Cosd Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 About a month ago we had a sewer smell coming through the floor boards in our kitchen. It turns out that the pipes leading from the kitchen sink and waste disposal unit was broken at the junction where the 2" pipe joined onto a 4" pipe. Any waste from the sink or disposer was pouring straight onto the ground beneath the floorboards. I fixed the pipe but could not get beneath the area where the ground was wet to scrape/clean it up because of kitchen units. The strong smell instantly went and so I thought the lingering smell would go in time which it has. The issue now is we are infested with drain flies. They are coming up through the floorboards in the kitchen (no floor covering down yet as we're in the process of fixing the house up) and gather round windows, lights etc. How can I get rid of these? Do I need proffesionals? I keep lifting the floorboards to spray insect killer and have one of those electrical blue light zapper things right by the area they are coming from, but it isn't holding them at bay! The ground beneath the floorboards is still damp though there are no puddles...... Please help!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dougy Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Just off the top of my head- Would a strong dilution of "Jeys Fluid" do the trick i would imagine the warm weather would get any larve hatching pretty quickly, and soon be all gone. hopefully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 if its still damp after a month you've another problem as well, it should have dried out very fast being inside and on really dry ground, my betting would be the waste pipe is cracked further down or theres a dodgy joint Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted August 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Theres no more leaks I checked. When I fixed it a month ago there were puddles, now the earth is a darker colour to dry earth if that makes sense, it's just slightly damp not wet. Though the weather is warm my guess is that under the house it's still cool'ish being that it doesn't see sunlight. Reading about these drain flies, they breed at an alarming rate, they lay between 30 - 100 eggs each!! This is a daily battle at the moment but I'm off on holiday next Saturday so I really need to get my finger out on this one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
col2 Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Have you tried spraying the area with " raid " kills just about everything out there. It leaves a covering and anything that touches it dies. Can be bought in most supermarkets and its not expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted August 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Have you tried spraying the area with " raid " kills just about everything out there. It leaves a covering and anything that touches it dies. Can be bought in most supermarkets and its not expensive. Yep, every day. I lift the floorboards, spray half a can of Raid, then close it back up. It sorts the problem out for a few hours then they start coming through again! I just spoke to a man from Rentokill and he has suggested spraying the damp and surrounding area with bleach using one of those garden pump spray bottles. He said that this should contaminate the area which they won't be able to breed on any more. Apart from the obvious problem, as soon as I go home the wife calls me to look at how many flies there are!! I don't want to look at the bloody flies any more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
col2 Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 I'd go with what the rentokill man reckons then, sounds a good idea. Hope you get it sorted before your holidays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 get some jeyes fluid and apply it in the same way, works a treat on flies round farm buildings B&Q uaually stock it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted August 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) get some jeyes fluid and apply it in the same way, works a treat on flies round farm buildings B&Q uaually stock it thanks al4x, I'll try that along with bleach......! Edited August 14, 2009 by Cosd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted August 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2009 Just want to say thanks to the people that replied and a special thanks to Al4x, the Jeyes fluid worked. Sprayed the area twice over the weekend and they have gone, no more flies!! Top man, top advice, top forum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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