How to get rid of carpet beetles

Carpet beetles will eat anything that is made of fabric in your home.  All four types of carpet beetles love to eat fabric, hair, dry skin, dead animals, woolly jumpers, fur and plants.  Black carpet beetles are the most dangerous and most commonly found.  So, how to get rid of carpet beetles?

The four types are:

• Furniture beetle.
• Common.
• Varied.
• Black beetles.

Carpet beetles like to live under upholstered furniture, under carpets and floorboards and around doors.  They don’t bite but they give you a red itchy rash because of their prickly larval hairs.

Most carpet beetles live and breed outside the home.  They can end up inside your home by flying through open windows and doors, chimneys, soffit vents and/or any little crack or crevice where they can find a way in.  They can get in by being inadvertently carried in by you!

Follow our guide:

1. Empty all drawers/wardrobes of clothes and remove all bedding from the bedrooms. Take down the curtains/nets.
2. Wash everything (if possible) at 60 degrees even if you do not think they may have come into any contact with the floor.
3. Dry everything (if possible) in a tumble dryer for at least 30 minutes.
4. Open the window and sprinkle carpet beetle killer on the carpet and headboards (if fabric) and any mattresses.  You should consider wearing gloves and a protective face mask whilst doing this.
5. Leave the room for one hour, then vacuum thoroughly.  Repeat the process a few hours later.  After each vacuum, change the bag and dispose of each bag in a sealed bag.  Place it directly in a bin outside your home ready to be collected by the bin men.
6. If you see any cocoons’ pick them up and place them in the bin outside your home.  Cocoons will not be affected by the powder so look carefully around the room to see if any are still there.
7. Steam clean the carpet and/or any rugs, mattresses and headboards (if fabric).  This will ensure that any carpet beetles and larva left after vacuuming will be eradicated).
8. Once the mattress is dry, cover it with a bug proof mattress protector.
9. Using cleaning fluid and hot water, wipe all the furniture getting into all the crevices.
10. Using cleaner fluid and hot water, wipe all drawers, cupboards and wardrobes with cleaning fluid and hot water.
11. Use this opportunity to fill in all those cracks and crevices in your home to stop little creatures from getting inside by using resin bond and an applicator gun (for instructions click here).

We hope you found our how to get rid of carpet beetles guide helpful.

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