It came to me after I got home and I feel really stupid because it is my all time favorite type of wool rug: a Gabbeh! Yeah! so my brain cells were not working yesterday and after an amazing opening season hockey game between Vancouver Canucks(6) and Calgary Flames(0) and a semi good nights sleep I am feeling and looking much better. It was pretty good to walk into work and have my co-worker, who is a Chicago Blackhawks fan, give me a weak good morning because he knew that my team kicked butt and it put me ahead in our hockey pool, at least for today. Just a side note Detroit, the Stanley Cup Winners, lost to the assumed worst team, Toronto. It is a whole new season, gotta love it!!!!
Now onto today's topic now that I've gotten hockey out of the way.
Last week we had two orders of rugs come in with moth damage/activity one was 10 rugs and the other was 3 rugs. The ten rugs had a lot of empty moth larva casings and with the three rugs two of them had live little larvae.
Yes it got me excited, I cannot identify my favorite rug, but live moth larvae makes me happy. For Luv-A-Rug to clean and do our moth larvae treatment it can quickly add up so I am going to write about how to prevent moths from loving your rugs.As we all know when moving from place to place you just want things to get done as quickly as possible and sometimes things get put in the out of sight out of mind area.
When it comes to area rugs they should be professionally cleaned and wrapped properly for storage. There is a bit of a debate in the area rug cleaning community as to what is the best way to store area rugs. I will obviously write what Luv-A-Rug suggests and does when it comes to area rug storage.We like to wrap area rugs in Tyvek, that is what construction workers use to wrap houses in. It is breathable and moisture proof, under normal conditions. Tyvek is combustible at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, so keep away from open flame and all sources of ignition.
When storing an area rug after it has been properly cleaned and wrapped it should never go up against an outer wall or lay flat on a cement floor. These areas can be cold and wet which are not good for your area rugs. The best place to store area rugs is a cool, dry room with low humidity. When unwrapping an area rug that has been stored, it is best to do in a well ventilated area or outside to let the moth ball gas air out. If the moth ball smell lingers bring it into Luv-A-Rug and we can remove it for you.We all know the saying, 'An ounce of prevent is worth a pound of cure' and that is true when it comes to area rug storage. Another tip is to vacuum the entire area rug if it is under furniture. Moths love dry, warm , undisturbed areas and under a sofa or china cabinet is prime real estate. Also look on the under side of the area rug about 6-8 inches in, moths will crawl under the edges and lay their eggs on the bottom of the fibers. The moth larvae eat the wool loops on the back and the moth damage isn't visible on the front of the rug until it is too late and the moth larvae have eaten a large section of the area rug away. Moth's are sneaky and it only takes one pregnant moth to cause lots of costly trouble.
Thanks for reading, RugloverMary
