Wool Rugs Moth Damage

Clothes moths or carpet moths can be a serious problem, especially if not taken care of immediately. The larvae of these moths can eat away at your carpet fibers for up to 2 years, causing extensive bald spots on your valuable oriental carpet. There are 2 types of clothes moth that will lay waste to your area rug. Carpet moth damage can be a serious issue and prevention of carpet moth damage is the best solution.

• The Webbing Moth – This moth will lay between 50 and 200 eggs at a time. The eggs are laid deep into the fibers of the persian or oriental rug. The eggs hatch between 5 and 10 days later. The larva spins a silken tube which is used for protection. It gets its nourishment from the natural fibers of the handmade area carpet. The webbing moth attaches its tube to a dark area in the fibers and makes itself stationary so it feeds in just one are of the area carpet. The larvae stage itself can last as long as 2 years so you can see it could create a lot of damage to your oriental rug if left unchecked.
• The Casemaking Moth – This moth will also lay between 50 and 200 eggs at a time. The eggs are laid deep into the fibers of the persian or oriental rug. The eggs hatch between 5 and 10 days later. The larva spins a silken tube which is used for protection. It gets its nourishment from the natural fibers of the handmade area carpet. The casemaking moths larvae do not attach themselves to anything and thus they move around at will and cause even more damage than the webbing moth.

Unlike the moths you are familiar with, the carpet moth prefers dark areas and areas that have low traffic. The moth itself does no damage to your handmade area rug because once it becomes an adult moth it no longer feeds. Its only purpose from that stage on is to reproduce. It is the larvae that does all the damage by eating the fibers. Once the larvae hatch they leave a tiny cocoon shell that looks like a piece of rice. There is not a Vancouver carpet moth, no native cloth moth In Vancouver. These moths have generally come from Western Eurasia. They have the ability to eat keratin protein from wool and silk making them devastating to your homemade area rug. They prefer dirty area carpets which have organic material for a food source. Stuff like human skin or sweat, dirt as well as food scraps or human or pet hair. They do not need liquid to survive they only need moisture. They can actually survive in a mixture of natural and synthetic fiber carpets or just synthetic fiber carpets if there is enough of a food source caught in the fibers. You can tell if your carpet has been infested with the moth in a variety of ways. If you see adult moths flying around the house this is a bad sign. If you take a close look at your handmade area rug you might see loose fibers sitting on the top surface of your rug. This is from the larvae snacking on the natural fiber knots that are at the base. You might actually see the cocoons themselves but they are quite tiny and tend to be spun in the same color as the fabric to blend in to the carpet so they will not be detected. It can look like little rice grains. You might actually be able to see the larvae themselves squirming around the top pile of the area rug itself. The best way to try to prevent moth damage is to make sure you keep your area rug as clean as you can. This might mean getting your handmade carpet cleaned once a year for preventitive measures. But most importantly vacuuming on a regular basis and avoiding getting food or organic liquids in your persian rug. The cleaner you keep your carpet the better your chances of never having a moth problem. There are a variety of ways to eliminate carpet moths. Anoxic Method – This method removes the oxygen which of course will asphyxiate the moth and the larvae. Carbon dioxide, nitrogen and argon are the 3 most common gases used in this method. This method needs to be done by a professional and can be quite costly. Mouthproofing Chemicals – This is a preventative treatment. So the handmade area rug is treated before the problem begins. Talk to a professional like vancouver carpet cleaning company before you do this because you can definitely damage your handmade carpet if not done properly with the right combination and type of chemicals. Triazole and thiazole are a couple of these chemicals that have proven to prevent the larvae from eating. Mothballs – They are used as a preservative mainly but can also kill larvae in high doses. Mothballs sublimate into a gas and the vapors are toxic and cancer causing. They are very dangerous to pets and children. Insecticides – For this method you simply use an aerosol can and treat the carpet once a month for about 6 months and then do it every 3 months for another year. There are quite a variety of different insecticides made from different chemical compounds. Some are more toxic then others and some can be quite toxic to pets. Some of the more popular insecticides include permethrin, pyrethroids, and bifenthrin. Biological Method –  Camphor is a natural terpenoid that is an alternative to mothballs. It needs high concentrations to be effective. Lavender leaves with an additional few drops of lavender leaves can be effective in some situations. Trichogrammatid wasps are a very insect that are harmless to humans and will place eggs in the larvae and eat the larvae.  Physical Methods – Putting your carpet in bright light and brushing the pile back and forth exposing the larvae to light and dislodging the larvae might help. Freezing the carpet for 72 hours at a temperature of – 18 degrees fahrenheit or – 8 degrees celcius should do the trick. Alternatively you can use heat. You need to keep your oriental rug in a place that is 120 degrees farhenheit or 49 degrees celcius for a couple of hours.

Carpet Moth Damage Repair

Can your moth damaged area rug be repaired? Absolutely in most cases it can be repaired, so that is the great news. Here at Vancouver carpet cleaning and repair we have dealt with a lot of moth damaged area rugs, with great results. The problem mostly is that if the moth damage is extensive, the repair costs might not be worth it in the end. This is why it is imperative to call a professional like Vancouver area carpet repair so that the costs do not run too high. There are a variety of methods we here at Vancouver handmade carpet repair use to bring your area rug back to life. It depends on the size and condition of the damaged area. We might be able to retuft or reweave the damaged area of your handmade carpet. If the damage is not too severe we might be able to micro-shear the handmade rug saving on repair costs. For any questions regarding moth damage in the metro Vancouver area please Contact Us Here!