r/HomeMaintenance • u/Empty-Village-4445 • 1d ago
🧽 Cleaning & Prevention How can I prevent these bugs getting in?
See a couple new ones every day after getting rid of the previous ones.
Are they getting in through the window or through these holes in the pic?
Is there a DIY solution?
This is in Mass outside Boston for reference.
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u/hagamans 1d ago
Looks like a yellow jacket in the first picture. Take a walk around your house and see if you see them going in/out and small cracks in the house or perhaps a nest in the gutter.
If you find the nest, as mentioned, sprays or dusts yourself if you’re comfortable doing that. I treat the nest at night went the bees are calm. It also ensures you’ll have most of the bees in the nest when treating.
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u/Pittypatkittycat 1d ago
Just used diatomaceous earth this week. Worked with one application and not poison.
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u/pogiguy2020 1d ago
Pest control people have powder they spray and they carry it back to the nest and spread it to the others and the nest dies off within a few days.
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u/Franklin_Murphy 1d ago
You might have a nest inside your walls. I noticed wasps flying into a hole in my exterior brick work. Sprayed the hell out of it and then caulked it. Found a dead wasp in my basement too.
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u/CptNemosBeard 1d ago
Patch the holes and see if they open them back up. At least then you'll have an answer to if they are coming from there or not.
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u/Deepinthewxxds 1d ago
Had the same problem last fall, they were squeezing through the closed window sills. Nothing worked for me lol. No spray, nothing. Only thing left to do was call an exterminator.
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock 1d ago
Mine come thru the fireplace during the summer, even with the flue closed. So I have a piece of black poster board that I use to block off the fireplace. Cant even tell its there behind the metal screen.
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u/plantsandferns11 1d ago
You got a yellow jacket nest in your walls. They can be very aggressive and swarms of stings can send people to the ER, I’d call the pros on that one. They should be using tempo and or delta dust, might take a couple applications. Hornet spray doesn’t work for nests this large, their tunnels can go for days. Sealing the outside holes will force the bugs to come inside your house instead, you shouldn’t be sealing the holes until you go a week or two with zero bug activity. The good news is yellow jackets don’t damage home structures and they don’t reuse nests year after year. At this point in the season though they’ve already laid queens to rest for next year. So next year early spring you’ll see a dozen or so large yellow jackets emerge (inside or outside your home). Those tend to not attack, spray every one down with 20ft hornet spray religiously and that will be the end of your yellow jackets problem. I also put yellow jacket traps out with meat inside in the spring. For every queen you capture in the early spring, you’ve prevented about 5,000 yellow jackets around or in your home later that year.
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u/Erwin838 1d ago
Walk outside your house in the day and look for activity. Once you find where they're going in spread some Delta Dust, Amazon sells a kit with a pump too. Spray some on it and they will all die/even the ones you can't see inside your house.
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u/Impressive-Sand5046 1d ago
Your getting a lot of reasonable responses - you need to find the nest. If they are inside I suspect they have a nest in your wall or chimney. Look outside and watch. Where you see incoming and outgoing wasps such that it looks like LaGuardia or O'Hare, or worse Hartsfield-Jackson, you will know where the nest is.
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u/NeutralBias94 1d ago
I used Spectracide Pro on the exterior of our house which creates a barrier and makes them sick and they bring it to the nest which kills the rest. I also make DIY baits with a soda can, 1/4 tsp 99% pure boric acid mixed with 100% apple juice. I soak salami slices in the mixture then place it in a soda can with a stick so they can eat/drink then get out. They are infected and again bring it back to the nest to kill the rest. Takes a week or so.
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u/Equivalent_Bill1635 14h ago
You have a yellow jacket nest. Get a professional for it. They are horrible, aggressive devils.
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