Cluster flies in loft space

Participant · 12 Jan 2014 at 11:24

Hi all

Just wondering if anyone has dealt with a similar problem before and had any advice or experience.

Basically we have cluster flies in our loft that buzz around the light when I switch it on. It's not a problem in the rest of the house, and it's only a mild annoyance in the loft. My main concerns are:

- It's annoying when working up there having them buzzing round my face
- I don't want it to become a bigger problem
- I don't want fly poo all over our stuff up there

What products should I be considering? I've read about aerosols and fumers but specific recommendations would be great please. Also what size of kit would I need? Loft space is approx. 20m x 10m and 3m tall, so I guess 1.5m on average as it slopes, meaning 300m^3 of space to treat.

Many thanks.

ChocolateStarfishRammer · 12 Jan 2014 at 11:50

Its the sort of thing is likely to only get worse.

I had quite an infestation of flies in my back room last year and was killing 10-20 of them a day before I found their little nest/eggs. Once I got rid of all the eggs and live flies the problems went away.

In my anger, I found Brake Cleaning to them is like Arsenic gas to us. Very effective

Id advise having a serious clean out and ensuring you properly deal with the problem before they move elsewhere in the house.

Insomniak · 12 Jan 2014 at 11:56

An old property we refurbished a while back had a real problem with these. We used a pest controller but I thought the charges were high. They used a fumigator which you can get for about £10 so I'd try doing it yourself. Just be careful as when the fumigator is set off the flies go crazy and they will try to get out of any opening they can find so dont forget to shut the loft hatch.

This one looks good as there is no naked flame involved.
http://www.pestcontrolsupermarket.com/formula-p-power-fogger--cluster-fly-fumigator-168-p.asp

Hyburnate · 12 Jan 2014 at 11:59

Buy the stuff to get rid of them or pay someone to do it for you

But they need going.

bitslice · 12 Jan 2014 at 13:58

Participant said:
we have cluster flies

Thanks for this post, I'd never heard of them before but these things are exactly what I've found in a house. they must be living off the bat poo.

A smoke bomb would seem ideal

Nightglow · 12 Jan 2014 at 14:09

bitslice said:
Thanks for this post, I'd never heard of them before but these things are exactly what I've found in a house. they must be living off the bat poo.

A smoke bomb would seem ideal

No smoke bombs, you'll have your neighbour calling the fir brigade. :eek:

Cluster files can be a dam nuisance, so many nooks & crannies in a loft, it's pointless fumigating them, as you won't get them all, especially in winter, as they usually overwinter in lofts.

Best method of control I found was a electric fly killer fixed to a gable wall.

But you can get these SWAK dispensers, not cheap though, but cheaper than a professional service, other brands around if you look.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_i=B00757S7N8

bitslice · 12 Jan 2014 at 18:07

Nightglow said:
No smoke bombs, you'll have your neighbour calling the fir brigade.

Nah, they are never going to notice (assuming the firewall hasn't got big holes and they are not hanging around in their loft at the time)

it's pointless fumigating them, as you won't get them all, especially in winter

Winter is apparently the correct time to do it, and fumigating is supposed to cover all the crannys anyway.

Participant · 12 Jan 2014 at 18:52

Hyburnate said:
Buy the stuff to get rid of them or pay someone to do it for you But they need going.

I'm going to buy something rather than pay someone to do it, I just don't know what to buy. That SWAK dispenser sounds interesting, though a little pricey as you say Nightglow.

Amazon have got a pack of four fumers for £16: http://www.amazon.co.uk/FORTEFOG-FU...?ie=UTF8&qid=1389552581&sr=8-1&keywords=fumer. I think I'll try these, letting off two now and the other two next winter. Not worried about the neighbours as I'll just tell them what I'm doing and not to panic!

We live right opposite a field, which I hear can be an 'aggravating factor'.

LeeUK · 12 Jan 2014 at 19:37

Sorted

ZZap

Participant · 24 Aug 2014 at 16:27

Just to follow this up, I bought four of these badboys:

...and let them all off in one go. I haven't seen a single (alive) fly up there since.

I set them off just before we went out for the day (for obvious reasons), then when we got back there were hundreds and hundreds of the buggers dead all over the landing :eek:

.

So they'd frantically tried to escape the smoke in the loft, then succumbed on the landing. It was gross. I've since sealed my loft hatch though, as I expected to find lots of dead flies in my loft rather than my landing, so the loft hatch obviously needing sealing (used draught excluder).

LeeUK · 24 Aug 2014 at 16:54

Participant said:
Just to follow this up, I bought four of these badboys:

...and let them all off in one go. I haven't seen a single (alive) fly up there since.

I set them off just before we went out for the day (for obvious reasons), then when we got back there were hundreds and hundreds of the buggers dead all over the landing .

So they'd frantically tried to escape the smoke in the loft, then succumbed on the landing. It was gross. I've since sealed my loft hatch though, as I expected to find lots of dead flies in my loft rather than my landing, so the loft hatch obviously needing sealing (used draught excluder).

So what do you do with the 1000s of dead flies in the loft? :confused:

Participant · 24 Aug 2014 at 18:32

LeeUK said:
So what do you do with the 1000s of dead flies in the loft?

There were vastly more dead flies on the landing than I found in the loft. I would have happily left them (who cares about dead flies in a loft?), but as it happens I recently did my loft insulation, which included all the old stuff being ripped out and replaced by new + fluffy.