Bald Patches in Carpets in Newbury: Could Moth Larvae Be Responsible?

First: Is It Moths At All?

• Wear is gradual, in a traffic path, worst at doorways. It fades out into sound carpet at the edges
• Furniture crush is a flattened rectangle with sharp edges. The pile is compressed, not missing
• Sun damage follows a window's footprint and thins evenly
• Moth damage is irregular and patchy, with the pile grazed away and the backing showing through in places, and it appears where nobody walks

Position does most of the work. A patch in the middle of a busy room is wear. A patch under the bed is not.

Then: How Long Has It Been Going?

This is the part that changes what you do, because the size of the damage is a rough clock.

A larva feeds for months, not days — commonly two to three, and considerably longer in a cool room. A single larva eats very little. Visible damage means a population, and a population takes generations to build.

Reading the Patch

• Thinning you only see in raking light — early, but still months rather than weeks
• An obvious bald area under one piece of furniture — most of a year, typically
• Several separate patches in one room — more than one season, and more than one generation
• Damage in more than one room — well over a year in most cases, because the adults had to get there and then breed
• Backing exposed over a wide area — long-running, and the carpet is unlikely to be repairable in that spot

None of that is precise, and it is not meant to be. It is meant to correct the instinct that this started recently, which leads people to treat one small area and be surprised.

Why the Delay Happens

1. The damage starts where nobody looks — under furniture, along skirting, under a rug
2. The adults are small, avoid light, and run rather than fly, so they are easy to dismiss
3. The larvae are camouflaged inside cases the colour of the carpet
4. Nothing smells, nothing bites, and nothing is noisy
5. The first thing anybody moves the furniture for is usually a redecoration, a house sale or a move

Is It Still Active? The Test

1. Photograph the patch with something for scale
2. Mark the boundary in pencil, or lay a line of pins along it
3. Write the date on the photograph
4. Look again at four weeks and at eight
5. Grown past the mark means active. Unchanged means historic

Fresh webbing, loose sandy debris and live larvae all say active on their own. Their absence is worth confirming with the mark rather than assuming.

Treatment starts from £220. Assume it is older and wider than it looks, and check the other rooms before you book anything — it makes the quote accurate.