Paper wasps in the house

[flatbutt]

I get 3-4 wasps in the house every day. Given how many I catch I think the nest must be in the attic but I can't find the nest anywhere. If it is in the attic it may not get cold enough for the queen to hibernate...maybe...but I need to get rid of theses suckers.

Any ideas?

tia

[GH85Carrera]

Set off a couple of bug bombs in the attic. Look for any holes in the house where they come and go, and seal it up.

[javadog]

Almost guaranteed to be from the attic. Start with verifying ceiling lights are sealed, etc. Can lights can be a real problem.

I'd hire a pest guy to get rid of them. I hate wasps.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by javadog

Almost guaranteed to be from the attic. Start with verifying ceiling lights are sealed, etc. Can lights can be a real problem.

I'd hire a pest guy to get rid of them. I hate wasps.

Oh man. The attic is directly above the kitchen which has can lights in the ceiling.

[ckcarr]

I had that same problem a few years ago. It turned out that the vent connection from one of the bathrooms had been disconnected. So they were getting in and had built their little nest in the aluminum pipe. But were half dead once inside, probably no food..

[Paul T]

I’ve had a similar problem for a couple of years. I probably kill or vacuum up 10-20 yellow jackets a day July-Sept…actually many are already dead or moving very, very slowly…but for the life of me I can’t figure out where they are coming from. I only see them in one room and there is no attic above in that part of the house, no can lights, no openings in ceiling of any kind. Exterminators have looked all over and can’t figure it out. Very frustrating….good luck! I’m convinced I have a nest (growing by the year) but no idea where.

[dad911]

We had that many years ago. They made a nest under the insulation in the attic(ceiling), with a small hole in the ceiling of my son's room.

[Cajundaddy]

** If you find the nest, wasp spray will knock the entire colony down after dark.

** If you cannot find the nest, mix apple juice (naturally sweetened, no HFCS) and boric acid. Put this in a coke can or other open container with a stick so they can crawl in and out. The will find it, gorge on it and share it with the rest of to colony. Gone in 1 week.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Z9HWseHuDk8?si=qN-8_zALW49OKlsw

[stevej37]

Hopefully you don't have one like this.
After killing them, I had to cut the nest in half to get it through the pocket door. It wasn't fun.

[gacook]

Not wasps...but I had a big-ass hive of Africanized bees in my house this past summer. Got in through the soffit vent and built a big ol' hive. I noticed a few flying around and tried to DIY take them out to no avail. Called in my bug guy and he murderized them all within a few minutes. They were very unhappy with him, to say the least.

Good luck, FB!

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Paper Wasps or Mud Daubers?
Have you seen the nest?

[stevej37]

Do you have hummingbird feeders close to your house?
They love the nectar and moving the feeder to a diff location might help next year.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I’m sorry, but you’ll have to burn down the house.

[masraum]

Are you certain that they are paper wasps and not mud daubers?

We get wasps in the house during the summer. Most of the wasps that we get in the house are "mud daubers". The mothers make nests that they hide inside the walls/roof/anywhere that they can find access to. The new wasps hatch out and don't know how to get outside since they've never been anywhere but in their mud tube. I assume some make it outside, but others find their way into the house instead. I do think we've had a few paper wasps get into the house, but they are much more rare compared to the solitary mud daubers.

If you want to keep them from finding their way in, my suggestion is to check around any ceiling fan/light fixture on the ceiling. You'll have to take the fixture down to see if there's any open space around the boxes that they are connected to and seal those up with something (spray foam in a can maybe). The bathroom vent (and maybe kitchen vent) is probably a good idea too.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by dad911

We had that many years ago. They made a nest under the insulation in the attic(ceiling), with a small hole in the ceiling of my son's room.

Yikes!

[Seahawk]

Wasps, why it’d have to be Wasps…on any farm, in any barn, they are legend.

I conceal carry wasp spray

Frankly, in the house, get a pro to help.

[onewhippedpuppy]

There are few things more satisfying than nuking a nest with wasp spray. Works great on spiders too!

[flatbutt]

I found a small nest. Far too small to be the source of the invasion. I nailed it but one of them got off a round as he was dying catching me behind my ear. Damn this hurts!

The hunt continues.

[oldE]

I had a similar situation a few years ago when paper wasps were emerging in our sunroom frequently. I discovered a check in the siding which led to a tiny gap under a window. The space between two studs had been completely filled with the nest and mousture had got in and rotted the structure under the window. That was fun. A full can of Raid early one morning made the area safe to work in while I rebuilt that section of wall.
Pot lights are an invention of the devil. They invariably had holes to promote ventilation so heat would not build up. That lead to air leaks. There are plastic domes you can install over them to address the issue, but now led bulbs don't make enough heat tocause a problem. I would just use caulk to close any holes in the pot . That should block the path of any bugs.

[flatbutt]

I found a hidey hole in my fireplace chimney that they're exploiting. It's hard to reach so I've soaked the area with killer juice. But these bastages are some kind of super wasp. I hit them with Raid, Spectracide and Hot Shot but they keep coming! I may need to tough it out until they freeze and then go scorched earth.