<p>I have never had this issue, but this summer I have spent hundreds of dollars buying commercial fly spray to spray in the home. I even did the plastic baggies with water outside the doors. (this is our 10th home in 22 yrs).</p>
<p>Our home is @ 5K above ground, with a 22 foot ceiling for the great room. I vacuum 2-3 times a week upstairs, the downstairs is all hardwoods, which I sweep daily. I make sure I move all the furniture so there is no dust or dander from the dogs. I even vacuum the furniture.</p>
<p>Garbage is taken out daily, and counters are wiped down with cleansers at night.</p>
<p>I can’t figure out where they are coming from. </p>
<p>I am at my wits end!</p>
<p>If I have no suggestions from you guys, I am going to go the old fashion route…polish my furniture with Johnsons bees wax. I don’t want to go that way because it is harsh for the sinuses.</p>
<p>Is there somewhere they could be hiding that I am missing?</p>
<p>Maybe they are coming to your house because it is so well-kept and clean!!! </p>
<p>I don’t have any solutions for you, but you sure beat me in the cleaning department!
(the only thing I’m really freaky about is sweeping the kitchen floor a couple of times daily)</p>
<p>Are you finding them in certain rooms/places? Dead or alive???</p>
<p>Alive. and because we have a 2 story great room that goes upstairs to the bedrooms, I am now fighting them upstairs.</p>
<p>Last weekend Bullet re-painted the back door and I swear there were 2 dozen swarming the area, so maybe they are coming in from there. (This is the door we use for the dogs). However, in 20+ yrs of marriage and every home we always had one door for the dogs.</p>
<p>We have lived here for 2 yrs, and I have dealt with the flies for a few weeks over the summer (like mosquitos), but now even with the temps cooling, they seem to be as bad as the dog days of summer.</p>
<p>I am really at this point of not kicking on the heat (it is 45-50 degrees in the am) just to freeze them out.</p>
<p>I have googled this issue, but every site I go to has no real advice. The only reason I said Johnsons wax, is because I remember when we moved the 1st time to NC from England during the summer, I polished all of my pine furniture. I woke up to dead flies everywhere…not a surprise since the doors had to remain open for 10 hours as they moved the furniture off the truck.</p>
<p>House flies have a lifespan of only 10-30 days, so if you keep having them, the larvae are finding a place with food to develop. If you can identify & eliminate their food source you will stop them. </p>
<p>Maybe ask neighbors if this is normal for your area? We have a weird caterpillar invasion every 4-7 years in our area, depending on certain weather condition combinations.</p>
<p>Are you sure they are house flies?? Talk to your neighbors and see if they are having a problem as well. House flies normally congregate around food. Rather than fly spray (toxic) try hanging fly tape. This generally works well - just don’t get your hair caught in it.</p>
<p>BTW - stop all that cleaning!! You are making me look bad ;)</p>
<p>All it takes is one fly to lay it’s eggs somewhere and then you are done. It might be someplace warm or in a spot that doesn’t get wiped down, ie, on a windowsill in the crevices of the window frame or under a tv set. Or in a drain. Or near a heater. They could even lay the eggs in a potted plant.</p>
<p>We had a problem a few years ago with it, and I was at my wit’s end. I tried everything. Fly paper, spray, bags, etc. It was disgusting. I kept removing my window screens, letting them out and eventually - knock on wood - all of them disappeared, with no major reoccurence.</p>
<p>Later on I found some casings underneath a portable tv near a sunny window. I think that was the major culprit.</p>
<p>We only get houseflys when someone leaves a door open for too long. Sometimes they are too fast to catch but they seem to slow down after a day and they like to congregate near sources of light so we usually use a vacuum cleaner to get them. They fly away when they see an object approaching quickly but we take the vacuum cleaner with a long tube and just move it slowly closer to the fly. It apparently thinks that it’s just the wind and doesn’t do anything until it is too late. We often catch flies when they are flying with this approach.</p>
<p>Hang a few water filled baggies with a few pennies in them where you do not want the flies to gather. (like at the back door). Voila. No flies. Really. No, reallly. I am serious.</p>
<p>We did put a couple of those bag type fly traps outside this year— they work like a dream! The satisfaction of seeing hundreds of flies in a trap is bizarre! Clearly I need therapy.
I think these are just for outside—but they are non toxic–so maybe hang them in a closed room for a night and see what happens? I know they stink (that’s why the flies love them duh?) so closing the room off is a must—but I do feel your pain. I hate flies.</p>
<p>Put some wet jackfruit resin on some sticks or plates and let the flies land on. The flies won’t be able to take off again. Chewing gum may works too (I have not tried this).</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the info, and the great links.</p>
<p>I found the source, it was a house plant, wandering jew to be specific. Told my Mom, and she was like, well that’s your own fault you should have put it outside for the summer.</p>
<p>I actually, should have paid attention to the cat, because she was always around the plant swatting it. I thought it was because of the leaves dangling, but now realize it was flies nesting in it.</p>
<p>BTW, when I lived in NC, I learned of the baggie water trick, never put pennies in it, but it always worked, that’s why I knew it was something else here. I did the water baggie trick and it wasn’t solving the issue completely.</p>
<p>I am sure I will probably have a few more days of killing them with spray to make sure they don’t nest somewhere else, but yes, YIPPEE, I know the source.</p>