Wasps in the loft bedroom

[Igglybuff]

Over the last few days, wasps both dead and alive have been appearing in our loft bedroom

I'm sure there's a nest in the eaves space but we've got no way of accessing the entrance to destroy the nest (it's a regular wasp nest every year). Is there a failsafe way of stopping the wasps coming in?

We've got double glazed windows and despite the window being closed, two wasps surprise me. So could they be coming up the floorboards?

Any help/suggestions/advice appreciated.

kill the nest with a foam type wasp nest killer - only way.

You MUST be able to access the eaves somehow.

The loft has been converted into bedrooms. The eaves space has just been boarded up and plastered over - so can't get in without knocking it through and possibly disturbing the nest. To do it from the outside, you'd need a very high ladder but there's a single story extension in the way so not practical really. It's a pain - we tend to get at least one nest a year but this year so many wasps have broken in!

I'd call a pest control company - I'm sure they'll know!

when we had a Bees nest in a similar concealed space we had to cut a hole through the plasterboard to remove the nest with the bees alive (we had honey coming through the ceiling in any case)

With wasps you can drill a 1 1/4" hole in the ceiling and push a couple of fumigation cartridges through. This will kill all the wasps but does not absolutely guarantee that the nest wont become repopulated!

That's the problem massive I'm sure new ones move in each year.

I'll give a company a ring - they got rid of another one which was a lot easier as just outside the window.

The entrance is obviously from outside and to access this you may have to get scaffolding! But it needs to be plugged. Can you get into a postion to examine the outside without this expense, think binnoculars. Alternatively, you can strip away the inner part, plasterboard etc to determin whether you can see daylight. No prize for guessing the pests are nesting between the inner and outer skin and find a way in from there. Do as much investigation as you can this winter when they will not be active, getting any free advice of course! If you call someone now to fix the problem it could cost you a lot more imo.

no you can't plug eaves vents. very bad idea. shouldn't have to explain why!

I was hoping we could get someone to put that funny dust on the entrance so any new wasps that try and move in will also die (which is what they've done with the other nest at the front of the house).

I'll get the binoculars out and have a look when in the garden!

I was not suggesting plugging eves vents. OP does not know where they are coming in. It may be they are coming through under the roof or even brick work. It needs investigation, obviously, which was what I suggested.

except that wasps will obviously be able to pass through bs eaves vents as fly screens are not normally fitted to them!

OP / Igglybuff - do you have fly screens fitted to your vents?

have been reading up on this ...

To be honest,I would leave it alone at this stage. It is nearly winter and all worker wasps die off over winter. The queens will survive in a hibernation cell but then move from the nest in about april and build a new nest elsewhere. The old nest will never be used again.

Hopefully the new nest will be somewhere more convenient!

The following information on the subject of ?pest control wasps? should not necessarily be taken as absolute fact but more as general information I have collected over the years.

There are two types of wasp that are commonly found in the United Kingdom; they are the common wasp and the German wasp. Both species are almost identical to look at.

All worker wasps die out during the winter; the only wasps that survive are the queen wasps. Queen wasps hibernate during the winter inside the old nest or construct a small ?golf ball? sized hibernation cell.

During April and until early June, the queen wasp will leave the old nest or hibernation cell and begin the construction of a brand new nest in a new location. The old nest or hibernation cells are never used again.

Nests are mostly made out of a mixture of chewed wood and wasp saliva. Queen wasps will often start to build their nests in roof voids, wall cavities or in outbuildings.

By the time September arrives the nest can be as large as a small armchair with up to 10,000 wasps using it.

During June and July you are unlikely to get wasp stings, as wasps are too busy chasing insects and bringing up the larval wasps. However as autumn arrives these activities stop and the wasps start to feed on fermenting, over ripe fruit. These ?drunken wasps? are now at their most dangerous and can become very aggressive, with a wasp sting more likely to happen.

The question we are most asked is ?How can I tell if I have a wasp nest?? and ?How do I destroy a wasp nest?? I hope the following information will be useful:

The first thing to do is to look in your attic or look up into the top of your garage, shed or other outbuildings. During June and July the nest will only be the size of a tennis ball or football. It will be straw in colour and have ?swirl shapes? all over it. From August to October it may become much bigger and a darker straw colour will lots of swirl patterns all over it. If you can't see the nest then take a very slow walk around you property looking for wasps going in and out of a single entrance hole every 2-4 seconds. This will indicate a nest 4-6 inches behind this hole.

If you do discover a wasp nest or a wasp nest entrance hole, we recommend that the best way to kill the wasps nest is with our wasp nest destroyer kit.

If you cannot find the nest or entrance hole but are still plagued with wasps, then the best way to get rid of them will be to buy one of our wasp trap packs or electronic flying insect and wasp killers. These will kill wasps, significantly reducing numbers.

above source www.trapawasp.co.uk/

Thank you.

No fly screens fitted - but the only vent I can see is where the chimney was (it's an old victorian house and the loft bedrooms were servants quarters with fireplaces, so not a loft conversion iyswim).

I think the problem is the wasps build nests somewhere in our eaves/roof spaces every year - we've been here four years and always notice them around.

I'll wait til next year and if we see activity, see if we can get it sorted quickly. I'm a big wuss when it comes to wasps and other insects!