How to Keep Flies Out of Your Home

Flies can be a hazard in the home.

Besides being irritating by flying around your home, flies carry pathogens and disease, spread through their behavior. Flies tend to lay eggs in feces and trash; pathogens and bacteria can cling to the flies' legs. The flies then look for uncovered food and vomit on it to aid the digestion process, further adding to the spread of disease. There are a few ways to minimize the number of these pests from entering your home, but it may take a few weeks because laid eggs may continue to hatch.

Things You'll Need

• Cleaning supplies
• Replacement screens for windows and doors
• Caulk and caulking gun
• Fly traps (such as glue traps and UV attraction traps)

Instructions

1. Keep your home clean, especially areas where food is prepared, bathrooms and areas where pets relieve themselves. Put food away promptly. Wipe down kitchen and eating surfaces with disinfectants. Wipe down toilets and sinks regularly.

2. Inspect the screens in your windows and doors. Replace screens with large or multiple holes in them.

3. Inspect the seams around windows, inside windowsills and around doors. Use the caulk in the caulk gun to apply small amounts to any cracks or holes. However, many windowsills have one or two small "drain holes" at the bottom of the inside of the sill, just below the window opening. Do not fill these holes because they're too small for flies to enter.

4. Hang various fly traps just outside entry points to your home or office. Dispose of glue traps when they become filled with stuck flies. Other traps, such as jar traps, can be filled with food bits like fruit, to draw flies into the trap. Plug UV traps into outdoor outlets to attract and kill a wide range of insects, including flies.

5. Dry pooled water in sinks and on surfaces, as flies are drawn to sitting water.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not open windows without screens and close doors promptly behind you to minimize the risk of flies getting inside.

• Use a fly swatter to kill flies you see in the home. Flies breed quickly, so reducing their numbers is important.

• Only use spray insecticides as a last resort because these chemicals can cause skin and respiratory irritations.

References

• University of Georgia; "Help! Flies are in My House"; Paul Guillebeau, et al.; Jan. 2004 (PDF)