How Do You Get Rid of Carpet Moths in a Stanmore House?

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Step 1: Move the Furniture

The first and most productive thing you can do. In a larger house it is also the most work, and it is worth doing properly.

• Move the sofa — properly, right out from the wall
• Move armchairs, sideboards, bookcases and anything static
• Lift every rug and look under it
• Pull out under-bed storage and look beneath
• Open the corner behind a permanently open door
• Look along the skirting edges all the way round every room
• Check the sides of the stair treads
• Look under a piano, dresser or long-standing furniture

In most cases the damage is found within ten minutes of doing this, and people are surprised by how much of it there is.

Step 2: Identify What You Have Found

• Smooth cream larvae, up to about 10mm — carpet moth
• Silk webbing or small silk tubes across the pile — carpet moth
• Brown bristly larvae with shed skins — carpet beetle instead
• Bare patches with the pile grazed to the backing — either
• Small pale moths that scuttle rather than fly — carpet moth adults

Read nextCarpet Edge Damage in Stanmore – Is It Moths? →

Step 3: Vacuum Properly

• Crevice tool along every skirting, slowly, in every affected room
• Under furniture, not around it
• Both sides of every rug, and the floor beneath
• The sides of stair treads and under the gripper line
• Under beds and inside wardrobe bases
• Repeat every few days for several weeks
• Empty into a sealed bag and put it outside every single time

Step 4: Deal With Stored Wool

Frequently the actual source, and in a larger house there is usually more of it than people remember.

• Empty the wardrobes of wool, cashmere and silk and inspect every item
• Check the base and corners of wardrobes for larvae and casings
• Check a dressing room or walk-in wardrobe
• Check suitcases, under-bed boxes and the airing cupboard
• Check the loft — stored blankets, rugs, old clothing and rolled carpet are a classic source
• Check a rolled or stored rug anywhere in the house
• Hot wash anything washable
• Freeze what cannot be washed — sealed bag, domestic freezer, a couple of weeks
• Dry clean valuable items that take neither
• Store clean and sealed afterwards

Step 5: Treatment

Treatment reaches the base of the pile, carpet edges and under-furniture areas where the larvae actually are, and remains active as further eggs hatch.

Valuable Rugs and Antique Textiles

Worth handling separately, and worth saying we are not textile conservators.

• Tell us about anything valuable before treatment
• A Persian or antique rug may be better dealt with by a specialist cleaner
• Freezing works on smaller items and does not affect dyes
• Do not treat a valuable textile yourself with a supermarket product
• Rolled and stored rugs are a very common source and worth unrolling and checking
• We will tell you if something is better handled by someone else

What Does Not Work

• Killing the adults. They do not feed and do not damage carpet
• Mothballs. Unreliable against an established infestation
• Cedar blocks. Popular, largely ineffective once larvae are established
• Shampooing or steam-cleaning the carpet. Cleans it, does not clear the larvae
• Supermarket sprays alone. Surface-level; larvae are at the pile base
• Pheromone traps as treatment. Monitoring only
• Treating the carpet while ignoring the wardrobe or the loft

Afterwards

• Resume frequent vacuuming, edges and under furniture especially
• Move furniture periodically rather than leaving it static for years
• Store wool clean and sealed
• Consider pheromone traps as a monitor — they give early warning
• Check under rugs occasionally
• Check the loft when you next go up

Related Questions

How long does it take?

Activity reduces within a couple of weeks. Treatment stays active as further eggs hatch.

Do I need to lift the carpet?

No.

Will the damaged patches recover?

No. Wool that has been eaten does not grow back — which is the argument for dealing with it early.