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Okay all.. we've got a problem on our hands. I'll give you some history:
We've lived in Maine now for going on 5 years, and never had an issue with wasps before last year. Last year we moved to a community on the river, to an old farmhouse. We moved in May of last year, started working on the barn in April. Starting April 17th last year we were in and out of the house, and on the property quite a bit. When first moving in we noticed a few wasps in the house off and on, but nothing out of the ordinary we thought, since the doors were open as we moved in boxes, etc. Then it started picking up in late May or so. We'd see a couple inside the house PER DAY, and tons flying around the house all the time. Got so bad that I was trapped OUTSIDE once with one of our dogs, since I couldn't get close enough to the house to get in. I was terrified. These are black wasps, and they seem to be everywhere at times. We've found them in our 2nd floor bedroom (the windows where they seem to congregate are our bedroom windows), the 2nd floor spare room, and the 2nd floor landing... all of these spots have floor vents for the heat. Well, 2 inches off the floor, but vents nonetheless. We've seen them downstairs in the kitchen, but not too badly. There are floor vents there, but also the kitchen opens into the mudroom, and they do get in there quite frequently, so we believe they fly in then.
As time went on, there were more and more, and things got really bad for awhile. I had to be very careful, as I'm allergic to bee stings and such. I'm nervous about them. Very nervous. Now, we did do a walk around the house last year, saw them buzzing around the eaves of the house, found a couple small, started nests, but nothing horrendous. The upstairs of our barn had tons of nests though, but none really cared to be downstairs with the goats. We sprayed the small nests on the house, and sprayed where they seemed to spend most of their time, even though we couldn't see a nest. We did notice that on the backside of our home, on the side where the spare bedroom is, that they were really flying around the attic vent. And a few going in and out. Hmmm... hubby surmised they were building a nest in the attic. Now, though, our attic is only half of the house, as at some point in time someone made our bedroom into cathedral ceilings, so the attic is small. Haven't been up there to see though... suppose we ought to do that. We were thinking there was a nest there, and they were coming in to the house through the vents for the heat. Figured we'd bomb the house come spring this year, and be done with it. The huge wasp issues ended around the end of June. We really didn't see anymore that summer. We did end up with yellowjackets because of our apple trees, but they stayed around the apples for the most part.
Now, on to this year. We have seen a lot more than I'd like to see already. So far 3 in the mudroom, a few flying around the bedroom windows outside, and a few here and there around the yard. None in the barn. In the kitchen however, we've seen 3 in the last two days, our cat alerted us to all of them. We've seen 2 in our bedroom, and 5 in the spare bedroom. I'm so scared that this is going to be a BAD SPRING for bees/wasps/etc. I'm at a loss at this point. We've been told that wasps won't build a nest in the same spot twice, but that doesn't seem to be the case. We can't figure out what is going on. Is it possible that they are in the attic, and using the vents for access to the house? Are they sneaking in, and making their way upstairs? We've not been able to figure it out. Should we bomb the house including the attic, and hope for the best? Anyone have any ideas? I never imagined it could get this bad here, like I said in 5 years, we've only ever seen a few wasps, and never had this problem. Now we're inundated. We'd appreciate any thoughts, help, ideas, anything. geez, even sympathy. I'm just at a loss, and it's been rough this week.
Very well could be in the attic. I just redid one of the upstairs rooms. Last week when it was one of our warm days I tackled the ceiling and found a HUGE wasp in the ceiling. Have hubby check the attic, as well as watch to see if any are making their way down the walls. Bug bomb it, wait a day or two and do it again. The next warm day, hit them again even if you haven't seen any. My bet is they have a nest somewhere in the attic and getting in that way. Good Luck!
''When you're seeing wasps inside a house at this time of year, you're probably seeing what are known as paper wasps, and it's almost always the result of the emergence of overwintering queens,'' he said, pointing out that while some wasps do not sting, overwintering queens do.
Paper wasps, Dr. Potter said, typically make their umbrella-shaped honeycombed nests in the early spring in attics and chimneys and around the eaves and ledges of a house. ''The nests are constructed of a paperlike material containing finely chewed wood fragments and salivary secretions of the wasp,'' he said. In the fall, Dr. Potter said, the males wasps die off, but not before impregnating nearby available queens. The queens then typically look for a protected place to spend the winter. And in many cases, he said, insulated wall cavities fit the bill nicely.
I had something similar to this in an old place I lived in, in WA state... they started showing up when we heated a place that had been vacant for some time, seeming to come out of nowhere... I finally spotted a crack inside and pulled off sheetrock to find an entire area of nest material where the insulation was supposed to be.
I sprayed them with anything I had on hand that would wet their wings... Windex, underarm deodorant... you name it... and then took a small propane torch to them and their nest (being careful to only torch that stuff and NOT badly singe the studs or sheathing...)
We re-insulated, re-drywalled and had no more problems.
(I am allergic to them... and torching them was SO satisfying!)
KAF, I don't have any advice, I'm sorry! I feel bad that you're going through this and I can imagine how yucky it is. BUT on a good note I'm SO happy to see you!! I had asked Forest where you were a month or so back, and he said you'd been busy....but I was really feeling like I would DM you to see what you've been up to I'm glad to see you, and sorry about the wasps!
I am always uncovering wasp and hornet nest in houses I'm restoring. I take starwalkers approach most of the time and spray them with what's ever around... spray paint, WD40, disinfectant (ok maybe I should just go get some wasp killer but I'm always in a rush) and torching them is fun. You ever seen 4 grown men running around like school girls when they've uncovered a hornets nest? Well I have - more than once - hilarious!
Once we have disrupted and destroyed their nest they have not returned.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone! We are going to go ahead and get into that attic tomorrow night, with a heat lamp of all things to try and shed some light on the issue, lol. Then we'll spray, and be done w/ it hopefully. We have a trap that I bought last year, so figuring on setting that up far from the house, and trying to lure them there instead. Maybe it'll work. Meanwhile, I will keep a can of hairspray handy, as that seems to stun them.
Molly, I appreciate your concern... and hopefully I'll be around more now. We had a ball kidding this year, and it just ended last Saturday. Between Wednesday the27th of Feb. and Saturday, March 1st, just 3 days, we had 3 moms go into labor, and give birth. All happy healthy babies, but it was busy for awhile. And before that, we had kidding and barn restructuring. It's been nuts here.
Good Grief! Don't use flammable materials to spray wasps indoors. NEVER use a flame to burn a wasp nest indoors.
The best wasp treatment is a Raid long distance spray can. It shoots a solid stream 15 feet It will go up to 20 feet if there is no wind to deflect it. Spray it around the entrance or directly into the entrance they use. There could be some discount cans with a similar system as Raid. If you need a lot of them go with the discount brand and follow up with Raid.
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I'll give you some history:
