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February 22, 2010 1:18 PM Subscribe
Landlord/Exterminator Filter: How do I get rid of this large, inaccessible wasp nest?
I'd lived in this house before these tenants and had a wasp problem too. There had probably been a couple hundred dead and flying wasps in the house by the time I found their outside (never found how they're getting IN) intrance. It's at the peak of the roof there, so the nest is either inside the rafters in the second story, which has no attic, or inside the vinyl siding near the peak of the roof. I could walk up to where that was, so I did and sprayed the shit out of every crack I could get to with wasp spray. That was winter before last and it worked until this winter.
They've got wasps getting inside again. I called a real exterminator and he said he'd just do exactly what I did, so I went and did it again. I hadn't heard anything for a couple of weeks (it's been cold though), but they're back today. I don't know what kind they are. Probably paper wasps.
So what do I do? Should I spray even more of the shit out of them? All of the cracks even remotely in the area?
It's not going to top 40 degrees tomorrow. How inactive will they be? Can I take the siding off and spray them without being swarmed?
I'd entertain the idea of moving them if someone has super foolproof ideas for doing that.
This is at the steep peak of a two story house of a hill. Not the best place to fight off swarms of stinging insects. I nearly fell off last time and they didn't even come out. Bonus tip for dealing with wasps: don't wear anything with dangly tassels near your face when you do it.
I'd lived in this house before these tenants and had a wasp problem too. There had probably been a couple hundred dead and flying wasps in the house by the time I found their outside (never found how they're getting IN) intrance. It's at the peak of the roof there, so the nest is either inside the rafters in the second story, which has no attic, or inside the vinyl siding near the peak of the roof. I could walk up to where that was, so I did and sprayed the shit out of every crack I could get to with wasp spray. That was winter before last and it worked until this winter.
They've got wasps getting inside again. I called a real exterminator and he said he'd just do exactly what I did, so I went and did it again. I hadn't heard anything for a couple of weeks (it's been cold though), but they're back today. I don't know what kind they are. Probably paper wasps.
So what do I do? Should I spray even more of the shit out of them? All of the cracks even remotely in the area?
It's not going to top 40 degrees tomorrow. How inactive will they be? Can I take the siding off and spray them without being swarmed?
I'd entertain the idea of moving them if someone has super foolproof ideas for doing that.
This is at the steep peak of a two story house of a hill. Not the best place to fight off swarms of stinging insects. I nearly fell off last time and they didn't even come out. Bonus tip for dealing with wasps: don't wear anything with dangly tassels near your face when you do it.
I have had some experience with wasps. Relevant points:
1. If you remove the nest, you've won. If you don't remove the nest, they'll be back. And paper wasps are really crappy, because they're equipped with jaws that will chew through wood and make a new hole in/out if you plug up one (obviously, they'll have to have another weak point to start with, yadda yadda).
2. They can be somewhat deterred with smoke (supposedly) and with a hose mister (definitely). When I had to do this operation, I smoked on a big fat cheap ass cigar and toted up a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle with me. Wasps came at me? WHAM, laid down a suppressing fire of fine mist. It worked well. The cigar? Well, it gave me something to do, and calmed my nerves while I fought the little bastards. But smoke IS supposed to help.
3. Then, you find the nest, cut the support, knock it out of the house eave, slide down the ladder and run like hell, screaming like a little girl and spraying water around. At least, that's what I did.
For what it's worth, it did work, and I didn't get stung. I don't have any idea why the latter is true, but as for the former, I think it comes down to #1.
posted by norm at 1:37 PM on February 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
1. If you remove the nest, you've won. If you don't remove the nest, they'll be back. And paper wasps are really crappy, because they're equipped with jaws that will chew through wood and make a new hole in/out if you plug up one (obviously, they'll have to have another weak point to start with, yadda yadda).
2. They can be somewhat deterred with smoke (supposedly) and with a hose mister (definitely). When I had to do this operation, I smoked on a big fat cheap ass cigar and toted up a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle with me. Wasps came at me? WHAM, laid down a suppressing fire of fine mist. It worked well. The cigar? Well, it gave me something to do, and calmed my nerves while I fought the little bastards. But smoke IS supposed to help.
3. Then, you find the nest, cut the support, knock it out of the house eave, slide down the ladder and run like hell, screaming like a little girl and spraying water around. At least, that's what I did.
For what it's worth, it did work, and I didn't get stung. I don't have any idea why the latter is true, but as for the former, I think it comes down to #1.
posted by norm at 1:37 PM on February 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Assuming you're on the northern hemisphere and are talking about wasps that act like the wasps do here in Europe: wasps abandon their nests every winter; most die, a few hibernate. The survivors among the latter start new communities that build entirely new nests every spring. At this time of the year, you're likely wasting your time and poison.
The fact that this problem is recurring in this particular house is half of a red herring. Naturally, if there's been nests before, there is a chance that single wasps attempt to hibernate in that structure, which makes it more likely for them to build a new nest close at hand in the following year, especially if they are left alone with it. I would wait a bit, and then regularly go up - depending on where you are roughly between March and June.
posted by Namlit at 1:52 PM on February 22, 2010
The fact that this problem is recurring in this particular house is half of a red herring. Naturally, if there's been nests before, there is a chance that single wasps attempt to hibernate in that structure, which makes it more likely for them to build a new nest close at hand in the following year, especially if they are left alone with it. I would wait a bit, and then regularly go up - depending on where you are roughly between March and June.
posted by Namlit at 1:52 PM on February 22, 2010
Like Namlit, I wonder if you have an entirely new colony moving in. I once lived in a house (in Japan) that was plagued with wasps. Mud wasps like to hang out on our laundry rack outside, paper wasps built little nests from the rafters of our back door stoop, and extremely dangerous "suzume-batchi" hornets built a big nest on our neighbour's property about 10 feet from our living room window.
A helpful neighbour observed that "you have the wasp house," and that wasps had always been a problem at our house (and not nearly so much at other houses in the neighbourhood).
The only thing that worked was to get rid of the little nests as soon as the wasps started building them.
We also had the "cat house." A large population of stray cats from the touristy fish market up the street used our yard to have sex, fight, and even to die.
A garden house worked with those guys.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:04 PM on February 22, 2010
A helpful neighbour observed that "you have the wasp house," and that wasps had always been a problem at our house (and not nearly so much at other houses in the neighbourhood).
The only thing that worked was to get rid of the little nests as soon as the wasps started building them.
We also had the "cat house." A large population of stray cats from the touristy fish market up the street used our yard to have sex, fight, and even to die.
A garden house worked with those guys.
posted by KokuRyu at 2:04 PM on February 22, 2010
Response by poster: OK I did some research, and I think I'm probably dealing with yellow jackets mostly because it's inside the siding rather than exposed under an overhang. They can re-use nests, but don't usually.
It's going to cold tomorrow. Current course of action: Caulk whatever cracks seem remotely feasible inside. Suit up. Take the siding off in the area. Spray/run/scream. Knock down nest. Spray/run/scream. Replace siding. Apply Great Stuff.
posted by cmoj at 2:30 PM on February 22, 2010
It's going to cold tomorrow. Current course of action: Caulk whatever cracks seem remotely feasible inside. Suit up. Take the siding off in the area. Spray/run/scream. Knock down nest. Spray/run/scream. Replace siding. Apply Great Stuff.
posted by cmoj at 2:30 PM on February 22, 2010
Pro Tip ... are your wasps active at night? As a kid my house would get a few new wasp nests each year.
We nailed them with bug spray AFTER DARK because paper wasps DON'T LEAVE THE NEST AFTER DARK ... even when you are spraying the shit out of them with bug spray. We then knocked down the nest and stomped on it.
YMMV ... but we never got bit.
posted by jannw at 3:16 AM on February 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
We nailed them with bug spray AFTER DARK because paper wasps DON'T LEAVE THE NEST AFTER DARK ... even when you are spraying the shit out of them with bug spray. We then knocked down the nest and stomped on it.
YMMV ... but we never got bit.
posted by jannw at 3:16 AM on February 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
The either/or combination of the chemical and the lack of egress may or may not cause the nest's demise.
This is not an easy problem, and it may take several tries.
posted by Danf at 1:25 PM on February 22, 2010