Rentokil quoting £5.5k to eliminate moths -- isn't that rather dear?

[Mothsemptiedmybankaccount]

We've had moths for a year in a 3-bed house. I notice ten or twenty of the fat blisters hanging about on the walls every night when I go to bed in our bedrooms at the mo. Don't know where they're coming from. They appeared when DH decided to reorganise all our books during Lockdown 1. We got Rentokil round today to quote for getting rid of them. They quoted £5.5k for five fumigation sprays, which have to happen once a week and we have to stay out for four hours minimum afterwards. Doesn't sound very safe. On the fourth week, they bring their 'heat pod', which all our clothes (family of 4), duvets, sheets, go into and it heats them to 60 degrees centigrade, for an hour.
I know moths are tenacious little bastards. But am I being unreasonable to think there must be a cheaper/less toxic way? NO - I have solved this problem without emptying my bank account and spraying my house with neurotoxins, here's how; YES - This is the only way, I speak from bitter experience.

We had moths

They live in quite undisturbed places, eg in the carpet under a book case that you never move would be typical

We moved all our heavy furniture and found various patches with what looked like “grains of rice (larvae) lying around and holes in the carpet.

Bought stuff of a specialist pest-control side:

-1 spray for the carpet
-2 spray the air/fumigation

We did it ourselves in 1 day, room by room

Then again, as per instructions, 2 or 3 weeks later

Not seen moths for 2 years now, but found a moth eaten scarf at the back of the coat cupboard (which we did not fumigate and can go undisturbed for months), so suspect a few buggers may still be around

Anyway, that sort of worked for us.

Cost about £40 for the sprays

Check your hoover, ours had set up home in there. It was gross but once the hoover had been treated we were rid them. We went through a lot of the other places they could be before we thought of the hoover though!

It was a Henry hoover and when I clicked off the top bit they all came out in a cloud [vomit]

What sort of moths? Clothes moths, flour moths..you can identify them on Google/YouTube then look on Amazon and see a range of products to get rid of them.

We had an infestation of flour moths. Dealt with by chucking out infested food, scrubbing the food cupboard and hanging up moth pheromone-trap papers.

@Shehasadiamondinthesky

* I often get my house fumigated for around £100.*

Do you use this phrase at dinner parties?
Chuckling away here!

Ours were carpet (cloths) moths

Rentokil are extortionate. Get a quote from a local pest control company.

Are they mad. Unless you have a clothing warehouse. Agred with trying home remedies.

We have a mouse problem here. Horrific.
We've been quoted £180 for three visits by a local company.
I am not a pest control, but your quite seems fantastical!

*Pest control expert

Yes to them hiding out undisturbed behind heavy furniture. Go through a room at a time, shifting everything. You will probably find they are in the carpets. It might be better to chuck the carpets tbh because they will still look holey even after you get rid of the moths. The rentokil quote is utter madness! Having said that, there are different sorts of moths - did they actually identify the type? (they have different diets).
My parents used to have massive moth problems on and off. I managed to get a (fortunately minor) moth infestation after I inherited an upholstered chair of theirs, so don't forget to treat soft furnishings as well. You can certainly do it yourself for not too much money - but a lot of effort!

These people are brilliant, well their stuff is brilliant.

We had cluster flies..

www.pest-expert.com/clothes-moths-18-c.asp

We used their smoke bombs in the attic and we did it every year on Bonfire night, so we were all out of the house for several hours, coming home somewhat tipsy from the fireworks to hoover up dead flies was ummmmmmmm interesting, but they appear to have more or less given up as we now only get one or two at a time, it used to be like something from a horror movie.

What are cluster flies?
Cluster Flies (Pollenia rudis), also referred to as loft flies or attic flies, are a pest typically associated with rural locations. They live outside during the summer months but invade homes and lofts in their hundreds and sometimes thousands during the autumn, winter and spring. The cluster fly typically measures 6-10mm in length and has a dark grey to olive thorax.

Get a cat! Although with lockdown prices of puppies and kittens have gone crazy so might not be much cheaper.

I've just ordered a load of stuff from Amazon, thank you @msbevvy. I'm going to get some quotes from local companies, if I can find any. I'm not hugely comfortable with five sprays over five weeks. If the stuff is toxic enough to mean you shouldn't come in for four hours, it doesn't sound great having it hanging around for ages. I wonder if we can get away with one or two fumigations and otherwise a good hoover/moth stuff in cupboards/ clear up piles of junk.

I bought a moth bomb from Amazon. It worked.... at a TINY fraction of the price!!

It doesn't solve the toxin problem though and I agree I didn't feel particularly comfortable knowing that these chemicals were all over everything for weeks afterwards. At the time it was only me living there though, so went ahead with it.

Amazon sell smoke bombs (probably exactly the same as rentokil use) Use a couple in each affected room, return after a couple of hours and open windows, job done for about a tenner. If necessary repeat again a few weeks later. The number and location of bodies will probably tell you where they're coming from. Ours were from the chimney, thanks to a birds nest.

A carpet guy told me it's often old wool underlay rather than actual carpets that get infested.

I bleached my kitchen cupboards and sprinkled bay leaves in all the food cupboards as a deterrent

I didn't know bay leaves deterred moths! They smell lovely, too.

I have a big bay tree in the front garden, I may snip a few bits off and hang them in the house.

There is something called Formula C that works really well on moth infestations. You can spray it directly onto carpets or anywhere else they are laying eggs, or just spray it into the air. You just need to leave the room for 15 mins then air the room afterwards, so not too impractical.

Your local council will have a pest control dept & it won't cost you much at all. I've just check my one & they charge £100 for moths & that covers up to 3 visits.

I had a severe moth problem (moved into a new house and the carpets were riddled with them). I ripped up all the carpets and replaced with man made - I was a bit worried they would be cheap and nasty and give me hair static but they are really nice actually.

Then relentless hoovering - I bought a Miele hoover aimed at people with pets - you need to ensure the micro filter doesn’t allow eggs to escape so needs to be very fine. Then make sure you use a narrow attachments and get into the corners, under furniture, and along the skirting boards. Hoover a lot. Also get those pheromone moth traps to kill them and allow you to track moth numbers. You can get sprays for carpets too which I use if I see a moth in the vicinity of the carpet - I think it’s called C+ and is on Amazon. As for clothes - have a clear out - shake everything out (ideally in sunlight), dry clean or freeze anything expensive and put in plastic bags or boxes with moth repellant (cedar balls or something chemical). I’d also hot wash anything I could to kill off eggs and then tumble dry for good measure. You should inspect your wardrobe regularly too. If they are living in your books then I would throw them out, then bleach/anti moth spray/hoover the book shelves and you could do this with the inside of your wardrobe too. Some people recommend using diatomaceous earth as a non-chemical approach to carpet infestation but I have always used chemicals.
Good luck with it!

Op I naively used to watch them flutter around my bedroom until I realised what they were and how they had eaten through a cashmere jumper.

I took every item of clothing outside and hung on washing line, washed etc
... Hoovered out wardrobe.. Lots of light.. They love dark spaces. Emptied all drawers out on lawn.. Looked at each clothing item.. Hoovered draws etc.. Moved furniture over carpet, hoovered, dabbed loads of lavender oil in drawer and wardrobe and hung moth repelenet stuff.. Kept airing all bedrooms.
And did that once a year.. Not seen then since

@BernardsarenotalwaysSaints That's a great thought but my local council pest control dept doesn't seem to cover moths, according to their website. Ringing them nonetheless!

Oh yes I got some pheromone moth traps too

Have you tried mybuilder? I’ve had work through them many times.

That is nearly my yearly rent (also 3 bed) so maybe just move somewhere else instead for a year?

Check your household insurance to see if you're covered for the damage they've caused if not getting rid of the infestation.