Getting rid of wasps nest
Discussion
I have a wasps nest just outside the bathroom, they are getting in behind the gutter and between a gap in the fascia and also a small hole in the soffit, have tried spraying in as much foam as I can but to no avail.
I’m thinking next options are either to remove the soffit and destroy nest that way or to maybe seal holes up but will wasps possibly chew through elsewhere when desperate to escape I guess?
Anyone have any better ideas?
I’m thinking next options are either to remove the soffit and destroy nest that way or to maybe seal holes up but will wasps possibly chew through elsewhere when desperate to escape I guess?
Anyone have any better ideas?
Wombat3 said:
Yep, unless they are coming in the house and actually bothering you, leave it alone. They'll be gone by winter and they don't generally come back to the same place.
This. Wasps are assholes. But they're the assholes that keep on top of a lot of garden pests. If they're not in your home or damaging anything, just leave it a couple of months and the colony will collapse and the nest will be dormant.
Evanivitch said:
Wombat3 said:
Yep, unless they are coming in the house and actually bothering you, leave it alone. They'll be gone by winter and they don't generally come back to the same place.
This. Wasps are assholes. But they're the assholes that keep on top of a lot of garden pests. If they're not in your home or damaging anything, just leave it a couple of months and the colony will collapse and the nest will be dormant.
but if you really have to get rid of them, spray WD-40 into and all over the nest. It'll kill any that are present, and the rest won't want to live there any more.
redandwhite said:
As above. I have a dormant one in the loft and was advised to leave it alone as they won’t revisit.
Maybe I'm just unlucky, but I've had wasps building nests in my loft for the last three years. Saw them buzzing around outside recently so checked in the loft and they were all over a new nest, with two old/unused nests in other locations. I strapped a can of Raid to a piece of timber then gaffa tapped the spray button thing down and left it under the nest pointing up directly at it, made good my escape before I gassed myself. Found a small gap in the pointing outside where they were getting in and sealed that. Next day I went back in the loft and covered the nest with that foam wasp nest killer spray. Touch wood, no sign of them reappearing yet.
Desiderata said:
Evanivitch said:
Wombat3 said:
Yep, unless they are coming in the house and actually bothering you, leave it alone. They'll be gone by winter and they don't generally come back to the same place.
This. Wasps are assholes. But they're the assholes that keep on top of a lot of garden pests. If they're not in your home or damaging anything, just leave it a couple of months and the colony will collapse and the nest will be dormant.
but if you really have to get rid of them, spray WD-40 into and all over the nest. It'll kill any that are present, and the rest won't want to live there any more.
Toilet Duck said:
Maybe I'm just unlucky, but I've had wasps building nests in my loft for the last three years. Saw them buzzing around outside recently so checked in the loft and they were all over a new nest, with two old/unused nests in other locations.
Not unlucky - when people say "wasps never return to the same location" what they actually mean is "wasps never return to an old nest". They absolutely will come back to the same location (eg. house) and build a new nest, year after year.So far I have had 3 nests this year!!
First was above my garage door (oak cladding), literally the day before I was about to go on holiday, I got my local pest guy out who sorted that at £75.
When I returned from holiday I spotted another above my office door (again oak cladding), I thought stuff another £75. I know my pet guy uses Ficam D, but I think it's restricted who can buy it, so I found some other stuff on Amazon - Zero in AMZ910 wasp nest powder (two for just under £8).
That got rid of that nest, but then I spotted another above one of the skylights, bit more complicated as I had to contruct a pole and attach a tube onto the pole and nozzle on the bottle to pump the powder into where the buggers were getting into the loft, anyway that was sorted within 24 hours.
So I've managed to save myself £142 in call out fees using this stuff.
The foam spray works if you can get it directly onto the nest, otherwise in my experience it's useless. The powder you spray in/around where you see the wasps entering/leaving, they'll get the powder on themselves flying/crawling around and infect/kill the nest.
Might also be worth buying a wasp trap, after 3 nests I also purchased Entopest hanging wasp traps from Amazon, that's working extremely well and it's captured/killed a few hundred so far.
Good luck!
First was above my garage door (oak cladding), literally the day before I was about to go on holiday, I got my local pest guy out who sorted that at £75.
When I returned from holiday I spotted another above my office door (again oak cladding), I thought stuff another £75. I know my pet guy uses Ficam D, but I think it's restricted who can buy it, so I found some other stuff on Amazon - Zero in AMZ910 wasp nest powder (two for just under £8).
That got rid of that nest, but then I spotted another above one of the skylights, bit more complicated as I had to contruct a pole and attach a tube onto the pole and nozzle on the bottle to pump the powder into where the buggers were getting into the loft, anyway that was sorted within 24 hours.
So I've managed to save myself £142 in call out fees using this stuff.
The foam spray works if you can get it directly onto the nest, otherwise in my experience it's useless. The powder you spray in/around where you see the wasps entering/leaving, they'll get the powder on themselves flying/crawling around and infect/kill the nest.
Might also be worth buying a wasp trap, after 3 nests I also purchased Entopest hanging wasp traps from Amazon, that's working extremely well and it's captured/killed a few hundred so far.
Good luck!
In autumn two years ago I had a wasps' nest removed by a pest control contractor. Fortunately it was extinct and I was reassured that wasps would not make use of it against, but I wasn't taking any risks. He didn't charge much but I had peace of mind. I'd recommend you do the same.
I had no idea it was there as I had accidentally sawed into it when removing the old ceiling. They'd gotten in and made their nest under the flat roof between the wooden beams and there must have been gaps in the wooden cladding running down the side wall.
I was also told of the bacteria risk of having dead nests and wasps there. We also found a couple of other smaller dead nests.
As the nests are made from a pulp formed by wasps chewing away at the wood, my other concern was any damage (last photo shows one possible entry hole and some of where they have damaged the timber).
However that came with the need for prevention. The contractor said that foam won't necessarily work as wasps can and do chew through that, as do rodents.
He advised that silicone was something wasps do not chew on and are unable to get through, and it is more resilient to any expanding or shrinking in different weather types and climates.
The sooner you get someone in and also take preventative action the better IMO
I had no idea it was there as I had accidentally sawed into it when removing the old ceiling. They'd gotten in and made their nest under the flat roof between the wooden beams and there must have been gaps in the wooden cladding running down the side wall.
I was also told of the bacteria risk of having dead nests and wasps there. We also found a couple of other smaller dead nests.
As the nests are made from a pulp formed by wasps chewing away at the wood, my other concern was any damage (last photo shows one possible entry hole and some of where they have damaged the timber).
However that came with the need for prevention. The contractor said that foam won't necessarily work as wasps can and do chew through that, as do rodents.
He advised that silicone was something wasps do not chew on and are unable to get through, and it is more resilient to any expanding or shrinking in different weather types and climates.
The sooner you get someone in and also take preventative action the better IMO
We've had heaps of problems with wasps and with a wooden boarded house the little sods like to build their nests where you can't easily remove them, so treating the entrances is the only option. We also have a very small void over one side of our house that is inaccessible, last year they somehow got into it and we had 3 nests in there.
I almost killed myself on ladders and eventually got rid of most of them. I spoke to a local pest controller and he said just to leave the nests in place as they did not like to return if other nests were there. Hey presto this year we have had zero wasps and I'm hoping that was sound advice....or more likely just luck!
I almost killed myself on ladders and eventually got rid of most of them. I spoke to a local pest controller and he said just to leave the nests in place as they did not like to return if other nests were there. Hey presto this year we have had zero wasps and I'm hoping that was sound advice....or more likely just luck!
48k said:
Not unlucky - when people say "wasps never return to the same location" what they actually mean is "wasps never return to an old nest". They absolutely will come back to the same location (eg. house) and build a new nest, year after year.
Not in my loft, and I've done nothing to stop them returning.Desiderata said:
Desiderata said:
Evanivitch said:
Wombat3 said:
Yep, unless they are coming in the house and actually bothering you, leave it alone. They'll be gone by winter and they don't generally come back to the same place.
This. Wasps are assholes. But they're the assholes that keep on top of a lot of garden pests. If they're not in your home or damaging anything, just leave it a couple of months and the colony will collapse and the nest will be dormant.
but if you really have to get rid of them, spray WD-40 into and all over the nest. It'll kill any that are present, and the rest won't want to live there any more.
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