Bites that line up along a wrist, rusty specks on a pillow sham or a flat brown bug in the welt of a mattress are how most Los Altos households first learn they have bed bugs. Our licensed technicians inspect and treat ranch houses, two story homes, guest cottages, condos and apartments in Los Altos, and every plan is written down before a single room is treated. Ring us, or fill in the short form here, for a free bed bug control quote.
Los Altos has 2 ZIP codes, and each has its own area page. 94022 covers downtown Los Altos and the northern part of the city, plus a large share of the Town of Los Altos Hills, including Foothill College. 94024 covers the southern part of the city around Loyola Corners and Woodland Acres, the unincorporated Loyola area by the Los Altos Golf and Country Club, and more of Los Altos Hills.
Bed Bug Help From Downtown Los Altos to the Foothills
Bed Bug Control Services in Los Altos
Every job here starts with an inspection. A single story ranch house on a quarter acre lot, a newer two story home and a condo near El Camino Real can each need a different plan, and a property with a back cottage adds a second building to check.
Bed Bug InspectionOur licensed technician confirms whether bed bugs are present and lists every room and building where they are active.Learn more 
K9 Bed Bug InspectionA trained scent dog finds live bed bugs and eggs hidden in furniture, trim and wall gaps.Learn more 
Bed Bug Heat TreatmentRooms are heated past the point bed bugs and their eggs can survive, usually in one day.Learn more 
Chemical Bed Bug TreatmentProfessional products placed in the cracks where bed bugs hide, with return visits timed for late hatching eggs.Learn more 
Bed Bug FumigationThe house is covered with a tent and filled with a gas that reaches every wall void and stored item.Learn more 
Bed Bug Steam TreatmentVery hot, dry steam kills bed bugs and eggs on contact in mattresses, cushions and upholstery.Learn more Why a Can of Spray Will Not Clear a Los Altos Bedroom
Bed bugs rest in the folds of a mattress, the screw holes of a bed frame and the seam where carpet meets the baseboard. A store spray reaches only the bugs out in the open and can drive the hidden ones into the next room.
Eggs a single female bed bug can lay in her lifetime.
Source: Virginia Tech Cooperative ExtensionFrom egg to a breeding adult at room temperature, so a small problem grows fast.
Source: Virginia Tech Cooperative ExtensionStore-bought foggers tested by Ohio State researchers had little or no effect on bed bugs.
Source: Journal of Economic Entomology, 2012Why Bed Bugs Turn Up in Los Altos
Bed bugs do not care how clean or costly a home is. They travel in suitcases, carry-on bags, moving boxes and used furniture, and they settle wherever people sleep.
The 2020 Census counted 31,625 people in Los Altos, a city of about 6.5 square miles that incorporated in 1952. About 79% of occupied homes are lived in by their owners, so roughly 1 household in 5 rents. The median age in both ZIP codes sits around 47 to 48. Most of the city was built out between 1950 and 1980 on lots of at least a quarter acre, so spare bedrooms and back cottages are common. Here a problem usually starts with a trip or a visitor, not a shared wall.
Quarter Acre and One Acre Lots: Cottages, Pool Houses and Studios
Los Altos sets a quarter acre minimum for most home lots, and next door the Town of Los Altos Hills requires at least 1 acre. Big lots hold buildings a quick inspection can skip: a guest cottage, a pool house with a daybed or an office with a sleeper sofa, often used by an au pair or visiting parent and then closed up. Bed bugs can live for months between meals, so a few left behind wait for the next guest.
- Tell us about every building on the lot where someone has slept, even once.
- Check the daybed or sleeper sofa in a pool house or office, not just the bedrooms.
- Treat the main house and the guest building in the same plan when both show signs, so bugs do not move from one to the other.
No Downtown Hotel, So Visitors Sleep in Your Home
Downtown Los Altos has no hotel, and the city keeps commercial zoning to downtown and a few small centers along Foothill Expressway and El Camino Real. When grandparents, cousins or business visitors come to town, many of them stay in a family guest room instead.
- Before the visit: zip the guest mattress and box spring into encasements so any bugs have nowhere to hide.
- After they leave: run the sheets, pillowcases and throw blankets through a hot dryer cycle before folding them away.
- A week later: check the mattress edges and headboard with a flashlight, since eggs take about 1 to 2 weeks to hatch.
How Bed Bug Treatment Works in Los Altos
4 steps take you from a phone call to bedrooms, and guest rooms, you can use again.
- 01You call
Share your ZIP code, the size of the home, any extra buildings on the lot and what you have found. The quote costs nothing.
- 02We inspect
A licensed technician checks every sleeping area, from the main bedroom to the back cottage, and may bring a detection dog for a large property.
- 03Written quote
You receive the method, the prep list, how delicate furniture will be handled and the full price in writing.
- 04We treat and return
We treat each room with confirmed activity, then come back to confirm that nothing new has hatched.
6 Signs of Bed Bugs in a Los Altos Home
Guest rooms and cottages often have no one sleeping in them to notice bites, so look for these marks on the furniture itself.
Small itchy welts in a short line or tight group, often on the arms, neck or ankles.
Dark dots that smear like ink on sheets, mattress seams and bed rails.
Thin, tan skins that young bed bugs shed as they grow.
White, rice shaped specks about 1 millimeter long, tucked into cracks and fabric folds.
Adults look like a squashed lentil with legs and turn darker and rounder after feeding.
A sweet, musty smell in a room with many bugs.
Los Altos Areas We Cover
Choose your ZIP code to see the neighborhoods it covers, its housing and what we tend to find there.
Los Altos Service Area Map
We work across the whole city and its 2 ZIP codes, from downtown and the El Camino Real edge near Mountain View, south past Loyola Corners and Woodland Acres toward Interstate 280, and up into the Los Altos Hills foothills around Foothill College.
Nearby Cities We Cover
We also serve the rest of the Midpeninsula and northwest Santa Clara County, including Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, Cupertino and Los Gatos.
- Mountain View1 mi
- Sunnyvale3 mi
- Cupertino5 mi
- Palo Alto5 mi
- Stanford5 mi
- Portola Valley7 mi
- Santa Clara7 mi
- Saratoga8 mi
- Menlo Park8 mi
- Atherton8 mi
- Campbell10 mi
- La Honda10 mi
Renting in Los Altos? AB 551 Covers You
About 1 Los Altos household in 5 rents, whether it is a condo, an apartment near El Camino Real, a whole house leased from an owner who moved away, or a cottage behind someone else's home. AB 551, found in California Civil Code 1954.600 to 1954.605, protects every one of those renters, inside the city, in Los Altos Hills and in unincorporated Loyola alike.
- Landlords must give tenants a written bed bug notice.
- A landlord cannot show, rent or lease a unit they know has bed bugs.
- After a licensed pest control operator inspects, the landlord must share the findings with affected tenants within 2 business days.
- Tenants who report bed bugs are protected from retaliation.
Report signs to your landlord in writing, with the date and a few clear photos, and keep a copy. If you rent a back cottage, the owner of the main house is usually your landlord, so the notice goes to them.
What Bed Bug Treatment Costs in Los Altos
In Los Altos, cost depends mostly on how many sleeping areas are involved and whether a second building on the lot needs work, along with how much delicate furniture calls for hand treatment. Angi's 2026 US averages put a visual inspection at $65 to $200, a dog search at $300 to $600 and a single room at $200 to $400, with whole house work usually between $1,500 and $6,200. Your written quote, not a national average, is what you pay.
Los Altos Bed Bug Questions
Do you cover Los Altos Hills and Loyola too?
Yes. Both Los Altos ZIP codes, 94022 and 94024, also carry mail for the separate Town of Los Altos Hills, which has no post office of its own, and 94024 includes Loyola, an unincorporated census area run by Santa Clara County. We inspect and treat in all of them.
We have a guest cottage at the back of the lot. Should it be checked too?
Yes, if anyone has slept there in the past few months. A detached cottage, pool house or studio is often the first place a visitor stays and the last place anyone looks.
Family from overseas is staying with us for a month. What should we do before and after?
Before they arrive, put a mattress encasement on the guest bed and set up a luggage rack away from the wall. After they leave, wash and dry the sheets on high heat and look along the mattress piping and headboard with a flashlight. If you spot dark specks or tan shells, leave the room as it is and call us.
Can you treat antique beds and fine upholstery without damaging them?
Usually, yes, but the method matters. Our technician notes wood finishes, glued joints, silk, leather and other delicate pieces during the inspection.
What does bed bug treatment cost in Los Altos?
It depends on how many rooms and buildings on the lot are involved and which method suits them. Angi's 2026 US averages show a visual inspection at $65 to $200, a single room at $200 to $400 and whole house work at about $1,500 to $6,200. Budget from the written figure we hand you after inspecting, not from these averages.
What happens when you reach out: Bed Bug Control CA provides bed bug inspection and treatment across California. A licensed technician comes out to your Los Altos address to look for signs. We quote in writing, then treat once you say yes.