Wasps

[Mark]

I moved into a house 3 years ago. At the time, the home was 11 years old. The first October we were in the new house, we noticed alot of wasps inside the house--red ones, black ones, and yellow/black striped ones. They seemed to be most numerous in October, and then got less and less common as year progressed. We've had the same problem for three years now--lots of wasps (different varieties) in October, and less in the ensuing months. I've walked around the outside of the house to see if they are congregating/coming in at a particular point, but haven't had any luck; nor have I actually seen where they are getting in from the inside.

Any ideas on how to stop this?

[KZ]

Do you have a fireplace? Every October I get them coming down the chimney and into the house through the fireplace. A nice fire for an hour or so takes care of them for the year. Wear long sleeves and gloves when sticking your hands into the fireplace though.

[Brad C]

We had about 3or 4 wasp nests on the front of our house inside the soffits. They enter between the brick and the wood meet. During the day ( they are dormant at night and early morning ), walk around your house to see if wasps are flying near the roof. If they are entering into the soffits like mine, you might be able to see the nests from inside the attic.

We had a company come spray. $90 for killing off the 3 nests in the front. He had to use a 20' ladder to get to one of the nests, so I could justify the cost. He also used a bee suit, which people will tell you isn't always necessary for wasps. But if you're on a 20' ladder, you don't want to worry about stings, especially since you don't know how many wasps are coming out of that soffit. In the 3-4 nests he found, I counted over 3 dozen wasps crawl out between the brick and wood.

I recently found two more nests on the back side of the house. I can see these from within the attic. I'm going to spray these myself one night since they are least active at that time.

Wasps die off in the winter and will come back in the spring/early summer. This winter I plan on re-caulking the areas where they entered my soffits once it is cold enough to be uninhabitable for wasps.

[Bert Byfield]

For normal isolated nests, you can just spray them at night with a can of hardware store waspicide (I prefer the foaming type), using a flashlight. Beyond that, shop around for the best deal with a professional bug-killer company.

[Richard J Kinch]

First thing, learn to ID wasps vs bees vs yellow jackets vs hornets.

[Mark]

I burned a fire for about one hour and exterminated lots and lots of wasps. I'll burn one for longer tomorrow night. I think this is going to do the trick.