# Red Wasps in Attic... Need to Eliminate!!



## F250 (Feb 13, 2018)

I'm currently upgrading some attic space with additional decking paneling to seal up the open insulation surfaces in my attic. I keep seeing and killing random red wasps (4-6 per day), and have had a couple of close calls where I almost went through the sheet rock in reaction to having one buzz past my neck!

We've been in this house for 11 years, and they just started showing up last year. I have not crawled around the entire attic perimeter, but the wasps do not go to and from any particular space in the attic... they just seem to roam around. When I watch them, it's almost like they found a way in and cannot get back out again. I've been taking care of business with a long-spraying wasp pesticide, but I don't want to just be band-aiding the issue.

Our house is about 35 years old and has screened eave vents. The steep-pitched roof is hipped on all four sides except for one small gable on the front which has a screened & louvered round vent. The roof has a ridge vent as well. I can only get close enough to spray the ridge vent internally by having to dance across undecked (open) ceiling joists, and I'm just not interested in falling through the sheet rock if I were to hit a nest and have them start coming in at me... same thing for just wandering around the perimeter to spray the outer corners of the eaves, too! The roof is also steep (and high, and large) enough to where I cannot get to the ridge from outside. I cannot see any nests around the eaves, either.

Suggestions, please... anything to help me get the ROOT of the problem solved!!

Thanks ahead of time for any and all input.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Are the screened vents holes large enough that the wasps can crawl through them?

If so a smaller mesh screen is needed. There may be a nest outside hanging from a soffit area, or rafter , or somewhere close by in a tree, or somewhere.

I would start with a fogger bomb " RAID" can, remember to leave the house for several hours, then air it out very well afterwards.

look closely at the soffit and ridges, and anywhere the critters can crawl in., find all holes and seal it up with mesh, or plugs.


ED


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

I suspect you are correct in that they are getting into the attic and can't get back to where they came from. I like the fogger bomb suggestion de-nagorg gave but if that doesn't work spending some time outside to spot where they are entering and exiting could work. 

Bud


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## F250 (Feb 13, 2018)

Thanks, guys. The eaves are too high for me to access externally, as its a two-story house with a walkout basement on one end and on the back side of the structure. I've outgrown the task of climbing ladders at those heights (read "outgrown" as "I'm older and wiser enough to pay someone else to risk falling off a ladder at heights above about 10').

I know that a bomb will work, but that is only temporary for the ones inside the attic and it doesn't really do anything to keep them from getting in again. If I can't locate and stop the entry, I think I would rather install a couple of wasp traps so that they can be collected on an ongoing basis. 

I know that to stop the entry, I have to find where that's happening, and that is on my to-do list as it is now warming up and they are showing themselves again, and if I can locate those points, seal them up at night when the wasps are nesting and not as active.

Yes, the screen mesh is tight enough that the wasps cannot squeeze through it, but I guess that some of the edges may be loose where the screen attaches to the vents (time and heat are wicked attackers on the glues used to hold the mesh onto the vents.


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## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

You could put a wasp-trap in your attic. You can buy them at the home centers, it's basically a funnel-like entry that they can't back out of, and some soapy water to drown in, and a chemical lure. I have one on the deck because I have a yellow-jacket problem and it catches about a hundred every summer season. The internet also has dozens of designs for DIY traps.


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