ALERT!!! MOTHS ARE ATTACKING VICTORIA'S WOOL RUGS

Just because you aren't using your rug doesn't mean that something isn't. When you roll up your rug and store it away without cleaning it, even for a short time, clothes moth can make it their home.

Clothes moth like the climate in Victoria, BC and have done a lot of damage to many wool rugs. Clothes moths are very small, about an half an inch long, and are a golden colour, but it is their larvae that eats the wool on your rugs and clothing. After the egg hatches into a very tiny worm like larvae they immediately start eating your wool rug and it doesn't take long for them to do a lot of damage.

On May 12, 2011 Luv-A-Rug received 3 phones in a row about moths that have eaten area rugs. The first call came from Duncan, BC about many rugs that had moth damage to them. The rugs were cleaned then rolled up and store in the same room that their pet Parrots slept in. The owner was wondering how the clean rugs got infested since the rugs were not used.

The small feathers and bird droppings would have attracted the moths and then they would have moved onto the rugs for a more undisturbed food source. That is why wrapping your rugs properly after cleaning is so important. Even though the rugs were cleaned if they aren't wrapped up, NEVER IN PLASTIC, they can collect the organic dust from humans and pets in the air and moths will move in on your wool rugs.

Out of sight is not the best when it comes to your wool rugs. It may seem like an hassle or and added expense to get your rugs cleaned, but what is cheaper; getting your rugs cleaned or having to deal with a moth infestation or worse having to replace the rug?

The second call came from a storage facility here in Victoria that had a client who stored a very large rug in one of their units for under a year. The rug was around 15x20 feet and stored standing on one end and when they took it out of the storage unit one end had a lot of moth damage. Chances are that a rug that size had moths present on the rug before storing and it was not cleaned or wrapped prior to storing. The owners of the rug decided to toss the rug and the owners of the storage place called up and wanted to know how much to clean and repair it.

The third call was from a lovely retired lady who lives in Cordova Bay here in Victoria. She had a flood in her home and her British Indian rug got wet, so the rug was rolled up and put away while the flood damage was fixed to the rest of the floor. When she went to put the rug back she discovered that moths had damaged one end of it.

She called to get us to take a look at it, she had done a Google search for moth damage, to see if it could be trimmed back and re edged. The boss is going to go take a look at it on Saturday when he does free pick up and delivery. I can tell you without looking at the rug that we can save her rug and make it usable again.

This rug is a 9x12.8 wool British India (Aubusson)and we are cutting both ends of the rug back to the same point of the pattern to make it symmetrical and serging the ends.

The rug got flooded and had a piece of furniture on it, so along with sever moth damage there is the rust stains as well.



There is also a twist to this story, the owners are moving into a small place and having to trim back the rug to a smaller size means that they can use the rug in their new dining room. It just goes to show that not all rug disasters end with the rug getting thrown out.

Now I bet you are thinking that we always say we can fix any rug no matter what shape it is in, but you would be incorrect. The staff at Luv-A-Rug know how the different types of area rugs are made and the cleaning concerns for each rug and stain.When you have us clean your rug we let you know if it is worth cleaning and what the cleaning results will be.

Before you throw away your old, really dirty, or damaged area rug bring it to us or get us to pick it up first. If you like your rug we will do our best to save it and make it lovable for you.

Here's to less rugs in the landfill, RugloverMary.