[james roffey]

Customer has asked me to take a look at a carpet that has been attacked by moths and wants to know what is the best way of dealing with this, what chemicals availlable for this type of investation, its not something in have come across myself

[Jim_77]

Jim, there is a bit of a legal thing here I think.... as an independent carpet cleaner you are not licensed to be a "pest controller" as such.  So I think you have to sell a service more under the heading of "containment".

Mostly, it's completely opposite to carpet cleaning.  Forget the traffic lanes and open areas; you have to drag all the wardrobes, sideboards, chests of drawers etc away from the walls and get to all the bits of carpet that don't normally see the light of day.

First job, go round and shake all the curtains and swat any adults that are still hanging around, because they tend to hide in curtain folds.

Vacuum vacuum vacuum, using a handi-groomer to really agitate the carpet and cylinder vac with upholstery tool.  All hands and knees work.

Then your options are either apply insecticide or HWE.  I don't subscribe to the theory that colloidal products will kill these things.  You can physically remove the adults, larvae and pupae from the house but you can't ever get 100% of the eggs out from the bottom of the carpet and you can't kill them even with insecticides.  So eggs can keep on hatching and you'll get more moths coming back.

I apply a growth hormone regulator which works up to 3 months after application.  Won't stop the eggs hatching but when the larvae start munching on the treated carpet, the chemical will stop them from pupating and thus breaks the life cycle.

I think you would need to get some sort of licence for use of such chemicals though.  It's part of my franchise licence, which is handy.

[james roffey]

Jim thank you for the detailed response the "customer" is a friend of mine and thought as a carpet cleaner i may be able to offer advice i told him i have no experience of this type of thing and mentioned to him that i would ask you guys on the forum thinking one of you must have some knowledge of this problem your reply is very informative and helpful Jim.

[Steve. Taylor]

James why not give JK a ring and discuss this product with him.


http://www.restormate.co.uk/epages/15094.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/15094/Products/0006d/SubProducts/0006d

[Bedfordshire Oven Cleaning]

Jim, there is a bit of a legal thing here I think.... as an independent carpet cleaner you are not licensed to be a "pest controller" as such.  So I think you have to sell a service more under the heading of "containment".

Mostly, it's completely opposite to carpet cleaning.  Forget the traffic lanes and open areas; you have to drag all the wardrobes, sideboards, chests of drawers etc away from the walls and get to all the bits of carpet that don't normally see the light of day.

First job, go round and shake all the curtains and swat any adults that are still hanging around, because they tend to hide in curtain folds.

Vacuum vacuum vacuum, using a handi-groomer to really agitate the carpet and cylinder vac with upholstery tool.  All hands and knees work.

Then your options are either apply insecticide or HWE.  I don't subscribe to the theory that colloidal products will kill these things.  You can physically remove the adults, larvae and pupae from the house but you can't ever get 100% of the eggs out from the bottom of the carpet and you can't kill them even with insecticides.  So eggs can keep on hatching and you'll get more moths coming back.

I apply a growth hormone regulator which works up to 3 months after application.  Won't stop the eggs hatching but when the larvae start munching on the treated carpet, the chemical will stop them from pupating and thus breaks the life cycle.

I think you would need to get some sort of licence for use of such chemicals though.  It's part of my franchise licence, which is handy.

    Took me a couple of reads to realise you meant the moths and not the people in the house!

[peter maybury]

You have to check that ti is moths there are also other things such as fir beetle carpet beetle etc. You need to understand the biology of the target species in order to break the pattern successfully. Jim although j.h. do work it is the larvae that creates the damage so you will not be eliminating that straight away. With fir and carpet beetle adult will often return to the same place to lay their next batch of eggs.
I would recommend you either get some training or pass the job over to somebody who is competent. The professional use product  normally give yo much longer open times and this is a major factor with this type of pest...............

Peter
www.carpetcleqanercardiff.com

[Jim_77]

Hi Peter, yes I totally understand that it's the larvae that do the damage.  I always insist that the customer should keep inspecting and vacuuming for a good few weeks after treatment, which will stop any more significant damage happening as the population dies out.

[peter maybury]

the only way to eradicate successfully is to use a very long lasting residual insecticide and very often it will still require a respray.
Peter
wwwcarpetcleanercardiff.com

[wynne jones]

Although I'm in danger of Peter stomping me into the floor and spraying me with pesticides, I have found once cleaned and the customer is aware of it, a decent hoovering every now and then may be enough.

The reason I say this is most people who have had a problem weren't aware of it and when I tell 'em to keep an eye on it and that they like dark places etc. when I've gone back it's not got any worse. I can think of loads of carpets I've done 3 or 4 times and it's been the same. Of course some have not bothered and it's their own fault if it's gone worse.

[peter maybury]

my  customers do not employ my services because in most cases or it might be sufficient.
They want a solution that works. Once the damage occurs the clock cannot be turned back.
If I was charging for a service and my customer experienced further damage  as a result of my treatment not working, I would feel that I was unable to provide the service that I was being paid to do.

Peter
www.carpetcleaner.com