Wool Carpet Moth Damage in Crowthorne: Repair, Treatment and Prevention

Order of Operations

This matters more here than anywhere, and getting it wrong is expensive.

1. Deal with the source. The roof space, the chimney, the outbuilding — whatever is producing them
2. Close the way in, at the roofline and between the loft and the rooms
3. Treat the rooms, so what is already in the carpets is dealt with
4. Then repair or replace the damaged carpet

Can Damaged Wool Carpet Be Repaired?

Patching

The usual answer for a contained area. A damaged section is cut out and replaced with matching carpet, ideally from an offcut kept after fitting. Failing that, a fitter can often take a piece from inside a fitted wardrobe or from under a permanent piece of furniture and patch the visible area with it.

Re-tufting

For a small patch, a specialist can insert new tufts of matching yarn into the backing. Slow and skilled, and it works on a limited area rather than a spreading one.

Rugs

A hand-knotted rug of any value can be rewoven by a textile restorer. It is worth getting a quote before assuming a damaged rug is finished, and worth keeping it out of the affected room until the house is clear.

When to replace instead

• Several separate damaged areas in one room
• Damage in a doorway or a traffic path, where a patch will show
• Backing or underlay affected as well as the pile
• A carpet already near the end of its life

Protecting a Good Carpet, Properly

If you have a wool carpet worth protecting and a house that keeps getting this, these are the things that make the difference.

1. Keep the roof space clear of stored textiles, and check it once a year from the hatch
2. Have the roofline entry points closed so nothing new nests there
3. Cap an unused chimney
4. Seal the loft hatch and the gaps around fittings and pipe runs
5. Vacuum the carpet edges against the skirting, not just the middle, and empty the vacuum outside
6. Move one heavy item every few months and look underneath
7. Keep the offcut from any new carpet

The Annual Check, Which Takes Twenty Minutes

• Loft, from the hatch, with a torch — edges and stored items
• Roofline, from the ground, with binoculars
• Under one piece of furniture in each upstairs room
• The airing cupboard and any stored bedding
• The outbuilding, if there is one

Late winter or early spring is the useful time, before the season starts rather than after it has.

Treatment starts from £220. If a carpet is going to be replaced, have the room and the floor beneath treated first, and the source dealt with before anything new is fitted.