A good pest professional can solve problems that store-bought sprays never touch, but their work lands best when the home is set up for it. Preparation is the difference between a quick, effective treatment and a long slog with mixed results. Over the years, I have walked into homes that were spotless and ready, and I have stepped into kitchens where I couldn’t find the baseboards for the cereal boxes. The treatments can be similar, yet outcomes diverge. The prepared home wins nearly every time.
This guide explains what to do before an exterminator shows up, what to expect the day of service, how to protect your family and pets, and why small steps like clearing under sinks or labeling breaker panels make real-world differences. Whether you are hiring a pest control company for the first time or you keep a regular schedule, the principles are the same: make access easy, remove food and water sources, secure special items, and communicate clearly.
Know what you’re dealing with
Preparation depends on the pest. Roaches, ants, rodents, bed bugs, fleas, stored-product moths, and wasps each require different staging. A one-size prep list wastes effort and misses crucial steps. If the pest control service has already performed an inspection, ask for their prep sheet tied to the specific target. If not, observe and document what you are seeing. Photos help, and so do simple notes like “Most roaches seen behind the stove at night” or “Tiny ants along the window above the sink.”
I once treated two nearly identical apartments in the same building. One had German roaches concentrated in the kitchen cabinets and dishwasher housing. The other had a mix of German and American roaches entering from a utility chase. The first resident emptied cabinets and ran the dishwasher on a hot cycle the night before. The second did neither. After treatment, apartment one showed a 90 percent reduction within a week. Apartment two needed a follow-up just to reach that point. The prep made the difference.
The day-before fundamentals
Good preparation begins the day before your exterminator service arrives. The goals are to expose the places pests live, eliminate easy food and water, and prevent contamination of your personal items during treatment. You do not need to sterilize the house, but you do need to make the structure accessible.
Clear clutter where technicians will work. In kitchens, remove small appliances, stacked mail, and spice racks from counters. Leave the toaster, blender, and coffee maker in a box on the table so the pest control contractor can access the backsplash and wall voids. Pull the range and refrigerator forward a few inches, if you can do so safely, to allow treatment along the back wall and floor seam. In bathrooms, clear under-sink cabinets and remove laundry piles from the floor.
Food and dishes should be cleaned and stored. Run the dishwasher and empty it. Wipe down counters and stovetops so gel baits will adhere and not be smeared across grease films. Do not leave pet bowls full overnight. If ants are trailing to a bowl, that becomes the first place the technician visits and the last place the ants return if the bowl stays clean.
Vacuum thoroughly. Roaches feed on crumbs the size of pepper flakes. Bed bugs hide in carpet edges and baseboards. A slow vacuum along baseboards, under the fridge, and around the bed frame picks up food particles, shed skins, and live insects. Empty the vacuum canister outside into a sealed bag.
Reduce water. Fix or at least minimize drips at faucets and P-traps under sinks. Dry the sink basins and tub overnight. If you cannot fix a leak immediately, place a dry towel or paper under the P-trap so you and the technician can check for active dripping and to keep the area workable for baiting or dusting.
Laundry matters. For fleas and bed bugs, bag bedding and clothing from infested rooms in clear trash bags. Transport those directly to the laundry and run on hot water, then high-heat dry for at least 30 minutes after the load is dry. The heat cycle is what kills insects and eggs. Once clean, store those items in fresh bags or sealed totes until after treatment.
Personal items and safety-sensitive areas
Before a pest control company applies any product, protect things that should not be treated. Children’s toys, crib rails, pet plush beds, and medical devices need special handling.
Toys and baby items should be boxed and sealed. Place play mats, plush toys, and teething items into plastic bins with lids. Move them to the center of a bed or a room that will not be treated, or temporarily to a garage. If the target pest is bed bugs, keep items in the room but sealed, and ask your exterminator which items to heat treat versus isolate.
Fish tanks and reptile enclosures are a common oversight. Cover aquariums tightly with plastic, turn off air pumps to prevent aerosol intake during treatment, and if possible move the tank to a room that will not be treated that day. Amphibians, reptiles, and fish are more sensitive to some products than mammals. Plan ahead so the technician does not have to skip key areas.
Pets should be removed or crated. Dogs can return after treated surfaces are dry, often within 2 to 4 hours depending on the product and ventilation. Cats sometimes lick treated baseboards if returned too soon. When in doubt, ask for the label’s re-entry interval and follow it. For birds, a conservative approach is to remove them from the home during treatment and for a few hours afterward.
Medication, toothbrushes, and food should be covered or stored. If you keep a bowl of fruit out, bag it or place it in the refrigerator. Pull the coffee maker carafe and any open sugar containers into a cabinet until after the service.
Access, access, access
If a technician cannot reach it, they cannot treat it. That sounds simple, yet blocked access points are among the top reasons initial visits run long or underperform. Baseboards, wall-floor junctions, utility penetrations, and voids behind and under appliances are the main highways for pests.
Move furniture several inches from walls where practical. You do not need to rearrange the entire house. A six-inch gap lets an exterminator run a crack-and-crevice treatment along each wall without scuffing furniture. For bed bug work, create perimeter lanes around beds, dressers, and couches. The bed should be at least 6 inches from the wall with the bedding not touching the floor.
Empty under-sink cabinets. This is key for cockroaches and ants that follow plumbing lines, and for placing dusts or baits near pipe penetrations. A technician can often do more with 10 minutes of unobstructed access under a sink than with twice that time spraying around cabinet exteriors.
Label or clear utility areas. If your breaker panel, furnace closet, or water heater room is stacked with storage, clear a path. Rodents and roaches often ride in on utility penetrations. Pest control contractors may place monitoring devices or seal gaps in those areas.
Attic and crawl spaces matter for rodents, wasps, and large roaches. If the service includes those, ensure the access hatch is clear and ladders can be set safely. One client kept holiday decorations stacked under the attic hatch. We lost 20 minutes moving them and could not fully inspect the eaves because of time. The follow-up visit fixed the problem, but a clear path could have avoided the second trip.
The pre-visit conversation that saves time
A 5-minute call or text the day before aligns expectations and avoids surprises. Ask what type of treatment is planned and what the re-entry time will be. Share any recent changes: a new baby, a person with asthma in the home, a recent deep clean that might affect residual product, or planned renovations.
Be honest about past DIY treatments. Over-the-counter foggers, dusts, and sprays can repel pests from treated zones into untreated rooms or into wall voids. If you bombed the house last week, say so. The exterminator can adjust strategy, use non-repellent products, or schedule a follow-up to catch displaced insects.
If you use a cleaning service, coordinate schedules. Many residual products take several hours to bind to surfaces. Mopping baseboards immediately after the pest control service leaves will strip that residual and reduce control. Plan routine cleaning a day before the visit rather than hours after.
Kitchen specifics that make or break roach and ant treatments
The kitchen is the main stage for roaches and sugar ants. Preparation here carries outsized weight. Empty the trash and line the can with a fresh bag. Wipe stick cabinets, especially around handles where food oils accumulate. Roach gel bait adheres better to a clean surface and remains palatable longer.
If you have sticky traps or monitors, do not toss them unless asked. They are a map of where pests are moving, and fresh placement after treatment is useful for measuring progress. Technicians can compare pre-treatment hot spots to post-treatment activity and decide on adjustments for the follow-up.
Pull and clean the drip pan under the refrigerator, if accessible. That pan collects condensate and can host mold and microscopic food films. Ants and roaches love it. Even a quick wipe with a paper towel removes the reward and supports the treatment.
Leave a bagged sample of the pest if you are unsure what it is. I have tested “ants” that turned out to be springtails wicking up from a wet crawl space. That changes the approach from baits to moisture control and sealing.
Bedrooms and living spaces for bed bugs and fleas
For bed bugs, the bed becomes the focal point. Strip the bedding into sealed bags for laundering and return the mattress and box spring bare. If you use a mattress encasement, leave it on and intact. Clear nightstands of clutter. Do not move furniture to other rooms unless your exterminator instructs you to do so, because you risk spreading the infestation.
For fleas, vacuuming is your best pre-treatment tool. Focus on carpet edges where baseboards meet the floor, under furniture, and pet resting spots. Bag and toss the vacuum contents outside. Wash pet bedding on hot and run the dryer hot. If your exterminator company requires pets to be treated by a veterinarian on or prior to the service day, schedule that and keep proof handy. If pets are not treated, fleas often rebound quickly, which leaves homeowners frustrated and the pest control service unfairly blamed.
For rodents, preparation focuses on sanitation and exclusion checkpoints. Store bulk foods like dog kibble in sealed bins. Sweep up spilled seeds under bird cages. Identify suspected entry points, such as chewed corners on garage weatherstripping or pencil-sized gaps around pipes. Take photos and measurements. Your pest control contractor may bring rodent-proofing materials to install during the visit if you flag these areas.
What to expect the day of service
Expect a walkthrough before any product is applied. A good exterminator will ask questions, confirm target pests, and outline where they will treat. They may set monitors or a few bait placements to test which attractants work. Treatment itself might be https://shanemcyf045.theglensecret.com/the-cost-of-pest-control-what-affects-the-price a combination of gel baits in cracks, dusts in voids, non-repellent sprays along baseboards, and targeted fog in inaccessible attics. The mix depends on your pest and home layout.
You will be asked to vacate treated areas for a period. Typical re-entry windows range from 30 minutes to 4 hours for general pest control, and longer for some flea or bed bug applications. If your home has poor ventilation, plan more time. Open windows when permitted. Use fans to circulate air after the advised wait.
Do not wipe treated baseboards or move bait placements. Baits are meant to be found by pests, carried back to colonies, and spread. If you see a pea-sized dot of gel in a cabinet crack, leave it alone. If it smears, let your provider know on the follow-up so they can reapply in a better spot.
Aftercare that sustains results
The first 48 hours are important. You may see more pest activity as insects leave harborage sites or as colonies react to baits. This does not mean the treatment failed. In fact, increased sightings of dying roaches or trailing ants that appear disoriented often show the product is working. Keep notes on what you see and where. If the activity spikes in a new location, share that information for the follow-up visit.
Avoid deep cleaning of treated zones for about a week unless your provider says otherwise. You can wipe food prep surfaces and clean spills, but skip mopping right along baseboards or scrubbing cabinet cracks. Let residuals work. For bed bugs, keep mattress encasements zipped for at least a year. Bed bug eggs can survive weeks, and encasements prevent survivors from feeding or re-emerging.
For rodents, sanitation and sealing continue after the technician leaves. Tidy the garage, elevate stored items on shelves, and close gaps with steel wool and sealant as advised. If the pest control company installed traps or bait stations, do not move them. Stations are positioned with rodent behavior in mind, often as runway intercepts along walls.
When children, elders, or medical concerns are in the home
Households with infants, toddlers, or individuals with asthma or chemical sensitivities require an extra layer of planning. Non-repellent baits and targeted crack-and-crevice treatments reduce airborne exposure compared to broad sprays. Most modern products used by reputable pest control companies are labeled for residential use and, when applied correctly, pose low risk. Still, err on the side of caution.
Share medical concerns ahead of time. Ask for Safety Data Sheets for the planned products. Request spot treatments and mechanical controls where appropriate, such as vacuuming, trapping, exclusion, and heat for bed bugs. Schedule longer re-entry times and keep sensitive individuals out of the home until treated surfaces are fully dry and aired.
Seasonal and structural variables
Warm, wet seasons amplify ant and roach pressure. Expect exterior treatments and recommendations for landscaping changes, like trimming shrubs that bridge to siding or moving mulch away from the foundation. If you live in a slab-on-grade home, exterior crack sealing around weep holes, door thresholds, and utility lines helps immensely. Prepare by clearing vegetation 12 to 18 inches from the foundation so the exterminator can apply a clean perimeter band.
In older homes with lathe-and-plaster walls or balloon framing, pests can migrate between floors through open voids. Mention any unusual wall structures or historic features. For example, I treated a Victorian with decorative baseboards that sat off the wall by a quarter inch. That gap required a different technique than a standard caulked baseboard. The owner had attempted to caulk the entire room the night before, which sealed in roaches and made bait placement harder. A quick pre-call could have avoided that work.
What not to do
Homeowners sometimes try to help in ways that backfire. Fogging before a scheduled professional treatment often drives pests deeper or spreads them to new rooms. Bleach sprays on baseboards can neutralize the active ingredients in certain products. Over-cleaning immediately after a visit removes the very tools you paid for. And moving infested items into garages or cars can spread bed bugs and fleas to new environments that are harder to treat.
Another pitfall is masking odors rather than removing food sources. Heavily scented cleaners and air fresheners do not deter roaches. Sanitation does. A single open cereal box or a nightly pet food buffet can maintain a roach population in spite of professional-grade baits.
Communicating with your pest control company
Clear communication is a service multiplier. Share your goals. Do you need a one-time knockdown before hosting out-of-town family, or are you ready for a recurring quarterly plan that blends exterior barrier work with interior monitoring? These choices affect product selection and prep recommendations.
Ask about product classes to avoid resistance. If you have used the same gel bait for months with decreasing effect, mention it. Your exterminator service can rotate to different active ingredients. Ask about integrated pest management steps like sealing and moisture control. A contractor willing to talk through non-chemical controls is usually a good partner for the long term.
If you live in a multi-unit building, coordination matters. Pests travel along plumbing and electrical chases. The best pest control service plans address adjacent units and common areas. Share management contact information with your technician so they can advise the building on coordinated efforts.
A compact prep checklist for most services
- Clear access to baseboards, under sinks, behind or beside major appliances, and utility areas. Clean and store dishes, wipe counters, and remove food, pet bowls, and open containers from treatment zones. Vacuum floors and baseboard edges, bag and dispose of vacuum contents outside. Secure or remove pets, cover fish tanks, and store children’s toys and medical items away from treated areas. Confirm re-entry times and planned products with your pest control contractor, and coordinate cleaning schedules accordingly.
Budget, timing, and follow-ups
Preparation helps control cost. A typical general pest interior visit takes 45 to 90 minutes in a prepared home, but can double when technicians must move items or clean surfaces to place baits. If your exterminator company charges by the hour or has an access surcharge, prep translates directly into savings.
Many infestations require at least one follow-up. German roaches and bed bugs almost always need it, because of egg cycles and life stages that do not die immediately. Plan the follow-up at the end of the first visit, usually 10 to 21 days later, and maintain the prep standards in the interim. Keep a simple journal of sightings and times. For example, note that ants reappeared along the north window around 4 p.m. on sunny days. Patterns help target the next treatment.
Special cases: stored-product pests, pantry moths, and wasps
Pantry pests require discipline more than spray. Remove every dry good from the pantry. Inspect inside flaps of cardboard boxes. Transfer salvageable items to airtight containers. Vacuum shelves and crevices thoroughly, then discard the bag. The pest control professional may place pheromone traps to intercept adults, but the heavy lifting is your sanitation.
Wasps and hornets, especially when nesting in wall voids, call for a different kind of prep. Identify the nest entry from the outside, note the time of peak activity, and keep the area clear. Close interior registers or vents near the suspected void for the treatment window so agitated insects do not enter living spaces. If your exterminator needs attic access to dust the void, clear that path and make sure lighting is available.
The role of contracts and guarantees
Different pest control companies structure warranties differently. Some offer 30-day callbacks on general pests, others 60 to 90 days, while bed bugs are often handled on a per-room or per-unit basis with specific prep requirements tied to the guarantee. Read the terms. If the guarantee is contingent on preparation steps like bagging laundry or reducing clutter, follow those steps. Failing to prep can void the warranty and drag the process out.
A solid exterminator company will also document what they did. Look for service tickets that list product names, active ingredients, quantities, and locations. Keep these records. If future services occur, you and the technician can avoid repeating ineffective approaches and can rotate strategies to prevent resistance.
Why preparation is worth the effort
The best pest control service is a partnership. The contractor brings technical knowledge, professional products, and trained hands. You provide access, sanitation, and the local intelligence that only a resident can offer. That pairing shortens timelines and often cuts the number of treatments needed by half. In tough cases, like a deeply entrenched German roach infestation, prep can mean the difference between three visits and six.
I have watched homeowners turn around stubborn pest problems without changing contractors, products, or schedules, simply by tightening up preparation and follow-through. Clearing a six-inch strip along the baseboards, keeping pet food sealed between meals, laundering bedding on a strict cycle, and honoring re-entry windows do not make for glamorous stories. They do make for quiet kitchens and uninterrupted sleep.
If you are reading this before your first appointment, you are already ahead. Take the evening to stage the home, line up questions for the technician, and plan light housekeeping to protect the treatment. When the exterminator knocks, you will have set the stage for the results you want.
Clements Pest Control Services Inc
Address: 8600 Commodity Cir Suite 159, Orlando, FL 32819
Phone: (407) 277-7378
Website: https://www.clementspestcontrol.com/central-florida