Getting Rid Of House Flies

Are you swatting at house flies, before you even sit down for dinner? If so, you may have a house fly infestation. Before you panic, you can fight back! Here are some tips for getting rid of house flies.

Before we get started, yes you can use chemical sprays that may work, but this way you are introducing toxic chemicals into your home, something you may want to reconsider if you have small children or anyone with breathing problems or health problems.

Getting rid of house flies does not have to involve chemicals if you get after them before they get that large a colony! You basically have to make your house unattractive to the house flies. They need to eat all the time, and need a warm decomposing area to lay their eggs, such as food garbage, and decomposing material in the yard, such as dog waste. If this is available to them, then your house will become the next hangout!

Cloves

Flies hate the smell of cloves. So to get rid of house flies, try this method. Take a sweet apple and then stick cloves in the apple. Not only is this a cute decoration but it is a great way to get rid of house flies. Put one of these in each room. It will smell like you have been baking, but is one way to get rid of house flies. Replace as needed. This is a fairly cheap solution, and a great air freshener.

Entrances

Find out where these flies are getting in. Start with the easy ways which is most likely your screens. It only takes a tiny hole for a fly to get in. So, take a bottle of clear nail polish and dab it on the small holes in your screens. This is a good stop measure until you can replace the screen or get it fixed.

Check out your basement. Have someone go around the outside of your basement foundation with a flashlight and shine between the siding and the foundation. If you see a stream of light, then this is a way for them to get in. They are attracted to food especially spoiling food and will look for any easy way into your house. Use a caulking gun and fill in the gaps, this is a great way to get rid of house flies. Actually this works for spiders and mice as well. It only takes a tiny crack to be invaded by pests! This will also help with your heating and cooling bills!

Check any outside vents. Sometimes around the vents, are gaps that you can use your caulking gun to fill. This is a common spot for house flies, spiders and mice to get in.

Garbage

Don't leave garbage too close to the house, as this is where they will lay eggs. If you have this too close to the house, then every time someone opens the door, in will go flies. They will gravitate to the kitchen or where food is, which is not healthy as they do carry germs. So, keep the garbage in the kitchen emptied, and put your containers well away from the house, in closed containers to stop them from laying eggs.

Clean up crumbs and any food messes in the kitchen right away, as they are attracted to food, get rid of their food source and this will get rid of house flies. Don't leave a bowl of sugar out on the counter either, as they will walk through that and it is a source of food for them.

Dog Doo Doo

Another way to get rid of house flies, is to keep the yard clear of your dogs business. Flies will swarm on this in the warmer months, and it is not that big a step to the dog, and then into the house.

So, now that you have closed up the entrances, fixed the holes in the screen, moved the garbage, cleaned the kitchen, picked up the yard, and put out clove apples. You have now stopped them from coming in, or at least put them off with the cloves and clean house.

Next you need to deal with the ones that are in there now. You can go around on a swatting raid, which works. But here is another way that works well too.

In the early evening, as it gets dark or if it is warm in the house, you will notice that the house flies will tend to hang out on the ceiling. Instead of trying to swat them on the ceiling and make a mess, especially on a popcorn ceiling, try this trick a friend told me, for getting rid of house flies, especially off the ceiling.

Take a cup of water and mix some dish soap in it to form a froth on top. Then get a stool or small step ladder and quietly place the cup over the fly. It will try to fly away and fall in the suds. You can just keep going to all the other flies, and then throw the liquid outside!

I didn't think this would work to get rid of house flies, but it does! I found in the evening, the flies were not as quick to fly away on the ceiling. This way you are not trying to swat flies on the ceiling, and then going around trying to find the bodies!

You can win the war on getting rid of house flies. One other point, is to make sure no one is leaving empty cereal bowls, or yogurt cups for example in the TV room, or in their bedroom, this will attract house flies for sure. It doesn't take much, to attract a house fly, so to get rid of house flies, you need to put them off using your home. So, you need to get your whole family on board with this fight against the house flies. Everyone has to clean up their dishes and any food scraps.