Carpet moths - is getting rid of the carpet the only solution?

[weywardwoman]

We have moths in the wool bedroom carpets. I worked obsessively last summer and hoovered every day. All the natural fiber clothes are frozen for a month or dry cleaned and sealed up. I find it very taxing. I get a bit obsessive about the moths. I am not normally obsessive about cleaning. I’ve lost some cashmere scarves but nothing else yet. My husband thinks we can live with them, but I worry what would happen if I was less vigilant.

The last couple weeks there are moth cocoons everywhere and 50p sized holes in the carpet under the bed. Hoovering alone doesn’t get them up. I
don’t want to do this anymore.

The family is sensitive to smells, so
all the sprays don’t work.

I need to pull out the carpets, don’t I? We don’t really have the budget for this. The carpets are only 6 years old. Has anyone saved the carpet and got rid of the moths?

I don't think you will get rid of them without treating the carpets. We had carpet beetles when we moved in here and had to change the carpets to be rid of them.

We had the exact same. Carpet just in the bedrooms but it was older than yours. When I moved the beds/wardrobe etc, there were lots of holes and I was shocked how nibbled and damaged the carpet was. I'd also lost good jumpers and scarves too.
We replaced it.
What is underneath the carpet? Could you remove the carpet and just have floorboards and rugs? I don't know if that is cheaper than replacing the carpet though.
I don't know if your council offer an moth/pest control options but maybe check their website.

We had the moths in the living room. Little cocoons in the gap between the carpet and the wall, eaten carpet behind the sofa and the moths flying around in the evening when we were watching TV! Had them for several months probably last year but they have gone now. Yay!
I am an animal lover and rescue spiders and flies but I was merciless with the moths. Picked out the cocoons with a knife, hoovered, and killed the flying ones. Also - maybe crucially - I read that they don't like lavender so I sprayed the carpet edges with a lavender-scented hand sanitizer spray. So keep doing what you're doing but also try lavender. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies. We just have
concrete under the carpet. If we replace it we’ll get Karndean or similar with rugs.

Sad to say we never managed to properly get rid, I will never get wool carpets again (we’ve since moved).

we did get these “bomb” things where you closed the door and lit a match and some kind of incense filled the room. Sounds very woo but actually fairly effective, killed anything living and I think quite a lot but not all of the eggs. Kept things at bay, but never totally got rid. It wasn’t particularly unpleasant but did stink the house out for days.

Lavender spray is the tool I can’t use, it triggers hay fever/asthma in my husband and kids.

In hindsight; wool carpets were a mistake.

I think you'll have to replace carpets which are so heavily infested.

Replace either with dirt cheap synthetic carpet (try https://www.carpets4less.com/store-directory/ )

If you go for laminate, then no wool rugs. There are rugs made from recycled plastic. (e.g. Weaver Green, - expensive but look on ebay for used, or you might find cheaper suppliers).

And lastly, to eliminate the remains of the infestation (there will be moth eggs everywhere), get some pheromone strips (e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Entopest-Professional-Common-Clothes-Pheromone/dp/B00KVGC5F6 )

We got some sticky things you put in corners, that give out pheromes or whatever they’re called, to attract the moths. They do catch quite a lot.

We had this during lockdown in hall, stairs, landing, sitting room - and clothes storage. We changed the carpets as soon as we could, fogged the rooms, and lived on bare boards while DH redecorated throughout. You may think this extreme, but if you don't eliminate the moths, they will spread to other parts of the house. Get advice from eg Rentokil if you don't believe what you are reading on here. We now have anti-moth papers/balls/cassettes in clothes storage cupboards and drawers, and regularly renew them. Dates for doing this are on the calendar. It is War.

I had them once and used a moth smoke bomb.

Everyone out of the house, set it off and go out for the day.

Came back to a lot of dead insects. The moths haven't been back.

Yep they do it’s properly grim. But they don’t catch the eggs so it’s never ending

Talk to pest control companies. The sprays they used for us didn't smell at all,

Love how your husband thinks it's liveable with, but you're doing all the frequent vacuuming and washing. May be he'd like to take over now?

Indorex flea spray really really works.
I found the moth sprays etc did nothing.
Spray indorex all around and you won’t see another moth.

We had them in a previous house. I didn't notice what was going on for ages because they came in through a vent behind a bookcase and destroyed a whole length of carpet between the bookcase and the wall.

And they also came through another vent in the cupboard under the stairs and destroyed the carpet in there. They were working for ages in quiet dark corners unspotted.

There are now these parasitic wasps you can buy which infect the eggs and kill them. It's what the national trust use apparently. I have some down at the moment. The wasps are tiny so I haven't seen any but will try to update later in the year if I see any moths.

I appreciate not only the good advice but the validation. It is war. To be fair on DH, it is likely disturbing to see me walk around with a war like gleam in my eye. After a quiet winter the reemergence of the cocoons has me back on battle territory. Last summer I worried about going on holiday because I’d leave them
free to lay eggs.

I’m off to the flooring shop. I just needed a little validation.

I had them in my living room wool carpet - I eliminated them by vacuuming, leaving moth traps (pheromone ones) behind the sofa plus natural lavender ones (they were from Lakeland) I vacuumed weekly emptying the bag each time (not bag less vacuum unfortunately) then replaced the bag a month later once I'd got rid of them fully. I replaced the lavender repellent every 6 months until I moved 8 years later but never got a recurrence.

Now I'm in a house with box months outside which are proving far harder to eliminate!

I work at a carpet shop. Once they've taken hold you'll never get rid of them. Get polypropylene carpets next time, once you've had moths once they'll keep coming back for as long as you have wool carpets.

We have had them in the living room a couple of times. The Lakeland spray is very effective but I think it is quite scented (it's been a while). They haven't spread anywhere else.

We had them in one of our Persian rugs, I bought stuff from mothkiller.co.uk , pretty certain that this is the name. It with spray, dusting powder, smoke bomb and a pheromone moth trap, plus gloves and a mask. It worked !