Expert: George Manning - 11/3/2009

Question
For the past two weeks we have been finding wasps flying around our living room.  The only place we can think of them coming from is the chimney.  I know that the chimney has not been used in about 10 years, this is a rental house.  I called the pest control company and they said that if we intend to use the fire place (which we do) they cannot do anything about the wasps.  My question is this...can we light a big fire in the fireplace and that get rid of the wasps?  Will they fly back down the chimney all angry?  Also, is there potential damage from the wasps and their nest that I should be concerned with before lighting a fire?  I am 7 months pregnant with two small children and this issue needs to be resolved immediately.  Today alone I have found two wasps in my home.

Answer
Since you intend to light a fire in the chimney, I presume that you live in a northern climate.  The specie of wasp can tell us a great deal about the probable location of a colony.

Let us tentatively agree that these wasps enter the home from within the chimney.  If this is true, we should like to know if the wasps are nesting in or on the masonry of the chimney.  It would also be helpful to have a description of a specimen; long legs or shorter, yellow and black markings on the abdomen; all yellow, or color varied-not consistent; shape of antennae club.  Are all the wasps equal in size.

Wasps will not overwinter, and therefor, the will soon be gone.  What's more is that there will not be a new nest starting in the vacant nest next Spring.

Wasps, usually yellow jackets will often nest between wall studs on outside walls.  When the temperature drops, and they are not flying outside, they often try to enter a building's interior through a slight separation in the window framing.

Get back to me Natalie

George Manning
Consulting Entomologist
www.pesyproblemssolved.com