The wasps that most often build nests on houses, paper wasps and mud dauber wasps, can sting but they are not aggressive. Paper wasps, however, can be territorial and will chase away people that are too close to their nests. And unfortunately, they like to build their nests under porches, behind shutters, over doorways, and in other areas that can mean too much face time between you and the wasps.

When to Schedule a Wasp Intervention with an Exterminator

People can often co-exist with these wasps nesting on their houses unless:

1. the nest building is going on right near a doorway where wasps and people are forced to interact
2. the nest is in an area where children or pets are likely to brush against it or disturb the wasps
3. the idea of a wasps’ nest on your house just freaks you out.

These situations call for an intervention.

For obvious reasons, the best time to remove a wasp’s nest on your house is early in the season when it is still small. Starter nests can be carefully knocked down, but you can expect the female wasp to start building again in the same area unless the site has been treated, or something has been changed to deter her. Larger, more active nests probably require professional removal by an exterminator. And if your wasp nest is in a wall or attic void, that is a whole different ballgame and definitely requires professional attention (see Should a Wall Void Yellowjacket Nest Be Removed?).

If wasps are nesting where you don’t want them, give Colonial a call. We do wasps so you don’t have to. Our trained technicians will remove the wasps’ nest and then treat the site to keep wasps from rebuilding. We can also show you how to wasp-proof areas of your home so that they are less attractive as nest sites for wasps in the future.

Check out Why Do Wasps Like My House? – Part I

Photo credit: nosha / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)