Carpet Moth Damage Beneath Sofas and Wardrobes in Cookham

What Is Actually Inside a Sofa

Depends entirely on its age and how it was made, and the difference matters.

• Hessian — jute webbing and lining. Plant fibre, so not itself a food, but it holds dust, hair and debris that is
• Wool wadding, in traditionally upholstered and better modern pieces. Genuine keratin
• Horsehair, in antique and traditionally reupholstered pieces. Pure keratin and an excellent food source
• Feather and down, in cushions and seat pads. Keratin
• Coir and cotton felt, common in older pieces
• Foam and polyester wadding, in most modern furniture. Not food at all

Where To Look, In Order

1. Turn the piece over and look at the hessian on the underside. This is where it usually shows first
2. Under the seat cushions, in the crevices and along the deck
3. Inside the cushion covers, if they unzip
4. Along piping and seams
5. The floor underneath, and the underside of any rug it stands on
6. The back panel, which on many pieces is a thin cloth you can see the state of without removing anything

And the Other Soft Furnishings

• Curtains — wool or wool-lined ones, at the hem where they meet the floor and in the folds at the top behind the heading tape
• Curtain interlining, which is often cotton bump but sometimes wool
• Cushions and throws, particularly wool and sheepskin
• Upholstered headboards and ottomans
• Dining chair seat pads, which are frequently horsehair in older sets
• Fitted window seat cushions

And Then the Floor

Still worth doing, and still where a great deal of it is. Divan beds with drawers, under and behind wardrobes and chests, the carpet edge against the skirting, under rugs, the airing cupboard.

The point of this page is not that the floor does not matter. It is that a house where only the floor was ever checked has a blind spot roughly the size of its furniture.

Checking Without Damaging Anything

1. Get help turning anything heavy — one person tipping a sofa is how frames get broken
2. Torch held low and almost parallel to the surface
3. Unzip cushion covers if they unzip; do not force anything that does not
4. Do not remove a fixed base panel or back panel on an antique or anything reupholstered — that is an upholsterer's job
5. Photograph what you find before clearing it

Treatment starts from £220. Tell us what the upholstery is and roughly how old it is — in a house like this the furniture often decides the scope more than the floor area does.