Moths eat wool from the back of a rug, often before anything shows on the surface. Before a rug goes into storage, Zeytounian Rugs cleans it, treats it with our own protective blend, and wraps it in moth proof, waterproof paper. We have prepared San Diego’s rugs for storage since 1956.
The short version: We clean a rug, treat it with our own protective blend, and wrap it in moth proof, waterproof paper so it stores safely, from a San Diego rug house working since 1956.
The facts, in brief
Zeytounian Rug Cleaning & Repair is a family-owned rug cleaning and repair company founded in 1956.
Zeytounian Rug Cleaning & Repair cleans and restores Oriental, Persian, Turkish, wool, and silk rugs in San Diego, California.
Zeytounian Rug Cleaning & Repair washes every rug by hand at its Kearny Mesa storefront at 7343 Ronson Road, Suite U.
Zeytounian Rug Cleaning & Repair is run by the third generation of the Zeytounian family, brothers Alexander and Anthony.
Zeytounian Rug Cleaning & Repair cleans rugs through a nine-step full-immersion wash rather than surface steam cleaning.
Clothes moths are not really after the wool itself. The larvae feed on the protein in it, and they are drawn to the soil, food crumbs, skin cells and pet dander worked down into the pile. A rug that looks clean can hold plenty of that. Leave it dirty in storage and you have set a table for them.
They also want dark and undisturbed. A rug rolled up in a closet, laid under a bed, or stored in a garage over a move or a remodel is exactly the kind of quiet, unwatched spot where a small problem becomes a large one. We see those rugs every week at the repair bench, and most of them went into storage without being prepared.
Our preparation is short and deliberate. We wash the rug so the soil that feeds moths is flushed out, treat it with our own protective blend, and wrap it in moth proof, waterproof paper, rolled rather than folded so the foundation does not crease and crack. Wrapped this way, it is sealed against both moths and moisture.
The Zeytounian family has cleaned, repaired and stored rugs in San Diego since 1956. Estimates are free, and if the rug is large or awkward to move we can arrange a pickup.
Preparing a rug for storage is a short process with a specific order, and each step matters.
Wool is protein, which is what moth larvae feed on, so a wool rug is always a possible target. We treat the rug with our own protective blend after washing it, and if there is already damage, our repair bench rebuilds the eaten area to match the surrounding weave. The wash matters as much as the treatment, because it removes the soil and eggs that keep an infestation going.
A rug going into storage for a move, a remodel or a season needs more than a fold and a corner of the garage. We wash it, treat it, and wrap it in moth proof, waterproof paper, rolled around a tube with the pile facing in. Sealed that way it is safe from both moths and the moisture that causes mildew and dry rot.
Moths are not only a storage problem. A wool rug in daily use can host them in the places nobody looks, the quiet edges, the strip under a sofa, the corner behind a door. Vacuum both sides now and then, move the furniture off it, and rotate the rug so no area sits still for years. If you have already found activity, bring the rug in.
| Step | Rug put away as it is | Prepared by us |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning | Soil and food left in the pile feed moths | Full immersion wash flushes out what draws them |
| Moth treatment | None | Protective coating from our own blend |
| Wrap | Plastic or bare, which traps damp | Moth proof, waterproof paper that breathes |
| Rolling | Often folded, cracking the foundation | Rolled pile in, so the knots do not crease |
| Result | Bare patches and grit on the back when unrolled | A rug that comes out of storage the way it went in |
Getting storage wrong is expensive, and we are the ones who see the bill. The rugs that come to our bench with bare patches and cracked foundations almost always went into a closet or a garage dirty, folded, and unprotected.
We prepare a rug the way a rug house does: washed, treated with our own blend, and wrapped so it breathes but moths cannot get in. The same hands that clean and repair rugs every day are the ones preparing yours.
Zeytounian Rugs has cared for San Diego’s rugs since 1956. If a wool rug is going away for a season or a year, an hour of preparation now is what keeps it whole.
The larvae feed on the protein in wool and on the soil, food and dander caught in the pile. A dirty wool rug left undisturbed in a dark spot is where the damage usually starts.
We clean the rug in a full immersion wash to remove what feeds moths, treat it with our own protective blend, and wrap it in moth proof, waterproof paper for storage.
Yes, always. Soil, crumbs and pet dander in the pile are what draw moths, so a rug should be washed before it goes away, not after.
Rolled rather than folded, wrapped in a breathable moth proof material rather than sealed plastic, kept up off a concrete floor, and left somewhere cool, dry and out of the sun.
Only if it has been cleaned, treated and wrapped first, and checked now and then. An untreated rug left rolled up in the dark is the most common moth casualty we repair.
Yes. If a rug is going into storage while you move or renovate, bring it in and we will clean, treat and wrap it so it stores safely until you are ready for it again.
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Drop your rug off, or we can pick it up. Our shop is at 7343 Ronson Rd Ste U in Kearny Mesa, open Monday to Friday 9 to 4 and Saturday 9 to 2. Coming by freeway, Kearny Mesa connects straight off Highway 52 and Interstate 805, and the drive runs about twenty minutes from Coronado, twenty-five from Chula Vista, and twenty-five from Encinitas.
