How Much Does Carpet Beetle Treatment Cost in Greenwich?

The Published Price

The Honest Version, Which Is Not Only About Our Invoice

Most pest control pricing pages stop at the figure. On carpet beetle that would be leaving out the part that decides whether you pay once or repeatedly, so here it is.

Carpet beetle larvae feed on keratin, and one of the richest sources of it a building can hold is not the carpet at all. It is an old bird's nest in the eaves, a roof void or a disused chimney, full of feathers and other debris. A nest like that can support a population for years while the visible damage appears in the rooms below.

If the holes keep coming back after the carpet was treated, the question is not what was used on the carpet. It is what is in the roof.

Old wasp and bee nests left in a roof void do the same thing, and so do stored wool blankets, sheepskins, feather-filled items and rolled-up rugs that have been up there since somebody moved in.

What That Means for the Cost

Three outcomes, and it is worth knowing which one you are in before you book rather than after.

1. No reservoir, or an accessible one. The commonest case. We treat the affected rooms and remove or deal with the source where we can safely reach it. The published room price is the whole cost.
2. A reservoir in an accessible loft. Also common. Removing old nesting material is usually straightforward once it has been found, and finding it is part of the survey.
3. A reservoir behind a sealed roofline or in an inaccessible eaves space. Here the honest answer is that reaching it is roofing work, not pest control work. We will describe exactly what we believe is up there and where, and a roofer will quote that separately. We are not going to guess at their figure and we are not going to keep treating the carpet underneath it.

Why the Room Rate Is the Same as Carpet Moth

Carpet moth and carpet beetle are both £180 for the first room and £60 for each additional one, because the room work is genuinely comparable: treatment to floor perimeters, beneath furniture, along skirting lines and into affected storage.

The difference between the two jobs is the search that comes with beetle work - the loft, the eaves, the airing cupboard, the wardrobes and the stored textiles. That is included, and it is the part that makes the treatment last.

Telling It From Carpet Moth Before You Book

You can usually do this yourself, and it is worth doing because the treatment differs:

• Carpet beetle leaves small, clean, sharply defined holes - it punches through. The larvae are short, bristly and banded, often called woolly bears, and they shed pale empty skins as they grow. Adults are small mottled beetles that head for the light and turn up on windowsills in spring.
• Carpet moth grazes an area into a thinning or bare patch rather than punching holes, and leaves silken tubes the same colour as the pile. Adults are small weak-flying moths seen low down near skirtings.

If you have found a small mottled beetle on a windowsill and clean holes in a wool jumper, this is the right page. Send a photograph with the enquiry if you are unsure - it costs nothing and it occasionally saves a wasted visit.

Preparation and Aftercare

• Vacuum edges, under furniture, and inside affected drawers and wardrobes, then empty the vacuum outside.
• Wash affected wool items on the hottest wash the fabric allows, or have them cleaned.
• Bag damaged items rather than carrying them from room to room.
• Leave treated floors and cupboards alone for the period specified on the day.

Recurring Damage in a Let Property

Where the same property produces fabric damage year after year, the answer is almost always a source rather than a tenant. Our report records where the source was found, which is generally what a landlord, an agent or a freeholder needs in order to deal with a roof void that is not the tenant's responsibility.

What the Loft Search Actually Involves

Since finding the source is what makes this treatment last, it is worth saying what that part of the visit looks like.

Where there is safe access, the loft is entered and inspected: the eaves runs at both ends, around any chimney breast, the area beneath any roof light or vent, and the insulation itself. What we are looking for is nesting material - a bird's nest is the classic, but old wasp and bee nests leave the same kind of debris - along with stored wool, sheepskin and feather-filled items that have been up there for years.

Where there is no safe access, or the space is a sealed eaves void, we say so rather than guessing. What we can do is describe where the evidence suggests the reservoir is, clearly enough for a roofer to quote opening it up.