The biggest dangers for rugs placed in storage are insect damage, flood or mildew damage, and theft are the most common problems we hear from clients who have placed rugs in a local storage unit or placed in a far corner of a closet or garage. Many times, rugs with high appraised or sentimental value are placed in storage to save them for family members, or to save them from a remodel mess, or to protect them from the summer sunlight. You want to make sure you are not actually causing damage by incorporating the wrong storage procedures.

Rugs should always be cleaned before storage or you risk wrapping a rug with moths, bugs, or just too much heavy soil which can cause dry rot. We wrap our rugs in Tyvek paper, which allows the rug to breathe, protects from outside moisture and keep bugs/moths from finding their way in to eat or damage your rug.

Never wrap in plastic, due to natural moisture in wool, this will cause mold in most rugs.

We prepare rugs for storage. Just let us know they will be stored, and we can wrap them up for you.

Quarterly you want to inspect your rugs closely for any insect activity. Moths and carpet beetles generally begin feasting in areas that have little light and little air flow – this means they prefer the BACK of the rug, or places under furniture. The larva looks like “sticky lint”, so flip over the corners of the rug to see if you have any activity. American Indian weavings hanging on the wall are particularly vulnerable, so take them down
bi-annually to shake and dust them and look for bugs. You also want to check the ends and sides of your rugs to make sure that they are not in need of repair. When fringe tassels become worn and torn, the wool (or silk) knots of the rug begin to pull away from the rug, and if this is caught early it is a much cheaper repair than reweaving/securing a section of the rug down the road. Look at the BACK of the rug to clearly see if all the knots are tightly and securely in place.