If you’ve served as the main course at a bed bug buffet, you may feel like you’d rather burn your mattress than ever sleep on it again. Of course, with the cost of a good mattress, that’s pretty expensive revenge. And if one tiny bed bug lingers (well, OK, it takes two), your new mattress could become infested before you drag the box out to the dumpster. Instead, consider encasements.

Encasements trap any lingering bed bugs and eggs inside where they can never get at you. The bugs can’t bite through the plastic, and specially designed seams and zippers keep them from crawling out. Eventually they suffocate and die. Encasements are meant to remain on your mattress and box springs for as long as you own them.

The beauty of encasements is that they also protect your mattress and box springs from future bed bug infestations. If you cover your mattress and spring set as soon as you buy it, bed bugs will never be able to burrow inside and hide. Should you ever suffer a bed bug infestation, encasements make it easier to find and kill the little nasties. To find out more about Protect-a-Bed bed bug-proof encasements, click here.