Why Are Wasps Flying Into Your Hoo St Werburgh Home? Common Causes and Solutions
A garage that connects to the house, or a utility room with a door to the garden, can act as a quiet corridor for wasps, and tidy habits close it.
The side door that stays open
Garages and utility rooms are the working parts of a house. Doors are left open while the car is unloaded, the washing is done or the bins are moved. Wasps follow scents from bins, bags of shopping and wet laundry, and a garage with a door ajar looks like an invitation.
Once inside, a wasp moves towards the inner door and then the warmth of the house. If you live in Hoo St Werburgh and find wasps in the hallway or kitchen with no open windows, the garage route is worth checking.
A good habit is to treat the garage like a porch: a place where things pass through, not where they stay. If shopping waits on the floor, or bags of rubbish pile up by the door, you are leaving a treat out for passing wasps. Clearing the space daily during summer is an easy way to cut down on visitors.
What wasps find in a garage
Garages are full of interesting things for a wasp:
- Bins and recycling boxes with sweet residue.
- Bags of shopping, especially drinks and fruit, waiting to be unpacked.
- A second fridge or freezer with spills on the floor.
- Pet food stored in open sacks.
- Gaps under roller doors and around loose seals.
- Warm corners behind tools and boxes, where a nest may start.
Walk through yours with fresh eyes and tackle what you can. Lidded boxes for pet food and clean bins make an immediate difference.
Do not forget the car. A vehicle parked in the garage after a day out may carry a wasp or two in the boot or footwell, which will wake up in the warm and head for the house. Open all doors to air the car before unloading anything sweet.
Closing the corridor
The best fixes are low-cost:
- Keep the door between the garage and house shut, and fit a draught strip along the bottom.
- Unload shopping quickly and take the packaging out to the bin.
- Replace worn rubber seals on roller doors or up-and-over doors.
- Fit a mesh over vents and air bricks in the garage walls.
- Fix any holes where pipes or cables enter the house.
- Wash the garage floor now and then to remove sticky spills.
A fly screen over a utility door is a sensible addition if you like to prop it open when you are washing.
If you are not sure whether the inner door seals well, test it on a bright day by turning off the garage light and looking for a thin line of daylight round the edge. Any gap that lets light through can let a wasp through.
It is also worth checking the inner door to the house. A door with a worn brush strip or a letterbox-style gap at the bottom lets in insects and draughts alike. Replacing the strip costs little and is a lasting improvement, whether or not wasps are the reason you are doing it. Where there is a cat flap in the garage door, keep it latched shut in wasp season.
When the garage itself has a nest
Nests are sometimes built in garages, in the roof timbers, behind shelves, in the gap between a wall and a garage door track, or in an air brick. If the garage is quiet, a nest can grow for weeks without anyone noticing.
Look at the garage from outside first. A line of wasps entering a gap at the top of the door or the eaves is clear evidence. Inside, a faint buzzing from the ceiling is another. Nests start in late April depending on the weather and reach a peak in August, when a colony may hold from 2,000 to 10,000 or more wasps.
Do not go in and poke around. Close the inner door, keep children and pets away and arrange a visit.
Remember that a garage nest may only be visible from one side. Walk round the whole building and watch for a minute or two at each corner. A spot where wasps keep disappearing from view is the one to report.
Safety first
If a wasp comes through the door, stay still, then open the nearest outside door and let it leave. Do not swat. If anyone is stung, wash the area, take out the sting if visible and apply a cold pack. Call 999 for swelling of the face, lips or throat, wheezing, difficulty breathing, dizziness or a widespread rash.
Anyone with a known allergy should speak to their GP, and tell us at the time of booking.
Many garages are shared or used by more than one household. If so, make sure the others know about the wasps and keep the area clear until the visit is over.
Booking a treatment
Wasp Exterminator Kent charges a fixed £120 for treating a nest, with one visit guaranteed, and £60 for an additional nest on the same property. No call-out charge applies, and the price is the same wherever you are and whenever you book. Our technicians are fully insured and qualified, and they work for domestic and commercial customers seven days a week.
Phone 01622 410 019 or use the online form on the contact page. Same-day service is available, as are evening and weekend appointments. If you are away from home during the day, tell us who can give access to the garage.
If the garage is detached or reached by a shared drive, mention how the technician can get to it and whether the door will be unlocked. Clear a path to the wall or roofline where you have seen the wasps, so that the work can start as soon as the technician arrives.
Wasps on your property in Hoo St Werburgh?
Fixed price £120 per nest, no call-out charge, same-day service available.