How to Prepare a Theale Home for Professional Carpet Moth Treatment

Decide the Scope Before the Day

Storage areas are either included or they are not. Both answers are workable; leaving it open until somebody is standing in the hall is not.

• Included: the loft, garage and outbuildings are treated with the rooms. More preparation, and it addresses the source rather than the symptom
• Not included: the rooms are treated now and the storage areas handled separately, knowing the rooms may be reseeded
• Worth knowing: in a property where the storage areas are the likely source, rooms-only is a repeat booking rather than a saving

The Week Before: The Rooms

1. Walk every carpeted room and look under one heavy item in each. Write down what you find
2. Decide about rugs, upholstery and stored textiles
3. Arrange for pets — fish tanks covered and pumps off, birds and small animals out for the day
4. Check access and parking

The Week Before: The Storage Areas

1. Clear a path. Somebody has to be able to reach the walls and the floor, not just stand in the doorway
2. Move vehicles out of a garage that is in scope
3. Unroll or open anything you want treated — a rolled carpet offcut cannot be treated while it is rolled
4. Decide what is being disposed of rather than treated. Damaged old carpet and underlay is usually better out of the property
5. Bring down what needs treating from a loft, if you can do it safely from the hatch. Do not climb into a roof space to do it
6. Tell us what is up there that you cannot bring down

The Day Before

1. Vacuum the rooms thoroughly, edges against the skirting included, and empty the vacuum into an outside bin
2. Clear the floor of small furniture, boxes, laundry baskets and toys
3. Empty wardrobe bases and the bottoms of fitted cupboards
4. Roll back any rug in scope and leave it in the room
5. Sweep the garage or outbuilding floor if it is in scope
6. Do not shampoo or wet-clean the carpets — a damp carpet is a poor surface to treat

What You Do Not Need To Do

• Empty the house or the garage
• Move anything too heavy to move alone — say which items instead
• Take up fitted carpet
• Go into the loft. Look from the hatch and report what you can see
• Get on a roof, for any reason

On the Day, and Afterwards

• Somebody over 18 present to give access
• People and pets out of treated areas while the work is done
• Tell us if anyone is pregnant, an infant, or has a respiratory condition
• Stay out of treated areas for the period given, then ventilate
• Do not vacuum for the period specified — too soon removes the treatment
• Keep vehicles out of a treated garage for the time given
• Expect some moths for two to three weeks; falling numbers are normal, steady or rising after four weeks is not

Treatment starts from £220. Tell us about the loft, garage and any outbuilding when you call, even if you think they are clear — in this kind of property they are what decides whether it comes back.