Wasps Nest In The Attic

We woke up one morning with wasp nest just two feet above our heads. Literally. With only a piece of plasterboard between them and us. It can be frightening to hear them buzz next evening. We had to get rid of them!

The Problem

The problem in our case is that the nest was built through a hole above the roof beam. Far away of any windows, and too high be reached with a ladder. This is the problem with many houses that have living attic area, so the following bloody simple solution should be useful for everyone.

The Solution

We wondered for quite some time what to do. The ideas varied between calling wasp removal company (from 40km away) to spraying with a long distance spray (didn't help) and placing fish with mouse poison near the nest - as close as we could reach (no effect what so ever).

So, here is what we ended up with:

I punched the side plastic of a wasp spray, pierced sisal through the whole and tied it up.

Then while placing the sisal on top of the "button" of the spray I pierced it through the other side and left about 4 meters long tie.

I missed to tell you that we had 4 meters long laths lying around. So far so good, this is where they came into the game. I tied up the spray to the lath tightly (used some paper and scotch as well). So the lath would now serve as a long lever.

Using the lever I was able to bring the spray close to the whole and to pull the sisal line. Worked!

This is it. A lot of thinking and not so much action. I sprayed for few minutes and the problem was solved. We used the same principe to tie up a bottle of foam to the lath and close the hole later so no further nests will be built there.

Some Tips

It's all roses now, but I ought to mention few things if you have similar problems:

• Fighting wasps is dangerous. Make sure you are not allergic as there's always a risk to be bitten.
• Spraying nest should be done late at night or very early morning when the wasps are least active.
• Wear some protection clothes - I put my winter coat and hat regardless that it was hot summer season.
• Don't be frugal with the spray - spray all of it to kill the wasps well.
• Don't use fire, oil, or things like that as you may end up with a firing house and angry wasps.
• If you are not sure what you are doing, call a company to remove the nest.

Here is some more wasp removal advice.