hopefully ok to post here - 100% wool carpets

[ivejusthadacake]

have looked through archives and thought id ask for some up to date experiences from anyone who replies.

i have literally just ordered 100% loop woolcarpet this morning, a beautiful rustic grey with brown bits.

i know a loop isnt going to go the distance but we are hoping max of 7- 10 years.

we have a flat head vacuum with no rotating brushed so maybe that might help? i dont know though. we are also a no shoes house.

it was very inexpensive, so a 2x2 box room, a 3.5 x4 bedroom and stairs cost us £1090.

dh was mad for it as he wanted wool for its low flammability and i wanted a 100% man because im worried about carpet moths. I said ok to the wool as long as he took the bulk of responsibility for moths if we had any.

the one i bought isnt moth treated (or if it is, doesnt say) and the only mothproof ones i saw were crucial trading carpets which came out at £2, 600.

can anyone tell me if they've had carpet months lately?
if so, was yours an 80/20 wool or 100% wool?

how do moths get inside and will we have to unhook chests of drawers (the tall ikea malm ones) from the wall to lift up and vacuum/ routinely check for moths?

what the hell will we do with free standing wardrobes?

am i just being paranoid?

thanks i anyone can help.

[ivejusthadacake]

sorry wasn't very expensive

[Husbanddoestheironing]

It sounds lovely though. My dad got moths with an 80/20 mix, but we think that was after a guest with an infestation brought them in their luggage when they stayed for 2 weeks! You really need to do what he didn't and keep well-hoovered in hard to reach places to avoid it. Also there are sprays you can apply behind and under furniture to help protect it in between. Our 50/50 seems to be moth proof so far but it hasn't worn well and doesn't look as nice.

[P1nkP0ppy]

We've had 100% wool carpets for years and I've yet to see any sign of moths, let alone moth damage.
Either we're very lucky or moths aren't as prevalent as people imagine?

[ivejusthadacake]

ah, thank you husband, will google the sprays for under the furniture.

[JT05]

I'm a big fan of 100% wool or at least 20/80. They are easier to look after, don't flatten and can be repaired if damaged. I have never had moth infestation in carpets and our current hall/ stair carpet is 20+ years old and still looking good.

I have had moths eat cashmere woollies! But they didn't bother with the carpets! I hang loads of moth killers in the cupboards and also spray with a product called Zero.

[ivejusthadacake]

thanks for the replies. anyone else with wool?

[SquidgeyMidgey]

We have 80/20 wool carpets and had case bearing moths last summer. I hope had and not have. Kept seeing the little things on the ceiling, binning them, googled a few times and found nothing then one day moved a piece of furniture and the things had razored the carpet. Moved all the furniture and they were under everything in the sitting room. And they were in the furniture (on drawer bottoms in a backed unit etc), in pictures on the wall, the curtains, they were flipping everywhere. I hoovered the living daylights out of the room daily for a week, then weekly for a while and seemed to be clear. Then I found 3 about a month ago. Hoovered the whole lot again and no more since, touch wood. Little b*stards. I won't put new carpet in until I'm sure they've gone.

[SquidgeyMidgey]

btw you can get something called diatomaceous earth to put under the carpet and it kills them (and any other bugs really) but is harmless to pets and children. It looks like talc but it's actually very jaggy and rips their exterior so they dehydrate and die. We got some then didn't put it down because we thought we'd cracked it. might dig it out tomorrow and chuck it down this weekend.

[CointreauVersial]

Ugh, Squidgy, that's making me itch!

We had a very small patch of 80:20 carpet which was munched in our old house, but never saw any moths. I don't think it's a hugely common problem, though.

[amarmai]

100% wool carpet lasted 40+ years. Got dyed and steam cleaned too but no moths.

[peggyundercrackers]

I've had wool carpets in 3 different houses in several rooms and never had any moths. I've only heard of people having moths but never actually met anyone who has suffered from them, I thought they were very unusual.

[outputgap]

Trouble is that people with moths will reply, so this won't end up being a very representative sample.

But to try to even it up...Never even heard of it. Always had wool carpets.

[Moving15]

Never heard of it either. Had several rooms done with 100% wool carpets in old house. I much prefer this kind of carpet, Hoovers well and wears so well.

[Smidge001]

Never heard of moths eating wool carpets! We had 100% pure wool carpets in my parents house for 40 years and no issue at all. And they've never moved the big pieces of furniture to vacuum under/behind (eg drinks cabinet, which isn't exactly an easy thing to move).

As far as I know all our other relatives (spread around the country) have minimum 80% wool carpets, and again, never heard of an issue.

[ICantDecideOnAUsername]

No idea what mix our carpet is but we have carpet moths. Bastards. Go a lot of furniture that can't be moved so can't properly treat everywhere. Next house will be doing wooden floors and synthetic carpet if necessary.

[ivejusthadacake]

ah brilliant, thanks for more answers!

my mum and dad have 80/20 in their house and it was installed 2004, still looks beautiful but i think (my own anecdotal online research) the chemicals the carpets can be treated in production with has changed since 2009, so the moths are a bit more common now! so that's why was wondering if anyone has more recently.

[peggyundercrackers]

We have had 5 carpets since 2010 (house move) and no sign of moths, all were 100% wool loop carpets.

[Ragusa]

We have 80/20, and had moths thay have caused damage. Hopefully obliterated now. I still prefer wool to man madw though.

[LikeASoulWithoutAMind]

We've had various wool carpets and rugs in 4 different flats and houses over the last 20 years with no problems.

[nothruroad]

I think this very much depends where you live. Some areas are infested with them. I've heard this is a huge problem in the old tenement buildings in some areas of Glasgow. I had moths with my last wool carpet and found them impossible to get rid of long term. I never saw any over winter though so don't relax too much about there not being any till spring comes.

[Ragusa]

Yes quite, they go quiet in winter. And then.... they are everywhere. Really quite worried about my lovely new welsh wool blanket actually :/

[ledgeoffseason]

Very common in London? We had them and replaced with a moth-proofed carpet when we had to rent flat out ( didn't want to be responsible for 'our' moths eating tenants' suits!)

[sparechange]

You say it was inexpensive... Is it a sale carpet that the shop has had in stock for a while?
My neighbour had new carpets installed and then had a moth infestation quite shortly afterwards (within a year)

The guys who did the treatment said it isn't uncommon with roll-end carpet which has been stored in the shop for ages and ages
They also advised under NO circumstances to keep any of the off cuts in the attic or under the bed because it is a moth maternity ward...

[Pipbin]

We have just had to replace our wool carpet due to moths. The carpets were here when we moved in. Found the moths had eaten stuff 2 years ago and killed them with spray but I think it was too late as they were back the next year. Killed them properly with spray but they had destroyed so much of the carpet that we replaced it. It needed doing anyway.

[LadyIsabellaWrotham]

We're in London and have a terrible problem with them in the spare room, rest of the house not so much. DPs had a big problem with them in less used areas and hidden corners as well. I blame the clamp down on neurotoxic instectocides myself - the EU banned a bunch of chemicals on the frivolous grounds that they were massively hazardous to health and the environment and now I have holes in my carpet .