I have searched several threads for answers on DDVP, but haven't found any regarding the possibility of using strips for shorter periods of time. Here's my situation. We just returned from vacation, and I have strong suspicions that the room we stayed in for one week had bedbugs. I called the night we checked in and a guy came to check out the room, but he only checked the mattresses and gave me enough bad info on bed bugs that I know he didn't know what he was talking about. Long story short, my husband thought I was over reacting, but I did find three tiny blood smears on my sheet over the week, and then my daughter found one on hers the day after we returned home. The day we returned, I left all our luggage outside, we all took showers, and I washed and dried everything the next day. However, some shoes were left in the kitchen that we had worn, and I did not bag the laundry loads as I carried them to the washer. I also woke up with a suspicious "rash" on my face two mornings after getting home (and I never get pimples or anything on my face).
I sprayed my luggage and our shoes with permethrin (which I had here due to ticks) the day after getting home. The luggage bags are still outside, but the shoes have come back in the house. Our mattresses already had encasements on them. I bought the DDVP strips and put one in my van, but took it out after 24 hours to place it in a bedroom. Here is where my question comes in. We don't have the money to stay in a hotel (and at this point, I don't ever want to stay in one again), so we can't leave our house for a few days to use the strips all over the house. I also have my sister's family coming to stay for the weekend, so I want to kill any hitchhikers that may have come home with us (if any actually did). Is it possible that the DDVP strips MIGHT (I know there are no guarantees) kill a few non-established bugs if I left them in bedrooms (unoccupied during the day) for 12 hours at a time with a low fan going (and hvac sealed and towel blocking bottom of door)? Or will the vapors not have time to build up enough to kill anything? The bedrooms are all 15x15, and the strips are hotshot no pest 65 grams. Again, no one would be going in to the bedrooms during this time. And how many hours are necessary to kill bedbugs that may have snuck into smartphones or ipads? I put them into a bag with a strip, but there is no info for bedbug usage at all on the hotshot label.
I know that bedbug eradication must be thorough and the process is overwhelming. It's hard to tackle all that when I don't even know if we had them or if I was just linking random coincidences together, but I surely don't want to end up with an infestation because I did nothing. Thank you.