Carpet moths-heat treatment success?

[House2025]

Hi all,
I've been battling carpet moths in our house since last year. They come over spring/ summer and we are struggling to get rid of them. I'm looking for advice and also want to hear how people have found full house heat treatments?

So far we have done the following in hope to eradicate-
-Removed all carpets last year and all reminants (they were wool) and have been living with bare floorboards for over a year.
-used parasitic wasps (last year)

• used moth traps

-moth bombs This year -done a full chemical spray ourselves (inch by inch) -last week paid professionals £1000 for a full house heat treatment to heat the entire house to 60 degrees + a spray treatment. But... Tonight I found more moths.

The moths are still here!!! I am so upset at the time, money and energy this is consuming and it's put me in a bad place mentally. I really don't want to live with the things.
We also regularly hoover and clean etc (as much as you can with a toddler in tow).
Has anyone had success with whole house heat treatment? Were we unlucky it didn't work? I thought it would be a sure thing and seems to be the most likely path which is why we paid out so much. I feel robbed. Other than moving house, I don't know what else we can do

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Carpet moths-heat treatment success?
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House2025 · Today 20:51
Hi all,
I've been battling carpet moths in our house since last year. They come over spring/ summer and we are struggling to get rid of them. I'm looking for advice and also want to hear how people have found full house heat treatments?
So far we have done the following in hope to eradicate-
-Removed all carpets last year and all reminants (they were wool) and have been living with bare floorboards for over a year.
-used parasitic wasps (last year)
used moth traps
-moth bombs This year -done a full chemical spray ourselves (inch by inch) -last week paid professionals £1000 for a full house heat treatment to heat the entire house to 60 degrees + a spray treatment. But... Tonight I found more moths.
The moths are still here!!! I am so upset at the time, money and energy this is consuming and it's put me in a bad place mentally. I really don't want to live with the things.
We also regularly hoover and clean etc (as much as you can with a toddler in tow).
Has anyone had success with whole house heat treatment? Were we unlucky it didn't work? I thought it would be a sure thing and seems to be the most likely path which is why we paid out so much. I feel robbed. Other than moving house, I don't know what else we can do

I had a moth nightmare in a previous property: lots of destroyed clothing/carpets, and cost a lot to put right

in surprised. you are still having issues as what you have done should be more than enough

is it possible you have overlooked a place they are nesting (wool insulation?)

I did not need to do the heat treatment in the end so can’t comment on that

I had clothes moths but they also ate the carpets. I did everything except the bombing and they came back the next year. Apparently they can lie dormant.

I continued with the moth traps and used chemical moth spray everywhere every night. Gradually there were gone.

You will get there but it's so horrible.

Thanks @user1471538283 . How long has it been since you have been moth free? I'm worried they will just return year after year...

Was it any particular brand of moth spray you used?

@thrive25 thanks for the suggestion to check the insulation. My partner did look previously and said it wasnt wool, but I will check again just in case. I can't believe how persistent they are! I think you only understand how much of a mental burden it is if you've been there, so thanks for your reply

Your question wasn’t for me but I had success with Pest Expert formulation C

the sprays and the ‘smokers’ (both the aerosol spray and the light up ones - didn’t seem to make much difference)

repeating the treatments eg monthly then every 3 months is what it took

I started this as I was fed up with paying so much for professionals … I think the products are pretty strong/toxic so if you can do them, go out, come back about 8 hours later to open windows and go out for the evening; this would be best

definitely not around kids

HTH

Also: source for us was an old feather cushion 🤮

chuck out feathers & rattan as they nest there

mine was so bad even some soft cotton fabric got eaten - sympathies

In a previous house had lots of moths and couldn’t get on top of them. Paid a professional pest company who sprayed every inch of the house and carpets including behind and under furniture and it worked. I had to vacate the house for several hours after and was told not to hoover the carpets for a couple of weeks but it was so worth it. I also remember not seeing any spiders or other insects for months as well in the house 😁

Thanks again @thrive25

The pest expert formula c is the one we used ourselves a few weeks ago and used the smoke bombs last year from them. Neither worked, but maybe we just need more applications. Good to know you had success with it as we may have to keep trying. I've been so reluctant to use chemicals as we have a 2 year old, but equally there isn't much choice 😕
I think the moths may be hiding down our floorboard cracks since we ripped the carpets up...

@House2025 : I did the liquid several times (I think monthly 3-4 times) and the aerosols at the same time

then smoke bombs every 3 months to maintain - for a couple of years

it was horrible, and when I moved I ripped out the carpet and had bare floorboards the first summer to try to prevent any isdues

you will get rid of them, it just takes time

do you have somewhere else you could stay with your child (grandparents?) on treatment days? This stuff is awful: I used to treat, go to work, pop home to air out and go out for evening

smoke bombs: pre holiday etc

good luck

The pest company said they will crawl and hide into really small dark places so behind and under furniture hence why everything in every room was treated. I don’t think I could have got it under control myself (I tried but kept seeing them).

I had it completely cleared after 2 years and didn't see anymore. I left moth traps out everywhere just in case.

It was a spray from Amazon with a lilac lid. I went through loads of it. I also put powder down between the floorboards (where I didn't have carpet). My replacement carpets weren't wool either. I got rid of anything that they had been at and washed everything with lavender essential oil (I don't know if this helped or not).

It's so horrible. I do hope you get rid of them.

We've been battling with moths for 3 years now sprayed every week for 6 months using the lilac lid product the numbers went down but come March, April they were back. Have used the parasitic wasps too and diatomaceous earth through the floorboards. The bombs are completely useless. I tumble dry all my knitwear and blankets (when they are dry already) it kills the eggs so at least they haven't left holes in anything and we use London Moth traps and catch loads of the buggers. I have just lifted the hall carpet - it wasn't wool. We've checked everywhere - insulation, loft etc - have no idea where they are living.

This worked for us:

scrape out the ‚dust‘ between the floorboards (that’s where the eggs may be residing), drench every inch with Aviro moth killer spray (i think this is the purple lid chemical from amazon). Needs to be done every few weeks but was effective.

Can you explain what you did exactly? - Did you wash all surfaces and then spray and shut doors for a period of time?

@Sleeplessinmetal : it was a bit of a mission so you have my sympathies

i managed to find the source (a feather cushion), binned that and lots of damaged clothing

washed/dry cleaned EVERYTHING I own

lifted carpets and vacuumed back of them (couple of times)

vacuumed lots including all the edges

vac & wash all drawers etc & removed any clutter/dark hiding places

then treated everything with pest expert formula C - several times

powder in crevices (formula c)

aerosol first, then used the smoke bombs

re the aerosol: I opened all my drawers & moved bed to expose everything

did the aerosol and went to work (closing room door behind )

I used 3-4 for a 2 bed flat : 1 for each 10x10 bedroom , 1 for living room, 1 on (carpeted) stairs & closed all windows & internal doors to concentrate the fumes

back in 8/10 hours later (mask on) - opened windows for 3-4 hours and went out for evening (summer)

repeated a couple of times at monthly intervals

1st year was horrendous, year 2 substantial reduction, year 3 it was over

I think finding the source & (if you can) lifting carpets is really key

HTH

Try moth wasps. They're really good.

From google:-

Moth wasps" typically refers to parasitic wasps of the genus Trichogramma used for biological control of clothes moths and other pest moths. These tiny wasps lay their eggs inside moth eggs, and the wasp larvae consume the moth egg, preventing the moth from hatching.

They are very easy to find and buy. Not toxic and not visible to the naked eye etc.

It's so frustrating not having an obvious source isn't it?do you have any other carpets? I do wonder if the moth eggs fell done my floorboard cracks when we ripped the carpets up. I can't think where else they may be

I think scrapping the cracks sounds like the best idea. I will give this a go and I might try the moth powder down the cracks as well as spray. Thanks

Also do you find the diatomaceous earth works or is it hard to tell given they are still there? I would love to use something more natural especially if I put it in the floorboard cracks as it won't be possible to clean it or hoover it back up. Thanks

Thanks, but this was the first thing I tried as I didn't want to use chemicals and bought quite a lot, but it didn't work. Perhaps our infestation was too severe at that time. Have you had success with the wasps?

We had the heat treatment last year and it seemed to kill a lot but not all of them. Trying parasitic wasps at the moment. Haven't ripped up wool carpets yet because we've got heavy furniture that we've built like 4 door wardrobes and I'm not sure they can be moved easily. I have only seen 2 this year though, it was several each day at this stage last year.

How soon after the heat treatment did you find more moths? Instantly or after weeks/ months?

I had the heat treatment done 10 days ago and straight away I have still been finding a few each day. So I'm not sure it helped at all. I'm not convinced it was done properly as I intentionally left a few candles in jars in my wardrobe and under sofa to see if the heat gets everywhere and they didn't even melt a little bit. So really gutting given how expensive it is.
I tried the wasps last year, but sadly they didn't work for us, but our infestation was really severe at that point, so it would be great to know how you get on with a smaller infestation

Just checked back through my e-mail and it was within days. But they didn't heat treat the kitchen diner, hallway or garage so it's possible that the heat treatment was effective but chemical treatment wasn't. It's really hard to know. We had a 2nd chemical treatment but again still finding moths.

Vaccuum. More than you think you need to. Move furniture. REALLY hard to achieve with a toddler.

We used the wasps (and more than one set and have just bought a new set as I saw a moth yesterday and am not going to be even slightly relaxed about it now), spray, traps, and pheromone things. Cost a fortune. Threw clothes out; put some things in freezers for over 24 hours. It took a few years, to be honest, and persistent treatment and lots and lots of vaccuuming.