How to Kill Fleas on Furniture & Clothing

An indoor flea infestation often starts when fleas hitch a ride on your pet and enter your home. A female flea can lay up to 2,000 eggs in her lifetime. If not controlled immediately, fleas can emerge everywhere, including on your furniture and clothing. Aside from treating the source of the flea infestation, you must also kill fleas on items such as clothing and furniture to completely get rid of the problem.

Things You'll Need

• Washing machine
• Dryer
• Trash bags
• Trash bag ties
• Flea powder
• Garment bags
• Vacuum cleaner
• Insecticide

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Instructions

Killing Fleas on Clothing

• 1

  Wash your clothes in a washing machine set to the hottest cycle. Use regular detergent and fabric softener as you normally would. The hot water kills all life stages of the flea, including the larvae and eggs.

• 2

  Place the washed clothes in a dryer set to the hottest cycle. Any fleas that survived the wash cycle are killed during the drying process.

• 3

  Place clothes that can't be washed in hot water in a heavy-duty trash bag. Tie the trash bag with a trash bag tie. Place an extra trash bag over the bagged clothes and seal this bag also. Take the bagged clothes to the dry cleaners and have them clean the clothes.

• 4

  Use flea powder on clothes that cannot be washed or dry-cleaned. Take the clothes outside and dust flea powder on them according to packaging instructions. Hang them outdoors for at least two days, so all fleas are killed.

• 5

  Keep cleaned clothes away from infested areas to avoid re-infestation. Seal them in garment bags to keep them free of fleas.

Killing Fleas on Furniture

• 6

  Vacuum furniture and the floor around and below furniture. Vacuuming kills all life stages of the flea. Upholstered furniture is often prone to fleas, as is the carpet the furniture sits on. Seal the vacuum cleaner bag in a heavy-duty trash bag and discard it in a trash bin outside.

• 7

  Spray furniture and the carpet below the furniture with insecticide made for indoor control of fleas. Look for an insecticide that contains an insect growth regulator. Insecticide is effective for approximately six months. It kills adult fleas and flea larvae, and prevents them from laying eggs. Insecticide doesn't eliminate pupal cocoons.

• 8

  Vacuum your furniture and carpet daily for the next two weeks to eradicate pupal cocoons and fleas emerging from them.