Wasp in the garage!

[bad_idea]

I live in a planned community. My yard is no bigger than a postage stamp. I grew up in suburbia. Never been much for wilderness.

I opened up the garage door (man door) to see 2 wasp (waspes?) flying against the windows in the roll up door. I had the occasional stray wasp last year in the garage. The only way I can figure they are coming in is through the attic door. I left the attic door/hatch open for ventilation last night and forgot to close it.

DO you all figure I have a nest in the attic somewhere? Why are they coming into my garage? How do I keep them from coming in? I have never been stung and don't plan on getting stung any time soon.

 

[HarleyR]

I hate them damn things too... I live in the country and have all sorts of things flying around... I killed a wasp type thing last year that was atleast an inch and a half long... it looked like a humming bird at first... and the wasp spray just pissed it off at first i think the mix of brakeclean and wasp spray finally did it in...

 

[5lima30]

I have also found that after being sprayed with "wasp & hornet" spray they have just enough life left to sting you! I have since found that carb cleaner works almost instantly even on the dreaded yellow jackets!

 

[SGKent]

what color are they?

This early in the year they are probably looking to set up a nest.

 

[djkeev]

They seek light which is why they are on your windows. Yes look in the attic for a nest and shoot it will killer IN THE EVENING after the sun has set. They are all home relaxing and watching TV. In the chill of evening they are also lethargic and slow.

Any good vent WILL have a screen, if yours doesn't install one ASAP.

There are traps you can purchase or make your own using a soda bottle. They work on the drawn to light principle and seeking food they are programmed for. The best bait is some ground beef in a few inches of water, let the beef rot well and properly built you'll fill that trap with dead yellow jackets / wasps in short order! Google it for directions.

Dave

 

[GarageEnvy]

I had a nest in a patio ceiling fan. I sprayed from a distance (and close to a slider to the indoors). Many fell out of the housing dead but several of them did take exception to the spraying. I can only recommend spraying at a maximum distance with a good escape route to the indoors. They're cranky little pests.

 

[Doctor_Ink]

Baseball bat seems to work alright.

 

[JasonTX]

Fyi: paper wasps look similar to yellow jackets, but have smaller nests and do not go for rotting meat.

 

[fourjeepin]

The giant wasps are cicada killers. Never seen one until last year. Bought a house with a pool and we find them in it a few times a year. Very scary looking, but usually harmless to humans. Or so my research said...

 

[DHCrocks]

could be getting in between the garage door and opening frame. Check to see if there is a gap along the top edge I had a gap here on mine. I used foam weather striping tape along the frame to seal it.

 

[bad_idea]

could be getting in between the garage door and opening frame. Check to see if there is a gap along the top edge I had a gap here on mine. I used foam weather striping tape along the frame to seal it.

The door has a HUGE gap on the side. They could easily be coming through there. But why are they coming in my garage? What is attracting them in there?

 

[pauls340]

Take a 2 lt bottle of orange pop, drink 1/3 of pop, drill or cut a 1/2"to 3/4" hole where the plastic bottle is angled going up to the neck. Place it up in the attic and watch the little bastards commit suicide

 

[BillK]

I opened up the garage door (man door) to see 2 wasp (wasps?) flying against the windows in the roll up door. .

Only 2 There were a bunch of them in the shop today at my business and I would think that something was wrong if there wasnt a few creepy crawlers in the garage at home. Crickets, all sorts of flying things, spiders, salamanders and an occasional small snake is par for the course. My feelings is that they were there first and I dont mess with them too much if they dont mess with me.

 

[crazy wheel]

Well if you only saw 2 wasp hopefully it is a small nest, no bigger than this one

 

[Falcon67]

Raid Yard Guard - knocks 'em right out. Got tons of yellow jackets around here in the summer and any warm winter days, can send a few if you need them.

 

[was2]

The mild winter may be bringing them out earlier. Very quick when it is warm. Slow in winter. If you come across an active nest in winter they just crawl around looking lost. Squeeze their little heads with long nose pliers cuz they can't move in winter. Spray and run in summer. They may be attracted to pine sap if you have wooden trusses getting warm and weeping sap.

 

[Ign]

Chlorinated CRC Brakleen. Not generic.

 

[wkends]

Carburetor cleaner will take them out of the air quick!

 

[4BT]

I have yet to meet a wasp who could fly through a burst of spraypaint fueled flame.......

 

[SGKent]

I have yet to meet a wasp who could fly through a burst of spraypaint fueled flame.......

can't imagine what that does to pine sap ......

 

[ZRX61]

Spray em with aerosol clearcoat, turns em into gliders...

 

[hobie1dog]

I just smacked one last evening with a broom, knocked his *** out on the driveway.

 

[cderalow]

i use the RAID wasp killer and a garden hose. alternate spraying jets from 8-10 feet. always at night with a flashlight/lantern.

 

[Boiler]

One day I walked from the garage, through the laundry room, and into the kitchen. I noticed a yellowjacket buzzing around my head as I closed the kitchen door. Then I noticed two more. After dispatching them, I went back to the laundry room and upon paying attention, realized is was FULL of yellowjackets. They were everywhere. Thousands of them. They had built a nest in my wall and just found (eaten?) their way into the laundry room.

I went to get some spray that "kills the hive" or whatever, and emptied two cans into the room through a crack in the door.

1 day later clean up the aftermath with a shopvac and never a problem again. I still find a stray body 5-6 years later...

 

[NUTTSGT]

Chlorinated CRC Brakleen. Not generic.

That's the good stuff there, they just drop out of the air.




I had a nest somewhere in the garage attic a few summers ago. I could see them come and go. I tried to caulk as much of the crack that I could. When it got dark, I took care of them. I used some Sevin dust in a piece of brake line, stuck it in the gap and blew it in with the air hose. I didn't see one the next day. I finished caulking up the gap.

 

[Ben7203]

I live out in the country and deal with wasp and yellow jackets every year. But the one that causes the most frustration, is the damn carpenter bees. Every spring I have to spray the decks with malathion. But it doesn't last long. I keep a tennis racket in the garage to take out my frustration on them. I'm sure I look like an idiot, running around trying to wack them out of the air!

 

[mslisaj]

Every year I get a new little baseball size nest in my rafters. If their way up at the top and stay there I let them be. But this last year I have found them in the top of my loft space and that is just inches from my head. Can't have that. I have soaked the nest with carb cleaner, WD40 and even oil and they keep coming back to the nest. But I must say the carb cleaner is the best. It knocks them right down and they stay down. I had a neighbor that loaned me a can of a spray made by the Zep Company. This bug, spider, wasp spray or what ever it was made for would shoot a stream 10' up. Now this stuff was the best ever. I have tried to buy it and can't find it in a store. Figure I have to buy a case of it from the Zep Distributor. But that stuff reached out and touched those wasps and left a substance that they didn't want to come back too. If I found a huge nest like in the picture in the post above I would really get concerned but so far it's been a manageable issue.

Lisa

 

[kbs2244]

Actually, I don’t mind them.
I shared a house with them for 30 years.
They liked the walk around attic more that I did.
And they liked the taste of house flies more than I did.

We generated a lot of fly attracting stuff, what with dogs, kitchen garbage, etc.
We had zero fly problems.

I never got stung in those 30 years.
Even with them flying around me at the top of a ladder when painting or cleaning gutters.

There are two kinds of nests.
Mud and paper.
They both seem to be abandoned come spring.
If any are in sight and seem to scare people, I knock them down.
But they are always empty.

 

[jhelrey]

Had a mud and paper nest the size of a basketball at an apartment complex hanging off of the deck. One of the guys had a wise idea with the leaf blower to get it a blast... Not only did the thing hit the ground, but 4 grown men can run fast... I just happened to be the fastest so I didn't get stung. I jumped into the truck and another guy did. He got it. The other two guys kept running and getting stung. Laughing my *** off the rest of the day. I told them to leave them alone.

 

[Mike F]

Last year my wife got stung by a yellow jacket while in her home office. Soon afterwards we started seeing them in my son's room which is on the second floor above her office. I could see where they would come in from the outside of the house in a space between the siding and stone on an outside corner. I called my exterminator (need him for the termite bait/surveillance) and he sprayed the entry point. BAD IDEA!! When you spray their entrance guess what.... they come further inside to find a different way in and out. My son moved into the basement and I went and sprayed wasp killer at the ones I could see, but it was no use. They kept coming. I finally found http://www.bugspray.com/article/yellowjackets.html and they helped tremendously. I thought they were in the walls between the beams, so I drilled holes between each beam and used a puffer to spray a powder in there. Also went outside and did the same. Apparently the powder (drione dust) coats them and they bring it back to the hive and it dries them out and kills them. After about 1-2 weeks they were gone. The weather got warmer and a bad smell was coming from my son's room. I cut out some sheetrock but couldn't find what was smelling. Even bought a boroscope ( as good an excuse as any to buy a new tool ). Bought some chemical to get rid of odors and was spraying inside the walls with only temporary help. Finally found a large collection of dead yellow jackets. Had to go downstairs and take out about a 3 sq ft area from the ceiling. HUGE nest- about 2 x 2ft above the downstairs ceiling and below the upstairs floor. The suckers must have decomposed and in the heat went rancid. Lots of sheetrock and paint later they are gone, outside sealed up, and I will be very vigilant for any of them outside in the future. One thing all my research told me was not to use those bait traps. Apparently they will just keep coming and can multiply faster than you can get rid of them. They will also attract others that are nowhere near your house now. I would go to that site above and read up, if for nothing else to be well informed about what to do. They were also very helpful over the phone. Good luck.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

Two pages of responses to this, really?

Hit the nest with Wasp & Hornet spray - sold at every Home Depot, etc. and they drop dead immediately. I've done this a number of times and never had a problem. Just don't be standing UNDER the nest or hornets as they fall.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Found that they had built a nest in the water heater of our motor home, I went in and hit the button to light the heater and saw flaming bee's shoot clear over next door. what a show... Smelled kind of funny aftwards. If they keep building I will keep lighting.
Rich

 

[ChristopherLutz]

Dan - funny.

Gang - Trying to get them while in the air is futile. You'll get one or two.

What you need to do it buy the wasp and hornet killer that also works for mud daubers (spelling?).

Then WAIT until dusk or dawn when they return the nest. Just leave the nest until then.

You'll get them all that way and they are "groggy" - very little danger.

 

[bad_idea]

Two pages of responses to this, really?

Hit the nest with Wasp & Hornet spray - sold at every Home Depot, etc. and they drop dead immediately. I've done this a number of times and never had a problem. Just don't be standing UNDER the nest or hornets as they fall.

I agree on the two pages part and I started the thread! I know *********** them. Wasp spray and dusk. I know that part. I was trying to figure out why they keep wandering into my garage. Am I doing something to attract them? Can I do something to detour them?

 

[Stovebolt_]

The only way to kep them from getting into your garage is to seal over any opening to the outside world. That sounds a bit douchy of an answer, but I've been there, were you are. Scratching your head trying to figure it out after you've done everything. Truth is, they will find a way in. weather it be under the gargage door seal, or at the top of the door, maybe through a dime sized hole in the attice vent screen. Every so often, I get one in my shop. I don't bother it, because it is too stupid to fly back out the massive garage door opening, so I let it die bonking into the window.

Justice is served.

 

[archfish]

Chlorinated CRC Brakleen. Not generic.

This!

None of that fly around pissed off business you get with regular wasp spray. Knocks 'em down and they stay down!

 

[ears]

I'm with you. In 42 years of tromping through the woods, sheds,attics, garages the only ones that really come at you in this area are yellow jackets and whiteface hornets. Even then only if you bother the nest.

The kind that build the little 3 and 4 inch nests you can knock the nest down barehanded. They don't bother me a bit. Mud daubers are annoying only from the places they build their nests

Actually, I don’t mind them.
I shared a house with them for 30 years.
They liked the walk around attic more that I did.
And they liked the taste of house flies more than I did.

We generated a lot of fly attracting stuff, what with dogs, kitchen garbage, etc.
We had zero fly problems.

I never got stung in those 30 years.
Even with them flying around me at the top of a ladder when painting or cleaning gutters.

There are two kinds of nests.
Mud and paper.
They both seem to be abandoned come spring.
If any are in sight and seem to scare people, I knock them down.
But they are always empty.

 

[galute]

I agree on the two pages part and I started the thread! I know *********** them. Wasp spray and dusk. I know that part. I was trying to figure out why they keep wandering into my garage. Am I doing something to attract them? Can I do something to detour them?

They wander in your garage in search of other insects, spiders or ants. They are looking for food for themselves and their young so they will travel anywhere any other insect will go.

 

[Zeke]

I don't mind them either. I used to sit in pool during the summer with a short waterfall. they would come and ride the water over the fall again and again while I watched 3' away.

Good thing they weren't attracted to beer.

 

[cowboyjosh]

I get wasp and yellow jackets that build nest in the decorative shutters on the south side (warm side) of my house every year. Also have had nest in the soffits in the past.

In several subdivisions in which I build fine custom homes, the architectural guidelines stipulate concrete tile roofs; I cannot count how many times homeowners have bitched about wasp and yellow jackets building nest between the gaps in the tiles on the warm side of the house. Its unfortunate but its bought to remove nest from between roof tiles or in gaps and spaces in areas like the woven valleys of the roof.