End of a posting in Brussels: sell, ship or store your rugs

Start with an inventory, not with boxes

In an international move, rugs are often the last things anyone thinks about and the first things the movers roll up. Set aside an hour, a few weeks before the date, to go through them one by one. For each, write down:

• the room it is in and its size to the centimetre, measured without the fringes;
• whether it is hand-knotted or machine-made, which you can check in a few minutes by turning it over (see our guide on how to tell if a rug is hand-knotted);
• its condition: fringes, side edges, worn areas, stains, smell;
• where it came from: bought on a previous posting, inherited, found in Brussels;
• any papers that go with it: invoice, certificate, letter from the seller.

Then photograph each rug in full, front and back, in daylight. Those pictures will be useful whatever you decide: for a purchase offer, for the removal company's insurance, or to find the piece again on arrival.

That leaves the question nobody can answer for you: which ones do you care about? A rug with little market value may deserve the journey because it has always been in your living room. A fine piece, on the other hand, may no longer suit the next home, which might be smaller, warmer or already furnished.

Selling before you leave

Selling locally makes sense in several cases: a very large rug that will not find a room its size, a rug you no longer feel attached to, a next home you have not yet seen, or a destination whose import rules complicate things. It also makes sense when volume weighs heavily on the cost of the move, as rolled rugs often do.

With a fixed departure date, an auction house rarely fits: you consign, wait for the sale, then for payment, and there is no telling whether the piece will have gone by the date you need. Selling directly to a buyer works the other way round. You send photos, we come and look at the rugs at your home, the offer is given to you in writing, and collection and payment happen on the same day. It brings in less than an auction that goes well, and we say so plainly; in return, the matter is closed before the movers arrive. The different routes are compared in our guide to selling a rug.

Two practical points. Book the collection before the movers' visit, or the rug may be packed with everything else. And have all the rugs valued in a single visit: each one is examined and priced separately, so you can sell some and keep others. The home valuation commits you to nothing, and everything can be handled in English, French or Dutch.

To be clear from the start: we only buy hand-knotted rugs. A machine-woven piece can be given away, sold privately or moved with the rest.

Taking it with you: preparing a rug for a long journey

A rug shipped in a container can spend weeks shut away, in the dark, without air, through swings in temperature between day and night. Those are exactly the conditions that wake up a dormant problem. Check three things before handing it to the movers.

It is sound

Turn it over and look at the back, especially along the side edges and where furniture stood. Wool powder, small silky tubes or patches where the pile is shorter point to moths. In that case the rug should not travel as it is: a moth treatment is needed before departure, or the crate becomes a breeding ground.

It is clean and completely dry

Dust and organic residue feed insects and hold moisture. A rug washed shortly before departure must be dry right through before it is rolled; one that is still damp at the centre of the roll arrives with a musty smell, sometimes with stains.

It is wrapped so it can breathe

Rolled and never folded, the rug goes into kraft paper or a cotton cover. Ask the movers how they wrap: tight plastic film around a rug that spends weeks in a container encourages condensation. If they need it for handling, have it removed on arrival.

For paperwork, attach to the movers' inventory the dated photos, the measurements and a list of existing defects. If the transit insurance asks for a declared value, a written valuation gives you a reference point; ask which kind of value the insurer expects.

The rules in the destination country

This is the question people ask too late. Some countries restrict imports of goods according to their country of origin. Others inspect items made of animal fibre or require them to arrive clean, with no soil or insects. These rules change, they differ depending on whether you are moving personal effects or goods, and they cannot be negotiated once the container is in port.

Ask before packing: your removal company, the customs of the destination country, or your own administration. Keep at hand anything that documents where and when each piece was bought. For a valuable antique rug leaving the European Union, also ask about the formalities for exporting cultural goods.

If the answer for a particular piece is uncertain, it is often wiser to sell it or keep it in Brussels than to see it held up on arrival.

Leaving it in storage in Brussels

Between two postings, or when a return is planned, a storage unit looks like the simplest answer. It is also the one that calls for the most care. A roll that nobody touches for two years, in the dark, is the perfect place for an infestation to spread quietly.

• Choose a dry, temperate unit, never a cellar or a damp garage.
• Store the rugs clean, checked on the back, and treated if there is the slightest doubt.
• Lay the rolls flat, with nothing on top.
• If someone can call in now and then, ask them to unroll each piece partly and look at the back.

The rules for storing are in our guide on storing a rug without damaging it. There is another option worth considering: lending the rug to someone who will use it. A rug lying in a living room, vacuumed and looked at, often comes through two years better than a forgotten roll.

When you come back, unroll each piece, check the back and let it air before putting it down again. A stale smell that is still there after a few days, or anything suspicious, is dealt with by a wash.