment temperature far exceeds that. Place prescription bottles in the refrigerator, take any time-sensitive doses with you when you leave for the treatment day, and bring back into the room only after the space has fully cooled. Insulin, biologics, EpiPens, and similar temperature-sensitive medications are particularly important to handle carefully.
Over-the-counter medications and vitamins are subject to the same logic. Most lose potency at sustained heat and should be refrigerated.
Cosmetics with wax or oil bases should be refrigerated. Lipsticks, lip balms, foundations, certain mascaras, and skincare products with significant oil content can melt or separate at treatment temperatures.
Fresh food, chocolate, and items that melt or spoil need refrigeration or removal. Carbonated beverages and sealed beer or soda cans can pressurize and rupture under sustained heat. Corked wine bottles can lose their seal. Standard pantry items in sealed containers usually tolerate the treatment without issue.
Vinyl records, cassette tapes, and similar heat-sensitive media should be removed from the treated space. The temperature will warp vinyl irreversibly.
Items That Stay in the Room (and Why)
Customers frequently want to remove furniture, mattresses, and bedding because they associate these with the infestation. The opposite is correct.
Mattresses, box springs, bed frames, headboards, and all bedding stay in the treated space. These are the primary harborages for bed bugs and need to reach lethal temperature. Removing them defeats the purpose of the treatment and risks transporting bugs to a previously uninfested area.
Couches, chairs, dressers, nightstands, and other upholstered or wood furniture stay. The interior of furniture is often where bed bugs concentrate, and the heat needs to penetrate through the upholstery and into the joints to be effective.
Clothing in dressers and closets stays, but with preparation. Drawers should be opened. Closet doors should be open. Tightly packed clothing inhibits heat penetration, so dressers should be loosely packed and clothes hung in closets should have space between them rather than being crammed together. Hanging clothes can be slid apart on the rod to expose air gaps.
Books, papers, picture frames mounted to the wall, decorative items, and other household contents that are not on the heat-sensitive list stay where they are. The heat moves through them and treats any harborages in or behind them.
Electronics stay in the treated space with specific preparation. Televisions, computers, gaming consoles, stereos, and similar equipment are common harborages because their internal components run warm during use and bed bugs are attracted to the warmth. Most consumer electronics tolerate sustained 135°F exposure without damage as long as they are unplugged and powered off during treatment. Laptop batteries should be removed if removable. Large flat-screen televisions should be unplugged and may be loosely covered with a non-shedding fabric to reflect direct hot-air movement, depending on what the inspecting technician recommends.
Air mattresses must be partially deflated and unplugged. Waterbeds must be drained completely. Both serve as bed bug harborages and need the heat to reach the surfaces, which the air or water otherwise insulates.
Decluttering and Access
The single most undervalued aspect of prep is decluttering for heat circulation.
Items stored under the bed, packed into closets, stacked in corners, or piled on furniture all create insulation that slows heat penetration. The technicians need air circulation to drive the room to lethal temperature in every harborage. A heavily cluttered room can have cold spots that survive an otherwise correct treatment.
Pull everything out from under the bed. Reduce the volume of items in closets to allow air movement. Move beds at least two feet from the wall so air can circulate behind the headboard and around the frame. Open dresser drawers. Pull desk drawers out partially. Open the doors of nightstands and cabinets. Remove or weight down loose papers, posters, and lightweight items that the industrial fans can blow around during treatment.
Provide access to the electrical panel for the heating equipment. Electric heat systems require dedicated power, and the inspection should have identified whether the home’s panel can support the load. If the panel access is in a closet or behind stored items, clear the pathway before treatment day.
Smoke and Heat Detectors
Battery-operated smoke and heat detectors will activate at treatment temperatures. They need to be removed or temporarily deactivated for the duration of the treatment, which is typically handled by the technicians as part of the setup. Hardwired detectors that cannot be physically removed will be addressed in advance during the inspection.
Sprinkler systems with thermal triggers below the treatment temperature need to be capped or temporarily deactivated. Modern systems with triggers rated above 200°F do not need adjustment.
What to Bring With You and What to Wash Before You Return
Prepare a clean clothing kit before treatment day. Run a fresh set of clothes (including shoes) through a clothes dryer on high heat for thirty minutes, then place them in a sealed plastic bag. This is what you wear when you return after treatment. Anything you take with you that day that has not been heat-dried risks reintroducing bugs to the treated space.
Items you take out of the home for the day (medications, jewelry, important papers, irreplaceable items) should be inspected before bringing back in. Anything that can go through a hot dryer cycle should be laundered before reentry.
If you are preparing for a Hot Bugz treatment in the Denver Front Range area and have questions about what to remove, what to refrigerate, what to leave in place, or how to handle a specific item that the standard checklist does not cover, reach out before the treatment day rather than after. The smoothest treatment day is the one where the prep was understood rather than just completed.
