Why Are Wasps Repeatedly Flying Into the Roof of My Ely Home?

Wasps that keep flying into your roof are normally visiting a nest, but in a terrace the nest is not always on your side of the wall. Ely has plenty of Victorian and older terraces where the roof void runs the length of the row, and that changes how you read the traffic.

The nest and the entrance can be far apart

In a row of houses, the entrance a wasp uses can be a gap at the eaves of one property while the nest itself sits in the roof space further along. A wasp does not respect a party wall. If there is a continuous void, or a gap in the brickwork under the tiles, the colony can spread through a space that belongs to several households.

For you, this means two practical things. The place you see the wasps is not always where the nest is, and treating one house in a terrace may not be enough if the entrance you are watching is a side door, not the front.

Read the traffic

• Wasps arriving and leaving in a steady line at one gap are using it as the door.
• Wasps arriving at your roof and leaving from next door's mean there are two openings, or a connected void.
• Wasps appearing inside your top-floor rooms but not at your eaves suggest the nest is nearby and an inner route has opened.

Old Ely roofs have more ways in

Older tiled roofs often have slipped or cracked tiles, worn pointing at the ridge, gaps behind chimney flashings and eaves that have settled over the decades. None of these is obvious from the pavement, and the wasps find all of them. In an older terrace there may be more than one possible route, which is another reason not to guess.

What not to do in an Ely terrace

1. Do not plug a gap yourself. In a connected void the colony can come out somewhere else in the terrace, including inside someone's bedroom.
2. Do not spray from a window ledge or ladder. You will miss the colony and make the wasps more aggressive.
3. Do not wait until a neighbour reports it. By then, the nest has had longer to grow.

Getting it dealt with

We find the nest as part of the visit, then apply an insecticidal dust at the entrance in use. The wasps carry it through the colony, and activity usually finishes within a day or two. For Ely, wasp nest removal is £90, fixed and guaranteed, and the price is confirmed before work starts. The cost guide explains it fully.

Ely terraces often share a roof void with several neighbours, so a quick conversation over the fence can save a wasted visit. When we attend, we treat the entrance in use and tell you plainly if the nest turns out to be on the other side of the wall.

Ring 01223 902388 or send a WhatsApp message and tell us which house in the row you are in. If you have spoken to a neighbour, mention that too.