How to Get Rid of Moths: Clothes and Carpet Moths UK Guide

How to get rid of moths comes down to one idea: the moth you can see is not the one doing the damage. Adult clothes moths do not feed. Their larvae do, in the dark, in the folds of wool and along the edges of carpets. Good moth pest control means finding those larvae and removing what they live on, in this order.

Most moths in your home mean nothing. Butterfly Conservation says Britain has over 2,500 moth species and that the vast majority are harmless. It names only two fairly frequent species as problems in the home: the common clothes moth and the case-bearing clothes moth. So before you empty a wardrobe, take a good look at what you have caught.

Behaviour is the quickest test. Lambeth Council says clothes moths are weak flyers and are not attracted to light, so they stay close to what they have infested, often in the dark part of a wardrobe. The Natural History Museum says they scramble across fabric rather than fly. A moth circling your lamp in the evening has probably come in through a window. Open the window, turn off the light and let it go.

A moth in the kitchen is a different problem. If you see them near cupboards, or small pale grubs climbing the wall or crossing the ceiling, you most likely have a food moth such as the Indian meal moth. The Natural History Museum says fully grown larvae wander away from food to spin cocoons, which is why they turn up in odd places. Skip ahead to the kitchen section.

Two other indoor species are worth knowing. Butterfly Conservation says the brown house moth and the white-shouldered house moth are the ones most often seen, that their larvae eat a wide range of dead animal and plant matter, and that they are rarely a problem compared with clothes moths. Oxford City Council does warn that brown house moths can damage textiles and leather, so treat them the same way if you find damage.

Outdoors, London has two moths that do matter, for a different reason. Butterfly Conservation says the hairs of brown-tail and oak processionary caterpillars can cause rashes, and that both are found in the London area. Do not touch hairy caterpillars or their silk nests. Contact your council about them. They are nothing to do with holes in your clothes.

Larvae are small, white and easy to miss. The Natural History Museum says a common clothes moth larva grows up to 13 mm, with a hardened brown head. It feeds on keratin, the protein in wool, fur and similar natural fibres. Adults have no working mouthparts and live on what they stored as larvae.

The timings explain why moths seem to come back. The museum says eggs hatch in 4 to 10 days in summer and up to three weeks in colder weather, larvae take from one month to two years to develop, and pupae take 10 to 50 days. English Heritage says one generation normally takes a year, with up to three in warm conditions. Rochdale Borough Council says a female lays 40 to 50 eggs.

Sources also agree that this has been getting worse. The museum's own news service linked warmer temperatures to three or four breeding cycles a season in place of two. English Heritage's conservators saw common clothes moth numbers double in five years before they launched a national survey in 2017. Butterfly Conservation ties the spread of this species to central heating and drier homes. A heated London flat suits it all year round.

What this means for you is simple. A sighting of adults is old news: the feeding has already happened. A clean-up on one Saturday cannot be judged the following week. Plan to keep checking for at least three months, which is our own working figure based on the hatching and pupation times above, and look again the next spring.

English Heritage lists the signs as webbing, droppings known as frass, holes in clothing, patches of lost pile on carpets, and cases or webbing under seats. The Natural History Museum adds that larvae leave trails across woollen garments and strip hair from fur coats at the base. A coat that sheds in clumps may have been grazed from underneath.

Look in the right places, because the damage is usually out of sight. English Heritage says to check crevices and creases, under collars, behind lapels, in pockets and turn-ups, and along folds. Lambeth Council adds cuffs and the crevices of upholstered furniture. Then pick out anything stained. English Heritage says textiles soiled with food or urine are attacked first, and Rochdale says females prefer fabrics stained with sweat or urine. A jumper worn twice and put away is more at risk than a clean one.

Each species leaves its own clue. The common clothes moth spins silk tunnels that can join into dense mats when larvae gather. The case-bearing clothes moth carries a small tube of silk and fibres, the same colour as what it is eating, so it can look like a grain of fluff until it moves. Colour-matched droppings are a known sign too: Los Angeles County's public health bulletin notes that the pellets are often the same colour as the fabric.

No silk at all? Then it may not be moths. Clean holes with bristly husks nearby point to carpet beetles, which eat the same fabrics and need a slightly different search. Our guide to carpet beetles in the UK covers that look-alike in full, so we will not repeat it here. If it is something quick and silvery on the floor, see how to get rid of silverfish instead.

You did nothing wrong. The natural home of clothes moths, English Heritage says, is bird and animal nests. Butterfly Conservation says the common clothes moth spreads mainly when infested items are moved, so a charity shop coat, a vintage rug or a box from a relative is a likely start.

London has more than its share. In English Heritage's Operation Clothes Moth survey, around 5,000 traps came back from homes in 42 counties. London and the South East averaged 23 clothes moths per trap, the highest of any region, against 3 in the East Midlands. The charity reported that flats are more vulnerable because they share walls, and that homes built before 1950 had higher numbers, with more voids, fireplaces and attics. That describes a lot of converted terraces in this city. If you have an active problem in a flat, ask your neighbours whether they have seen moths too.

Once the wardrobe is under control, work through the likely sources below. Stop if any of them means going somewhere unsafe, or handling something you are not sure about.

Set aside an afternoon, and do the whole wardrobe at once. Moving things around in stages only moves the larvae. Have large plastic bags, tape and a vacuum with a crevice tool ready. Open a window, and keep the work near the door so that you carry bagged items the shortest possible distance.

Bag as you go. English Heritage's freezing guidance says not to clean infested items first, because cleaning can spread eggs and larvae. Any brushing or shaking should wait until items are treated, and then be done outdoors. Lambeth Council says brushing along seams, folds and pockets destroys eggs and that larvae, which avoid light, will fall out of clothing, so brushing clothes outside on a bright day is useful for the items you are keeping.

Heat, cold and solvent all kill clothes moths. The method depends on the fabric. The sources do not quite agree on the numbers, so we use the cautious ones.

For washing, Lambeth Council says to wash in water at more than 60°C for 20 to 30 minutes. The Natural History Museum says heating fabric to 49°C for over 30 minutes kills all stages. Use 60°C for anything that can take it, such as cotton bedding. Do not boil your jumpers to be sure: a wool cycle is cool, so it is not a reliable way to kill eggs, and a hot one may ruin the garment. Always go by the care label. The museum says dry cleaning kills the pests and also removes the moisture and dirt the larvae need. Tell the cleaner that the item has moths.

For freezing, English Heritage says at least two weeks at -18°C. Its separate freezing guidance gives -18°C to -20°C for 14 days, or 3 days at -30°C. The Natural History Museum says a week at -20°C. Butterfly Conservation says at least two weeks. Go with two weeks, because a kitchen freezer may sit at -18°C and not -20°C, and a freezer thermometer costs little.

How you freeze matters as much as how long. Seal the item in a plastic bag and press out the air, then wrap any metal zips or buckles in tissue to stop staining from condensation. Leave space around it. English Heritage says it can take at least 24 hours for the centre of a dense item to reach temperature, so do not pack a chest freezer with rolled blankets. It also says not to use auto-defrost freezers. Check yours: if it is frost-free, it is safer to dry clean. Afterwards, leave the bag sealed for at least 24 hours at room temperature, or 48 for very dense items. Fabrics can be brittle when very cold, so handle them gently. Then brush the item outdoors to remove dead larvae and silk.

Keep valuable or fragile pieces out of this routine. For a wedding dress, an heirloom rug or anything old, English Heritage says to ask a conservator, as low-oxygen treatment may suit sensitive objects better.

There is no separate carpet moth in the sources we checked. English Heritage says the same two species attack both carpets and clothes. So how to get rid of carpet moths comes down to the same idea applied to the floor: disturb the places they are left alone.

Damage follows darkness. English Heritage says moths love wool carpets but hate disturbance, and it rates regular vacuuming above anything else for stopping a build-up. In carpets, it says they will be under rugs or heavy furniture, or at the undisturbed edges of fitted carpets, and they may also be living in wool underlay. The middle of the room usually looks fine because it gets walked on. If a bare patch shows along the skirting or by the bed leg, assume there is more under the furniture.

Upholstery is the most common place to miss. English Heritage says moths will live in upholstery that contains wool or horsehair, so older furniture carries more risk. Turn the chair over and look under the seat for webbing or cases, then check around the piping, in deep buttons and in the crevices of seats and arms. Vacuum each of those with the crevice tool. The case-bearing moth prefers dusty, undisturbed places such as under sofas, says Butterfly Conservation, so that is where to start if you have found cases.

Then think about anything made from animal fibre that rarely moves. Curtains and wall hangings, wool blankets in a chest, felt pads under a piano, an ottoman full of spare duvets, or a sheepskin in a child's room can all feed larvae. Rochdale says to wash all fabrics in the affected area, including soft furnishings, rugs, blankets, curtains and towels, and to clean storage boxes as well. We would prioritise anything within the same room as the source, then work out from there.

Sources disagree on cotton. Butterfly Conservation says clothes moths do not eat cotton or man-made fibres, while Rochdale lists cotton among the natural fibres at risk, and Lambeth says cotton is eaten when blended with wool. Clean, pure cotton and synthetics are at low risk, but do not ignore them, as stains and wool blends change the picture. Treat any blended or soiled item as if it were wool.

Pheromone traps are sticky cards scented with the female moth's sex chemical. English Heritage calls them very effective for finding where moths are coming from, but it is clear that because the lures attract only males, traps will not control an infestation. Females still lay eggs. Larvae do not go near a trap. A full trap with no other action means the problem continues.

Even a stronger version of the same idea has its limits. The Natural History Museum coated male moths in female pheromone so that they chased one another, and reported up to 50 per cent fewer moths in its galleries. That is a good result for a museum managing a huge site, as part of a wider plan. It was not a cure, and it is not what a sticky card in a wardrobe does.

Used properly, traps are still worth buying, because they answer the question that matters: is it working? We recommend one or two in each affected room, near the wardrobe or carpet edge and away from a draught. Date the card, write down the count each week, and move the traps around if you are searching for the source. The catch should fall over the following weeks. If it rises in one room, that is where to look next.

Three cautions. A trap can pull in a few males from elsewhere, particularly in a flat, so a small number is not proof of an infestation here: English Heritage's survey found an average of 23 per trap in London and the South East. The lure is specific to each species, so a trap for the common clothes moth may miss the case-bearing one. It can also catch the pale-backed clothes moth, which English Heritage recorded 460 times in its survey. It says it is not yet clear whether this one can establish itself in buildings, so check what you have caught. If numbers do not fall, get help with moth treatment.

Not as a treatment. They may have a small part to play in prevention. English Heritage says lavender and cedar balls can repel adult moths and work best in enclosed spaces, but that they last three months at most and have no effect on larvae in clothes or carpets. Butterfly Conservation agrees that they may deter adults but not larvae.

Others are more doubtful even about that. Los Angeles County's public health bulletin says not to rely on cedar oil, chips or cedar-lined closets. It says high concentrations of cedar vapour kill only very young larvae, that older larvae and adults are not affected, and that cedar wood loses its oils over several years. That is US guidance about closets, but the principle applies to any cedar hanger in a London wardrobe. We could not find a good UK trial of either product, so treat them as a pleasant scent, not protection. A sealed bag does far more.

Old moth balls are not the answer. English Heritage says many formulations are now banned or not recommended. The bulletin adds that a vapour strong enough to kill the pests could also pose a risk to the person breathing it. English Heritage notes that transfluthrin sachets will kill adult moths in enclosed spaces, which makes them a reasonable extra inside a wardrobe, but they are aimed at adults, so they do not replace the clear-out.

Insecticide sprays need more care. English Heritage says sprays and dusts kill larvae only if they make contact, and that aerosols alone will never solve a deep-seated problem because larvae hide where the spray does not reach. If you do use a home product, buy one labelled for moths, apply it only to carpet edges and gaps, and never to clothes or bedding. HSE says to always follow the label, not to add extra to make it stronger, and never to pour products down a drain. Untrained people should never use professional products. Keep children and pets out as the label says. Take particular care around cats: the PDSA says permethrin is extremely poisonous to them, even though it can be used in a room with care. Call your vet straight away if a cat is exposed.

If you have already booked treatment, do not spray first unless we advise it. It can make the search harder and it may conflict with what is applied later.

If the moths are by the food, wardrobe advice will not help. Indian meal moth larvae eat dried food. Waltham Forest Council's fact sheet lists grains, flour, nuts, dried fruit, seeds, chocolate, and dry cat and dog food. The Natural History Museum says silk webbing is usually the first sign, and that the larvae can bite through paper, cellophane and polythene, so a closed packet is not proof of a safe one. Waltham Forest says the full cycle can take six to eight weeks in good conditions.

The fix is a thorough clear-out. Throw away anything with webbing or grubs. Then check every other packet, including unopened ones and the pet food. Vacuum the cupboard, wash it with soap and water, pay attention to corners and cracks, and let it dry before anything goes back. Oxford City Council says to make sure it is dry first. Store dry goods in tins, jars or other sealed containers. The museum says serious infestations may need insecticide applied by a qualified professional, so do not spray food cupboards yourself. If the moths keep coming after a full clear-out, a pest inspection will find what was missed.

Moths cannot eat what they cannot reach. English Heritage says to keep things in plastic bags, preferably vacuum sealed, or boxes with lids. The Natural History Museum says the same about airtight bags and containers. The key is the order: clean first, then seal. If you seal a dirty jumper with eggs in it, you have built the larvae a private room. Butterfly Conservation says to confirm items are free of clothes moths before storing them long-term.

Prevention is mostly routine, and it does not take long once the problem has gone. Build these into your spring and autumn clothes change.

A few holes in one jumper usually do not need a moth exterminator. You should pay for help when the problem is in fitted carpet, when it has spread beyond one wardrobe, or when larvae come back after a proper clear-out. Those are cases of larvae in places you cannot clean or reach, and English Heritage says moth control will not be achieved rapidly.

Professional carpet moth treatment usually relies on what you cannot do with a shop can. English Heritage says thorough treatment of carpet edges and infested areas under furniture with a residual insecticide such as permethrin can work, although repeat treatment may be needed to catch survivors. It also mentions desiccant dust for floorboard and skirting gaps. That repeat is why councils sell courses and not single visits. Lambeth treats twice, two weeks apart, and Kensington and Chelsea runs four visits over about four months.

Preparation does a lot of the work, so expect to be asked to do your part. Lambeth's sheet is a good example: vacuum the whole home, dry clean or wash items and seal them, move wardrobes and beds from the walls, and unplug non-essential electrical items, then repeat before the second visit. An adult must be present, and you leave for at least three hours. Your provider's own steps come first. Large rugs, carpets and upholstery can also go to a commercial freezer or a controlled heat process, says English Heritage, so ask about a specialist if the rug is valuable.

Report it first, and in writing, with photos. Citizens Advice says you may be responsible if you caused an infestation, and your landlord will probably be responsible if the tenancy says so or if the problem comes from repairs they failed to make. Landlords generally only have to act once they know. It does not matter whether the infestation was there when you moved in or appeared later. Your council's environmental health team can also advise.

In practice, moths raise two separate questions. Your own wool clothes and rugs are usually your job. A fitted carpet that came with the flat, an old nest in the eaves or a problem shared through walls is more of a building matter, so raise those with your landlord or managing agent. Landlords should take an early report seriously: a treatment visit costs far less than replacing a fitted wool carpet.

If you are moving out, keep the treatment record and show it at check-out. Our end of tenancy cleaning checklist sets out what is usually inspected.

You do not need to know the species before you contact us. Tell us which rooms and items are affected, what the carpets are made of and what you have tried. A photo with a ruler beside it helps, and so do trap counts. We then confirm the price, the number of visits, the preparation and what is included in writing before any work is booked.

Our moth treatment starts from £149 for the first standard visit. That is a first visit and not a complete course: rooms and any further visits are quoted, because the number of rooms, the fabrics and how far the activity has spread all change the job. As a guide, our general pest packages for a 1-bed home are £160 to £190 for two visits with a 1-month written guarantee, and £210 to £230 for three visits with a 3-month written guarantee. Packages include a safety report, follow-up and proofing advice. Laundry and cleaning are not included unless your quote says so. Our prices page lists other property sizes.

If you are comparing a moth exterminator cost across the UK, compare like with like: count the visits and the rooms, not just the headline figure. Prices below were on each council's website on 1 November 2026. Redbridge Council's pest control page lists no moth price, so if you are in Ilford, ask the council directly or ask us. Check that a council service covers your address. For a wider view, see our guide to pest control costs.

We are based on Clements Road in Ilford, cover London through our pest control service, and carry public liability insurance. Our phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm. Contact us with what you have found and we will tell you what we recommend.