Urgent! Little flies on fresh paint

[Mike Mitchell]

I painted a door jamb (inner door to bathroom) a half-hour ago with Dulux Professional Liquid Gloss (White). I've just been back to check and there are a couple of dozen tiny flies trapped on the surface! These flies are minute - about 1.5 mm long. Tiny little black specs. There are one or two crawling about on the adjacent wallpaper. Where did they suddenly come from? It's as if the paint is acting as an attractant! This is the first coat of two, so I will wait till the paint is touch-dry, then try to take them off with masking tape or tweezers. But how might I stop a new batch from landing on on the SECOND coat, due tomorrow? Anyone else had this problem?

MM

[Tim Mitchell]

In article , Mike Mitchell writes

It happens a lot, it's probably some close relation to Murphy's law. A bit like birds crapping on your car just after you've washed it.

We get a lot of those little flies at this time of year, though more so in the evening, apparently related to hot weather. My wife calls them "thunderflies", I would call them midges but they are smaller than normal midges. Maybe paint first thing in the morning before it gets warm.

[Pam Morris]

These sound like thunderbugs or storm flies. Common at this time of year and especially when humid. They are especially attracted to light colours such as white & yellow. They don't live very long and if you are lucky you may be able to brush them off once the paint is dry. I would suggest you repaint as early as possible in the a.m or wait until after dark.

Hope this helps,

Pam

[Mike Mitchell]

Cheers, Pam! Good idea to wait until it's dark. It IS humid today! So frustrating, because I had such a nice finish, and then these little b***ers come flying in!

MM

[Alan Lake]

We call them 'Thunder Flies'... recently we have had loads of them around here!!

I have been decorating our bathroom and just had the door to gloss when they decided to come to calling.

I have decided to wait until they no longer seem to be about.

By the way... they seem to be more attracted to anything white!!! ;-((

Alan

[jerrybuilt]

Probably thunder flies, a sort of minute beetle. Just don't paint when they are around. Nothing you can do now, but wait until the paint is dry and brush them off with a dry cloth. Perhaps it might be worth using fly-spray or "Vapona" before you start work.

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[<anon<NO TO SPAM>]

I have my Hall, staircase and landing to do - What a very good reason why I shouldn't do them at the moment! I have been trying to think of something ;-) Only problem is I might be told to paint it all black :-{

[Dean Heighington]

As in the Fast Show's "Johnny"?

"It's BLACK, allllllllll BLACK!!!"

Alternatively, if they like pure brilliant white, you could always set up a decoy, such as white sheet, or large piece of cardboard ? that'll fool em, paint it and they'll stick to that instead :)

[Jim Hatfield]

Hasn't Vapona been banned now? It's gone from the supermarket shelves.

[David Bromell]

[Mike Mitchell]

I thought of exactly the same thing! But then, how would they tell the difference between a piece of white-painted hardboard and a door jamb? I also thought of switching on a fan, so that they would not be able to compete with the rush of wind and would go somewhere else. But would one have the fan directed *at* the painted area or away from it? If the fan were facing towards the work, then the flies might get helped on to it - the ones that didn't succumb in the vortex. If facing away, the flies would tire themselves out, battling to get past the almighty draught, so facing away sounds like the best idea.

Actually, the paint is touch-dry now and it's proving quite easy to gently brush them off with the rough edge of a rag!

MM