How can I get rid of a wasps nest without using harmful insecticide ?

Question

I have a wasps nest in my loft, several semi conscious wasps are managing to get down from loft to bathroom and bedrooms. I have two young children so don't like them to breathe poisonous sprays but can't risk them being stung. Is there any way of getting rid of them without danger to ourselves ?

Just to add, the wasps are INSIDE the house ! (Thanks Peter K). The loft is at the top of the house.

Answer 1

Call your local environmental health department and make enquiries. They may not do it but they'll point you in the right direction.

Answer 2

Well, You may not have to do much right now. Remember Wasps are only aggresive and sting humans when they fill threatened, they will not attack you or sting the children for the fun of it. In the meantime, if you do your best to seal your attic and only kill the drifters, and just let them go about their business of killing spiders in the attic, that would be a benefit. I know most people overlook spiders as a threat in the house, but they actually bite humans, and some house spiders can back a nasty painful lasting punch. To shorten this up and get to the bottom line, at the beginning of each spring, the Queen will move out of her nest, and relocate, they move annually and never stay in the same nest two years in a row. However, if you don't want to do it that way, and want immediate results, never spray a nest with a chemical, this will just aggravate the hornets you don't hit and they won't be happy bugs. You would have to call a pro to come in with a full body suit so he can cut the nest open and kill the Queen himself. Once the Queen is dead, the other hornets will seek out a new Queen to latch on to but will most likely be rejected from the new Queen, and her wasps, will kill the others, and thats just a bugs life, oh well. Good Luck with it though, just remember they will not sting you or your kids for the sake of it, and they will actually help you out by hunting and killing all the spiders in the house, which are a bigger threat, hope this helps! if you have any other Q's, just send an email, or let me know how things go!

Answer 3

robinhoodcb has the best advice so far. I've used the spray mentioned in that answer & it works well. I get wasp nests under my front porch on my mobile home. The spray is made by Ortho & works well. It's a long stream that you saturate the nest with. 24-48 hours later, the wasps have abandoned the nest & you can knock it down with a bat, broom or other long handled item. Be sure to break it into pieces or the wasps will return to make a new one. Also, you can put it into a trashbag & break it up that way.

Don't go smoking, hitting it with a bat, then running or flame-throwing like several answers suggested. You don't want to burn the house down! Hitting it & running will get you stung too. WD40 on the nest works but smells awful. Plus you have to get too close to the nest for it to saturate well. The Ortho stuff shoots a stream about 3-4 feet long. I suggest you saturate the nest at night though. This way, the gaurd wasps or any others won't get angry & try to sting you.

Answer 4

One other person gave you the best answer, I'm going to second it with more details. The foam spray has a straw with it. You are supposed to spray at the hole of the nest in the late evening of the first day, because almost all the wasps are in the nest then. (Usually there are about four wasps that stay out of the nest as guards, maybe they are the ones that have been going to your bedroom and bathroom.)
The foam spray will seal the nest so those on the outside cant get in and those on the inside can't get out. At this point not all the wasps will be dead and don't forgwt you have eggs that hatch too. The next day you are supposed to put the thin straw onto the nozzle or applicator and poke it into the nest gently then you spray the foam into the nest. let the foam harden and on the third day wrap the nest in a bag and take it down. Make sure it is wrapped otherwise if you accidently open it the new ones, if any,could possibly get out.

Answer 5

Tough call. Wasps are just plain nasty and easily provoked. Without the use of an insecticide you will have your work cut out for you. You could try to enclose the nest in a doubled lawn and leaf bag but be extra super careful trying this!!! If you get them angry they could end up all over your house and you! Smoking them out will be just as bad for your home as any insecticide. Can you get the kids out of the house for a few days? Then you can spray bomb the nest and that would be that. It would be best to have a professional service come in and remove the nest. Why endanger yourself when for a reasonable amount of money a professional can do the job for you, safe and soundly. I just knocked off a hornets nest but that was outside my house and they got a very serious dose of wasp spray that knocked them out of the air...permanently. Good luck and be careful!

Answer 6

Unfortunately, using things that put off fumes are the most effective way to get rid of them. You can probably get by without doing that if you were to call some of the professional exterminators, but I would suggest getting one of those defogger cans (they're with the insect killers at places like Lowes and Home Depot), and then at night when they all settle back into the next, set it near their nest, and then set it off, and go somewhere for a couple of days ( it's a good excuse for a weekend get away). Make sure that you don't leave a way for the wasps to escape (no open windows/doors/cracks in anything) When you get back, it's a good idea to open your windows and doors for about 30 minutes, that will let everything air out a little bit, then you can take a pole and tear the nest down.

Answer 7

The very first thing I would do is get those babies out of there before I did anything!
We have wasp nest around our poultry houses all the time. And since they are outside it is much easier for us to get rid of them. I have never used the foam that Peter K and a few other are talking about but that sounds the most reasonable.
I am wondering why many of the answers talk about hitting the hole. A wasp nest contains many many holes not just one. So it will be very difficult to hit the hole with the foam. But I can tell you that it will continue to grow if you do not get it out of there. And find out where they are coming in at and get that HOLE filled in with something.
Good Luck!

Answer 8

Here is the best perfect solution: FOAM wasp killer. It will not in any way cause vapors that will harm your children and it will douse the nest well enough...get two cans and have two people each douse the nests at the same time. You have to get the hole first but just go nuts with the pesticide foam specifically made to kill wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. I have used the foam dozens of times. It kills the nest and you don't get stung and there are no vapors that can enter your house. You have to get this done because the more days that go on the bigger the nests will be. I saw one in my friend's garage that was larger than a basket ball.

BE VERY CARE about what ohers have said. I get the feeling the did not fully understand where the nest is.

Answer 9

I don't know where all you people are from but it "ain't the south" if you have ever been stung by a red wasp you would gather up the kiddies, take them to Grandma's house to spend the night, get yourself a big ole can of Raid Wasp and Hornet Killer (it shoots stream out about 20 to 30 feet leaving you plenty of time and space to run like hell if you have to) aim it at the nest and spray the heck out of the wasps. It kills on contact and it will solve your problem. That's what we do down here, course people think we're all backwards and stupid, could be due to all that Raid Wasp and Hornet Spray we're inhaling. Don't know what a tenant council is but if you got one and they take care of wasps, them what the heck give' em a call, take the kiddies to the park and let them get stung. I bet they got a big ole can of Raid Wasp and Hornet Killer.
Good luck.

Answer 10

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How can I get rid of a wasps nest without using harmful insecticide ?
I have a wasps nest in my loft, several semi conscious wasps are managing to get down from loft to bathroom and bedrooms. I have two young children so don't like them to breathe poisonous sprays but can't risk them being stung. Is there any way of getting rid of them without danger to...

Answer 11

If you can close off all vents, windows, and doors to the loft area, then you can fumigate them the old-fashioned way: You get about 4 ounces of sulfur (maybe you can find a "sulfur candle"), a thick metal baking dish you can throw away, and a couple of bricks.

Close all vents and windows, and place the pan on the bricks in the loft area. The pan must be well away from any flammable material, with no possibility of anything falling near it or knocking it over. Put the sulfur in the pan. Prepare to leave the house with all children, pets, fish, and plants outside the house. Then you can ignite the sulfur with a match and immediately leave the room. Shut and LOCK the door on your way out, then leave the house immediately. You should leave signs by each operable outside door that say "FUMIGATING, DO NOT ENTER", just in case a long-lost relative with a key shows up!

After 24 hours, you go in and open as many doors and windows as you can while holding your breath. You can repeat this to open more windows, but do not breath inside the house.

After about 6 hours, the air inside the house should be fine and you will find that all the wasps are dead. Burning sulfur releases sulfur dioxide gas. Sulfur dioxide is a very small, very mobile molecule that will leak out of all closed areas and disburse within a few hours. It has no long-term toxic effects because it is all gone within hours of airing out the house. This is the gas that professional fumigators use, but you can do the job for just a few dollars, if you are careful. It won't penetrate inside the walls to kill termites as well as a professional tenting, but it will kill your wasps.

After you get rid of them, get some screen up over the vents to the loft so you don't get re-colonized.

Now having said all of that, I would just use the special spray can you can buy at the hardware or home improvement store. Or if you have a lot of them, you can use one of those insecticide flea bombs that treat the whole room. The key is to move your family out for an overnight, while you air out the house afterwards.