Rugs

I’ve been battling wool moths in my mom’s Navajo rugs for a number of years. I’ve tried all the things… combos of vacuuming, diatomaceous earth, sunlight, air, sachets both homemade and purchased, moth traps, sprays that won’t hurt the rugs, my grandmother’s cedar chest…

It’s when I opened the cedar chest and a wool moth flew out that I got seriously pissed, and got real. I called a local rug cleaner that we’ve used in the past. They wanted $2.95 a square foot to treat the rugs. There are 22 rugs. I can buy a used car for what that would cost. And the gal couldn’t tell me what the chemical treatment might do to fragile 100, possibly 150+ year old Native American rugs. All she could do was say that they’d likely have me sign a damage waiver. I thanked her for her time and tried to find a freezing service. 

Freezing textiles at zero degrees for a week is a known wool moth/larvae killer. I was unable to find a local outfit that provides this service. Shipping the rugs across the country to be frozen for a week, and then returned is unaffordable. So….

I bought a 9 cubic foot chest freezer (that will convert to a fridge) for $299, delivery (tomorrow) is $79, and another $30ish on bags that the rugs are now all vacuum packed in. DYI-ing this is SO must less expensive than what comes next. I also tucked all of my wool yarn into the bags with the rugs.

Next up is to text the pest company that takes care of my MIL’s house and see if they can do what needs to be done in order to make sure that not one fucking wool moth survives in our house. Even if we have to spend the night at a local hotel, with the cat…

The thing that perplexes me about this is, where did they come from? We have wool Persian rugs that are unaffected by this infestation. Is it the colorful dyes in these rugs that the moths don’t like? And the Navajo rugs were fine when they were on the Island. Do the moths thrive in a more controlled temperature? Was it the fireplace smoke that kept them at bay at mom and dad’s?? Before the rugs came here, we’d never seen such a nefarious creature. One gratifying thing about wool moths (please God, forgive me) is they are slow chaotic flyers, and easy to kill 😡.