Why a Rug Is the Ideal Host
- It is wool, or wool with silk — pure keratin, which is the only thing the larvae eat
- It has an underside nobody looks at, pressed against a floor
- It sits still for years, often with furniture standing on it
- It can be picked up and carried to another room in thirty seconds
- It gets stored rolled, in the dark, for the length of a project
The sequence that spreads a house. Rug rolled and put in the spare room while the floor is done. Nine weeks later it comes back out. By then whatever was in it has had an undisturbed run in a warm dark roll, and the spare room's carpet has had nine weeks of company.
The Signs, and Where They Show
- Turn it over first. Most rug damage starts on the underside against the floor. The face can look perfect while the back is going
- Look at the covered parts — under a sofa, under a coffee table, the section that has been beneath something for years
- Look for thinning rather than holes. On a hand-knotted rug the larvae take the wool pile and leave the foundation, so you see the grid of the weave through a bald patch
- Check the fringe and selvedge if either is wool
- Look at the floor underneath, which often has the debris on it when the rug itself looks fine
- Fine silky webbing across the pile or backing
- A sandy debris the colour of the wool
- Small cream larvae inside cases the colour of what they are eating
- Bald areas with a ragged edge rather than a worn fade
Treatment Options, Honestly Set Out
Treating the rug in place
Works for an ordinary wool rug with a synthetic or cotton foundation, treated as part of the room. It is the usual answer and it deals with the rug and the floor beneath it together, which matters because those two reinfect each other.
Taking it out
If a rug has real value, or a natural dye, or silk in it, the sensible route is to bag it sealed where it stands and take it straight to a specialist rug cleaner or textile restorer. We treat properties; we do not clean, restore or value textiles, and a household product on an unstable dye is not reversible.
Disposal
An old rug with widespread damage and no sentimental or resale value is often not worth the cost of saving. Bag it before it moves through the house.
During a Project, Specifically
- Check every rug BEFORE it goes into storage, not after it comes out
- Store rugs rolled rather than folded, pile side out, and along the length — folding creases permanently and can crack an old foundation
- Do not stack rugs on a carpeted floor in a spare room for weeks
- Do not put them in the loft or garage 'until the work is done' — cold slows the problem and preserves it
- Check them again before they go back down
- If one has it, assume the room it was stored in needs looking at too
Treatment starts from £220. Tell us where the rugs have been stored and for how long — during building work that is usually the thread that explains the rest of the house.
Carpet moths in Maidenhead? Pest Services Berkshire treats carpet moths from £220. Carpet Moth Control in Maidenhead has the full detail, or call 0118 336 1366.