Flies: at my wit's end

[WhatWouldStevieNicksDo]

What can I use to get flies out of my house –and keep them away?

I live next to an old (dry) reservoir in a pretty warm climate (think 22 - 32 year-round). Moved in here in February and suddenly over the past week my house is FULL of houseflies: up to 10 per room at any one time.

I've tried those UV zapper lanterns – they're not remotely interested.

Flypaper isn't touching the sides of the problem.

The internet is full of (I'm sure very well-meaning) rubbish about water and vinegar with a touch of dish soap, but this doesn't attract them in the slightest - I haven't even caught one that way.

When I moved in there were cans of RAID under the sink but I have pets and houseplants and I can't be spraying chemicals around all day.

I can't do much structurally about them getting in; it's an old house and there are cracks around doors all over the place – plus it's hot and at some point I need to be able to open my windows – but SURELY there's something I can do to repel them?

I was on work video calls this week and they were buzzing all around my head; I can't do this much longer!

Please, does someone have an idea? I'm losing my mind!

Smoke bombs from amazon. They’re amazing! And can be used in the kitchen etc.

Also have a look at Dethlac. Great stuff.

Gauze screens over all the windows and doors. Those magnetic door screens are actually really good, if a bit annoying in and out.

Can't you get mesh to put over the windows you have open?

www.amazon.co.uk/Biocare-Insect-Mesh/dp/B001VCJTZS?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Any kind of spray/smoke thing will have to be re-done over and over. Better if they never get in in the first place.

Amazon sell those blue light electric fly zappers they have in restaurant kitchens for you to use at home. My neighbour has one - seems effective.

Mesh all windows and doors that you open regularly and then set off a smoke bomb to get rid of the remaining ones.

Flypaper for us was far more effective when it was hanging from a strip of cardboard so it was out in the open. It caught a lot more than when it was just dangled on the window.

If I were to gauze everything I'd be trapped in

My office window is a 6-foot awning window, I have two sets of double doors (one in the kitchen, one in the living room) that are wooden and decorative – meshing them would be really hard (and look awful, to be honest).

In a modern house that would be much easier, but my home is an old-style local building and doesn't lend itself to that kind of thing. It's a big part of why I feel so at a loss.

@MyLittleFishDontCry I've got pets - I can't be using aggressive chemicals all the time.

@Chaaaaaching can you explain that a bit more? I'm not sure I know what you mean...

We live in an area with a huge cluster fly problem, here’s what works for us, although it’s a bit of an ongoing battle to be honest.

We have 2 Red Top fly traps hung approx 15 meters from the back of the house where the flies come in. This sort of thing

We have fly tape hung in the utility room, where most the flies enter from the garden, and keep the door between the utility room and kitchen shut, creating a sort of fly airlock (deathlock?)

We have magnetic fly screen curtains over the back doors. We don’t currently have anything over the windows, but the back windows are only ever opened a crack. We should probably have more fly paper near the back windows but it’s gross so we have those sunflower stickers you attach to the window and kill flies if they touch them instead.

We have an electric bat for killing any that do make it in. This one makes a very satisfying CRACK

We have a large American fridge/freezer type thing in the kitchen so I taped a long strip of cardboard to the top of the fridge so that it hung over the edge like a long fishing rod. Then I pinned the fly paper to the end of the ‘fishing rod’. So it was hanging out in the open (be careful you don’t get it stuck in your hair when you’re walking past it!) it seemed to catch a lot of flies.

www.amazon.co.uk/Red-Top-86757-Fly-Trap/dp/B06Y34JR84?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

These are good!

Wooooah @SuperFurryDoggy and @MrsS92 I've never seen those red top things before! Do they really work?

And what is a sunflower sticker?

I think I might be Amazon-ing pretty hard in the next few days!

The red tops are amazing, the earlier in the season you can get them out the better as it kills the buggers before they multiply. I have great satisfaction in throwing away kilos of flies from ours every year. They’re not cheap but 100% worth it - be warned they do smell foul so consider your placement carefully!

Sorry not wanting to derail but I took a look at the amazon link for the Red Top..... did you read the description? So funny

The Red Top fly traps are the single most effective thing. It doesn’t stop them all, but it greatly reduces the amount that make it into the house.

These are the window stickers. Be warned that you’ll end up with a little pile of fly corpses on the windowsill underneath it. I think they try and land on it and it poisons them. Not as effective as fly tape, but more discrete!

I have a fly pen - you draw a line around the edge of each window pane and then when they’re wandering around on them, they touch the poison (or whatever is in the pen) and promptly die - you end up with a few dead ones on the window sills but that’s got to be better than fly paper?!

We are inundated too.

Live in the country and it's always a problem but this year it's just awful.

Fly mesh over windows.get the more robust metal mesh if you can, it's available from eBay.

Sticky Velcro to attach so you can open and shut windows.

Same for doors. You can get door mesh that has magnetic openers.

But if you have animals maybe a fine metal chain fringe curtain for the open doors. I had these before and they work. The material fringes don't.

Sticky fly strips to the ceiling (yuck) but they work and can't be eaten by animals.

Lavender, oil or the plant repels flies as does mint. Put pots of this by windows and it helps.

We use an electrified tennis racket to get the odd one that gets in .

I've bought some net food covers to protect food I leave out.

It's been a mammoth task this year but I absolutely hate flies in the house.

We also suffer from flies, the fly tape is the most effective I think but it's difficult to find places to hang it and does look gross with all the flies stuck to it, although hugely satisfying.

I also bought a red top this year which we have hung about 15m from the house. Nothing seemed to be happening for a coupe mood weeks but looked at it yesterday and it's gross. heaving with a good inch thick layer of the bastards. And the size of some of them - boak!

Also bought the executioner pro tennis racket thing but it's hard to zap them! I find it's good for the ones that land in the sofa though as you can whack them and then lift off the crispy little corpse.

Anyone tried the see through bags filled with water and pennies? Hung in doorways/windows? Apparently the flies vision mistake it for a big predator so they avoid (google it - sounds convincing) I'm desperate enough to try this over the weekend.

Have also ordered the food net column things from amazon to put over food left out, although trying to ensure noting is left out at all.

Fucking fly bastards.

There is a reason why all houses in Western Australia come with fly screens on every door and window. There would be no living otherwise.

Fans you need fans
We used to get a problem with flies and installed ceiling fans and it’s stopped them flat
I use my dyson for my desk and I never get any flies anywhere near me

OK, update - just filled my first red top.... very excited!

Trouble is with the layout of my house, I can't get it much further than 5 metres from my back terrace (there's a steep drop right behind my garden and thick wild brambles on either side) and it's right outside a window, which I can keep closed.

Am I going to die of the stench?

We've had our one hanging now for about a month and it's pretty gross, a good inch think layer of flies

It doesn't smell bad though, I certainly expected it to be honking given the reviews on Amazon etc.

Ours is hanging about 10m from house though and not in the garden but on a fence across a small pathway from our house. It was really the only place I could put it.