Wasps!

robots_2

Just wondering if anyone can help. We're currently private renting a house. Two summers ago we discovered we had a wasps nest in the chimney after a load of the little !!!!!!s came out of our fireplace and saturated our living room. The letting agent sent out a pest guy who smoke bombed the chimney. Now we've got two very small children and the wasps have returned to the nest, we've had four come through the fireplace in the last hour. We've blocked it off the best we can (the gas is cut off to it due to I'm guessing the nest causing a blockage) but theyre still coming through. The living room is situated in the middle of our property and we need to pass through to go anywhere in the house. We can't get hold of our letting agent or the council due to it being a Sunday. What do we do? Do we have any rights in this situation? I'm guessing in a couple of hours there are going to be a whole lot more than we've already had today and we can't risk our one year old and almost two year old to be stung. Thanks for reading, i hope someone can help!!

MisterP123

Grab a tin of wasp killer. Wrap up in old clothes (well wrapped) pull whatever you have blocking the chimney, spray entire tin up chimney, plug with old sheet, run and go out for a few hours.

Make sure your exit is clear and you don't need to return for a while.

Knowingly not being allergic to stings is probably advisable.

Actually, this probably isn't the greatest of advice, but it's what I'd do personally.

haf1

We've blocked it off the best we can

Have you tried to completely block off the fireplace (e.g. with a large picture frame)?

If that's not possible you could buy a balloon (google chimney draught excluder), sold by e.g. Wickes, hopefully there should be somewhere open that sells them, even on a Sunday. Fingers crossed for you that the problem will be sorted quickly, next week.

Davesnave

Wasps do not "return to the nest;" they only use the nest once. That doesn't mean they won't build a new nest alongside.

There won't be many wasps yet, as it's too early. In fact, you may only be seeing queens that have hibernated up there. You certainly won't be 'saturated' by them.

They are getting past whatever's blocking off the fireplace, and with it being a Sunday, it's up to you to devise a way of stopping them. A chimney balloon is a little extreme; cardboard and duct tape would be my suggestion.

TheGardener

Like davesnave says - its too early for wasps - is it possible you have a honey bee hive in the chimney? Look on the BBKA website and find your local 'swarm catcher' they will come out and check out if they are bees which can be moved.

Miss_Samantha

It is your responsibility to deal with wasps or bees.

Whether you have small children or not does not make a difference.

Mickygg

It's not too early for wasps, i have quite a few flying about my garden and come into my house. They are Definately wasps.
Block it up for now, very easy to do as said above with tape and card or newspaper.

Harryp_24

definitely not too early for wasps, i have a shitload in my garden/house. also they're not blocking off the gas up a chimney. come on use your brain, get a specialist in.

Davesnave

Harryp_24 wrote: »

definitely not too early for wasps, i have a shitload in my garden/house. also they're not blocking off the gas up a chimney. come on use your brain, get a specialist in.

There's your answer: randomly quantify, re-define the life cycle of the wasp and get an expert in, because Harry can see up your chimney.

However, this is MSE, so if the cardboard and tape works, I'd hold off a bit. It will probably cost the same to deal with at whatever stage, and if there is an active nest in a month or so, you'll be able to see the wasps entering and leaving, using binoculars.

And if there isn't, you've saved money, because it's not a landlord's problem.

DumbMuscle

While it may not be the landlord's problem legally, they did sort it last time... Cardboard and duct tape will get you through today, and a phone call to the landlord might well sort it after that (and if it doesn't, you can go for a less ugly solution like a chimney balloon, or sort your own pest control).

Browntoa

wasps will chew through cardboard , they will eat thought plasterboard to get out if you block up their access to the outside wall if they are in a cavity....