# Red Wasp Problems



## LakeviewEnterprises (Mar 27, 2009)

I received a call to replace a shingle roof on a garage. At first glance the job looked pretty simple but then i noticed the bottoms of the eaves on all four sides of the garage are covered up with what looks to be like thousands of red wasps. They were coming out and going in numerous places and to be honest ive never seen this many of the red wasps in a single garage before.
If im not mistaken the majority of you guys on these forums are from up north and if you arent familiar with red wasps you would swear they are straight out of the pits of hell once you got them stirred up. You definitely dont want to go beating and hammering over the top of their nest. It doesnt take many of them to put a full grown man in the hospital and they can also cause a person to fall off ladders or off roof tops. 

The problem is they will always go in through an exterior hole or crack and then travel six or seven feet and through a second interior hole and then build their nest a few feet away from the second hole. The problem is not being able to get to the nest to kill them so they will keep sending new soldiers out to get you. 

How do you guys handle this kind of problem? Im wondering if there is any other way than hiring a professional exterminator to get rid of them. 

I was thinking about the possibility of carefully pouring some bleach and ammonia into the bottom of a shop vac and attaching a garden hose to the exhaust and attempting to fumigate them.


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## English Roofer (Dec 26, 2008)

Good Luck with that!!!!!!!!


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

The answer is simple and I have been in this situation ebfore with out northern bees. "Mr. & Mrs customer here's what we are going to do, here's the price, call me when you've gotten the exterminator out here to deal with your bee problem. " Around here you've gotta be licensed to do what you're trying to do, and obviously for good reason. Those chemicals will kill PEOPLE. 

I've given quite a few referrals to one guy, Critter Detective. Bees, squirrels, birds. 

We buy bee killer by the case. We were doing a small 3 square tile job last year and the bees got one of my guys 3 times when he removed a tile and they were nested under it. Oops.


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## Ed the Roofer (Sep 15, 2008)

Your Bleach and Ammonia idea is more of a problem that the current problem you are trying to eliminate.

Read some of these links:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...btnG=Google+Search&aq=0&oq=bleach+and+ammonia

Ed


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

Powedered iodine and liquid amonia make contact explosives. Learned that in biology 101 


Mixing amonia and chlorine will cause you to drown on your own bodily fluids if inhaled in enough quantities.


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## LakeviewEnterprises (Mar 27, 2009)

In my state a person has to be licensed to do any type of commercial herbicide or insecticide applications. But however i was told by a reliable source if its a non-conventional method where the rules dont cover a commercial chemical product (gray area) it tends to be a different story. I know what happens when bleach and amonia are mixed...thats why i was considering trying it with the wasps. The garage isnt attached to any other structure and no one would be inside so thats the other reason i was considering it.

I did mention the possibility of hiring an exterminator but the owners of this property said they have been saving every extra penny for three years to have the new roof done. And i dont think these folks arent shooting a line of bull because appearances indicate they dont have a lot of extra money to do things. Maybe ill wait until this fall and the lower 50's degree weather to do the roof they wont be flying then.


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## Ed the Roofer (Sep 15, 2008)

Grumpy said:


> Powedered iodine and liquid amonia make contact explosives. Learned that in biology 101
> 
> 
> Mixing amonia and chlorine will cause you to drown on your own bodily fluids if inhaled in enough quantities.


Gasoline and styrofoam makes home made Napalm.

A friend of mines kid was stupid enough to play around with some by the Fox river and bragged to his classmates about it and the FBI was kicking down the door to their house to arrest him after 9-11.

Ed


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## LakeviewEnterprises (Mar 27, 2009)

I once had someone tell me that chlorine and heavy duty break fluid when combined would burn hot enough to melt through sheet metal. I always wondered if that was true because those two ingredients might would be good to have with you to use as an emergency fire starter during cold weather outings.


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## Grumpy (Oct 29, 2008)

If you tri it let us know, although I am not suggesting you try it and take no liability for any damages if you do. But I am curious if it works.


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## LakeviewEnterprises (Mar 27, 2009)

I think ill hold off on the mixing volatile substances. I figure i have plenty of other constructive activities to use my spare time for.


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## Roofsafe (Oct 29, 2008)

I have used brake parts cleaner, it kills instantly and dissipaits within seconds, doesn't stain the shingles either. Just don't have any flame around the area you spray it in. There is some out there that is non-flamible, I don't know if it would work.


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## Theroofjob (May 18, 2011)

We replaced Ludawici (SP) tiles on a house. Took almost 2 months. Had to remove mark number and row because he wanted the moss pattern to be exact on the roof when replaced. Talk about hornets, there is a little pocket of hot air and space under each roof tile. I say 80-90% of the tiles had small hornets nest of 4-5 hornets under each tile. What a roofing nightmare. You can run because every tile is 22$. So, you just go through the day hoping the dont bite. Surprisingly enough we did not get bit too much but it sure was a constant fear.

http://www.roofing-maine.com/


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