Fungus gnats!! Anyone had them before?

[summerflies]

Over the last couple of days I’ve noticed these little flies in my house which I think might be fungus gnats and they’re driving me mad. They’re harmless I think but they come right up to my face and it’s just horrible. I struggled to sleep last night.

The outside drain by my kitchen is currently blocked with stones. I’m pretty sure that’s what’s causing the issue. I’m going to try and unblock it today, otherwise I’ll have to call a drainage specialist on Tuesday.

Has anyone had these before? I know they normally come from plants but I don’t have any. Urgh it’s making me feel dirty 🤢

Putting aquarium gravel on the surface of the gravel will stop them. I can't remember why but saw the tip on the Internet somewhere.

What a pain to have them in the bedroom!

Could you have a plant by the bed and put something like these in the soil?

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B095WWTKRB

Yes!! Urgh, we had a slow running drain and had fungus knats and drain flies 😫
The fungus knats are horrible, check for any containers that have stagnet water, garden waste etc too. I put bicarb and bleach down our drains until the new bathroom was installed and I haven't had any again. I feel for you. Xx

It sounds like they might be drain flies or fruit flies rather than fungus gnats? Fungus gnats are very small and their larvae live in soil, so I'm not sure if they'd be the type of fly to choose the stones in your drain. Definitely unblock the drain, take out the rubbish/recycling/anything that they might be using for food, and use fly spray inside so they're not landing on everything and they don't start breeding inside.
If they are fungus gnats, the only thing I've found to work is regularly using diluted hydrogen peroxide (4:1 water-peroxide) where the larvae are living and using fly spray on the adults

OP you need Nematodes from Amazon! They will absolutely blitz the problem. It’s like magic!

Here you go. Millions of brands Link

When i get these in my plants i use the yellow sticky things to trap them. Fairly cheap on Amazon ....

Wonder if my name change means I can’t link?

Oh, it’s showing now.

here

yes i used the nematodes on my house plant soil but i'm not sure that will work in drain gavel ?

Thanks all, at least I’m not the only person that’s had to deal with them. I’m confident it’s the kitchen drain (pic attached) that’s the issue. I think the bathroom drain might be slightly blocked too. I’ve tried to get the stones out but they are wedged so far down I can’t get to them. I think they’ll have to be blasted out with a pressure washer or something.

I thought it might be drain flies too but I haven’t seen any in the bathroom / kitchen or around any of the plug holes (I have closed them off anyway just in case). They are all in the bedrooms. I do dry my clothes in the spare bedroom but I have a dehumidifier to help with that.