What do you do to prevent moths?

[Joe Lawrence Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lawrence]

I’m curious how others prevent moths with your own rugs or new (to you) ones that enter your house? Some of my new to me acquisitions go directly to the cleaner for a moth bath then a cleaning. I have also placed some things in the freezer for a month.

My routine is to first vacuum it thoroughly in the garage then take the piece outside, blow it real hard with the leaf blower, brush it front and back, blow it again, one more vacuum front and back, then a slight once over with a very lightly damp cloth to pick up anything I may have missed. One more vacuum then I bring it in the house. I then follow up with weekly vacuuming. No moths yet and I inspect them all about once a month.

I am curious what others do.

[Steve Price Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Steve Price]

Hi Joe

I know of two tried and true methods. One is to put the piece into a zero degree F freezer for a day or two, then thaw it for a day, then back in the freezer, then thaw. This will kill moths, larvae and moth eggs. The other is to use a spray called "Sla", which kills without needing freezer space. Once a piece is moth-free, it shouldn't need much attention to keep it that way. I'm pretty sure this was discussed some years ago. If you go to our home page, then to Archived, then do a Google search for moths or for Sla, it should turn up.

Steve Price

PS - I just did the search. The URL for the discussion is at TurkoTek Discussion Forums - moths...Oh the HORROR...the Horror

[Joe Lawrence Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Joe Lawrence]

Thank you Steve

[Steve Price Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Steve Price]

Glad to be able to help. Sla is used by many dealers to keep their inventory from getting infested.

Steve Price