How to Get Rid of Clothes Moths in Storage & at Home

What is the easiest way to get rid of clothes moths? If you come across damage to your clothing in storage, there are steps you can take to save your remaining items, clean out the pests, and prevent them from finding their way into your storage again. Princeton Self Storage in Princeton, NJ, put together a list of steps to follow so you can get rid of clothes moths for good. Follow our professional storage advice below!

How to Get Rid of Clothes Moths

Identify the Problem Insect

There are a few reasons you might suspect clothes moths have made their way into your storage. First, you might see holes in your clothing—they are especially attracted to wool, fur, cashmere, and similar materials. They also might leave behind webbing on your clothing.

The caterpillar stage of clothes moths is when they do damage, so if you see an adult moth in bright parts of your home, they are most likely more after your plants than clothing. Clothes moths prefer dark, humid spaces. What you want to keep an eye out for are the casemaking clothes moth and the webbing clothes moth, which are a yellow or gray color, about 1 cm long.

Clean Your Storage Space Thoroughly

As soon as you can identify that you have clothes moths, you should act quickly to clear them out of your space. First, go through your effected clothing to pick out any that are damaged past the point of repair and throw them away. Salvageable pieces should be washed in warm water (or dry cleaned as according to their washing directions). Wash any clothing that was stored in the same bins as the effected pieces, even if they do not have holes in them. You want to kill any clothes moths that are still infiltrating your space.

After you filter through your clothing, look to your storage space. Is there carpeting, or are there other materials in which clothes moths might be able to take up shelter? Vacuum the area well, and steam or shampoo the carpet to completely get rid of any remaining bugs.

Prevent Future Damage

To stop clothes moths from coming into storage space in the first place, it is best to keep your space from becoming their ideal environment. You probably do not have a window in your closet or storage unit that you can allow light and air to come through, but you can visit your storage space frequently to give it some much-needed ventilation. Periodically check up on your items in storage by opening it up to allow for air flow, reorganizing items and moving them to keep pests from finding homes, and turning on lights to scare away pests that like the dark. As you pack up your belongings for storage, use sealed bags, bins, or other containers to best protect them.

Princeton Self Storage in Princeton, NJ

After learning how to get rid of clothes moths, you are prepared for your future self storage endeavors. Let Princeton Self Storage on Airpark Road help you take care of all your residential, commercial, and student storage needs. We are located next to the Princeton Airport with a collection of drive-up and temperature-controlled storage units to serve you in Princeton, NJ. Use our storage calculator to figure out the best storage unit size for you, or let our storage experts guide you through your rental.

Find your storage quickly through our online storage rentals with the help of our resources!

Katie Mest

About the Author: Katie Mest is a Content Marketing Specialist at Storage Asset Management in York, PA. She specializes in writing about the self storage industry, including storage tips and helpful resources. Outside of work, Katie enjoys spending time exploring the outdoors and snuggling in with a crochet project and her cat, Billie.