Carpet beetles are small, sneaky pests that wreak havoc on our homes by chewing holes through carpets, clothing, and furniture. If you’ve ever noticed large holes in your carpet, or in clothing containing animal fibers (wool, leather, silk, furs etc.) then you may have carpet beetles and carpet beetle larvae in your home. Carpet beetle’s larvae tend to cause the most destruction, it’s not the adults. The larvae prefer hiding and feeding in dark, quiet places which can make it hard to notice them, until you find big holes in your favorite fur jacket that was stored for the summer. Carpet beetles are attracted to any organic matter they come across, plants, human hair and animal fibers are the perfect meal for them. The colorful flowers outside of our homes are a gateway for them to enter our residences. They enter our homes through open doors, windows, cracks or crevices. Black carpet beetles are commonly found in homes across the U.S. and are known to cause the most destruction of all carpet beetles. If you have carpet beetles in your home, don’t fret! They are easy to get rid of! Steam Green Carpet Cleaning will share some helpful tips on how to identify, remove and prevent carpet beetle infestations in your home!
1: Identify Where Carpet Beetles are Hiding
Closets, under and inside couches, insulation, walls, garages, seldom touched drawers, and storage boxes are ideal places you can find these destructive pests. Since they don’t want to be disturbed, they tend to hide in places that don’t see a lot of human activity. Finding a bunch of shed skins or fecal pellets in one area of your home is a strong indication that you have found the source of the infestation. This will make the removal process much easier.
2: Vacuum to Remove Carpet Beetles from Your Home
Vacuuming will be your best friend when it comes to removing carpet beetles from your home. Start in the area where the infestation was found, start from the top and work your way down. Vacuum every surface in the area to remove the beetles and larvae, along with the dead skins and any eggs that may be hiding. Using a vacuum that has headlights attached to it can aid in the removal by making it easier to see into the corners, since they like dark places this is likely where they will be hiding. Then move onto the other areas of your home. Upholstered furniture should also be thoroughly vacuumed inside and out. For the next week or so, you should be vacuuming your whole home several times a day, if this is not possible, at least one, very thorough vacuuming once a day should suffice.
3: Wash or Steam Clean All Linens & Fabrics
All fabrics that have not been stored in airtight containers will need to be washed in hot, soapy water. This means clothing, towels, bedding, throw blankets, down comforters and pillows etc. All fabric items that can not be thrown into the washing machine, such as area rugs, carpeting, furniture etc. should be steam cleaned. Steam will effectively kill any remaining eggs, larvae and beetles that the vacuum left behind.
Carpet Beetle Infestation Prevention
Regular housekeeping, such as daily vacuuming, weekly dusting and disinfecting, and washing clothing and linens weekly will aid greatly in preventing these pesky pests from entering your home. When storing clothing, be sure to wash everything first, place them into sealable bags, then place them into airtight containers before being stored away for periods of time.
Carpet Steam Cleaning & More in Valley Village, Long Beach, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Simi Valley, Burbank, Calabasas, Beverly Hills, Thousand Oaks, Encino & Los Angeles California
Steam Green Carpet Cleaning can help you identify the source of an infestation if you can’t find it on your own. We have the right tools for the job to help make this inconvenience you’re experiencing less of a burden. Our state of the art truck mounted steam cleaning equipment can cut your workload in half. Trust the pros to take care of your carpet beetle infestation. Give us a call today!