Tiny black flies

[storminabuttercup]

a few weeks ago there was a blocked sewer near my house, we had what I assume was drain flies in the house, maybe one every day not huge numbers. Sewer is now sorted and I’m not seeing flies round the drains outside but we have still seen the odd fly, maybe one every 2/3 days inside. I’m constantly pouting boiling water in the drains/sinks, done bicarbonate and vinegar thing in all sinks, they strangely seem to end up in the living room (no drains, plants or anything like that) what on earth are they? I can’t work out if we have a problem or it’s left over from the sewer situation.
Google is saying either fruit flies or drain flies but if it was anything rotting we’d see more surely and drains seem ok. Any one had similar and can offer advice please? Driving myself mental over it

When you say tiny, how tiny? They could be fungus gnats if really small, otherwise maybe attic flies?

I've had a lot of the wee buggers coming in on my clothes and hair. I assume they're doing well because of the weather but it's due to turn colder and windier soon so hopefully they'll head off to warmer climes for a long and happy retirement.

I don't think they're fungas gnats because <whispers> I've managed to rid my houseplant of them and these flies aren't showing much interest in it. If I find in the near future that the little buggers have laid eggs I shall rescind my wish for their long and happy retirement.

How on earth did you get rid of the gnats from your plants… they drive me mad!

get some sticky fly paper. It cured them for me.

You leave it out for ages where they appear. They fly around and get stuck to it.

OMG I've been dealing with this issue as well. It started in the summer. I initially blamed it on the warm weather, but they're still around, just not as many. I also suspected they were drain flies, so I tried using drain cleaner, bleach, etc, but nothing worked. I'm pretty sure they're not drain flies as I've never seen them near the drains or sinks, and they look different from the pictures I found online.

I think they might be fungus gnats. It seems they usually come from houseplants, but like you, I don’t have any. I did have some trouble with my bathroom as it had no ventilation when I first moved in, except for a tiny window, and it started to get really damp and mouldy. There was also a hidden leak behind the sink. I’ve had that fixed now and also had a fan installed to help reduce the moisture. Apparently they can show up if you have damp, mouldy conditions or a hidden leak, so I’d recommend checking for those issues. I still see them from time to time, but I only had the bathroom sorted a few weeks ago, so I’m hoping they’ll go away eventually.

Aside from that, I’m not really sure what else causes them. You have my sympathies though, I hate them!

For my houseplants I washed the roots when I was repotting them and used Westland houseplant compost. It came in a sealed bag. The one I had before had tiny holes in the bag and there were definitely some kind of bugs coming from that.

My lemon verbena plant I washed the whole thing. They're terrible for greenfly or some other kind of irritating bastard so I dunked the top and swirled it round in a bowl of water then did the same with the roots. I potted it into the new compost and it has been bug free ever since. I do keep it away from other plants and open windows.

Thanks all

they are small small like 5mm maybe?
attic flies I’m off to google!

Did wonder if they were coming in on clothes or hair or when the door is open. They aren’t shy and seem to fly at me. Probably DH but his eyesight is crap and I’m constantly on alert, I whacked the telly the other day but it was actually on the football 😃

will get some fly tape too! I’ve got some of the sticky moth things as we thought we had those at one bit (wool carpet) but never seen a thing on them

will also check for leaks but didn’t notice any when I originally checked

im so alert im seeing things now, like you know the tiny bits of fluff that come off jumpers when you put it on? I’m so hyper focussed I can see those. I sound crazy but it’s stressing me out so much.

nobody’s made me panic though here as surely if there was something terrible we’d have more than 3/4 a week

If they buzz around your face, they're definitely fungus gnats OP. Mine were the same, though they don't fly near me as much anymore, and I have no clue why. It seems they're drawn to the carbon monoxide we exhale. Can you tell I've read a lot about this 😂

I think they’re maybe the fungus gnats. We have them too, they drive me mad. I’ve got lots of sticky fly paper things that you put into your plant pots and they do help I think.

A couple of summers ago we had literally hundreds of tiny black flies flying around in the upstairs windows. We put fly catchers up in each window and they caught loads...but still they came.
This lasted for a couple of months. I have a feeling they originated from houseplant soil we had recently bought because there were lots flying around the plant. I only have one plant on the upstairs landing and it's huge, far too big to take downstairs, so I took out the top soil, covered the top of the plant with wire wool, then put decorative stones around the plant.
Replaced the sticky fly papers, and thankfully, within a couple of weeks, no more flies.

Watering plants from the bottom is supposed to deter fungus gnats, keeping the top half inch or so of the compost drier is less hospitable to them.

Sorry forgot to mention we don’t have any house plants!