Why won't drain flies go away after pest control?
Drain flies survive standard treatments and professional pest control because they breed deep inside the slime layer of pipes where surface sprays cannot reach. This leaves homeowners stuck in a multi-year cycle of temporary fixes that fail to stop the bugs from coming back days later.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using bio foam in sink and shower drains
- 2Pouring baking soda, vinegar, and boiling hot water down drains
- 3Applying bleach down the sink
- 4Using Zevo or dynatrap traps
- 5Using boiling water and green goblin down drains
- 6Pouring vinegar
- 7Placing Zevo light traps in every room
- 8Applying weather sealant tape around windows and doors
- 9Changing out the kitchen sink P trap
- 10Dumping bleach, drano, and gnat killer down the drains nightly
- 11Using light traps
- 12Using apple cider vinegar traps
- 13Removing potential attractants
- 14Hiring professional pest control to treat the home multiple times
- 15Searching for hidden smells or sources of the flies
- 16Pouring boiling water and vinegar down the drain
- 17Using drain cleaner or specialized drain fly treatments like Green Gobbler
- 18Placing yellow sticky traps or tape above the sink and in potted plants
- 19Thoroughly rinsing unrefrigerated produce upon returning from the grocery store
- 20Using Zevo plug-in traps near the entry point
- 21pouring boiling water and bleach down drains multiple times a day
- 22making traps out of vinegar, sugar, and dish soap
- 23using a blue light with a sticky trap
- 24covering up and hiding all food
- 25wiping down counters constantly
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Basement bathroom. We’ve dealt with them for a few years, but they were always so mild I never explored much intervention.”source ↗
“They are terrorizing me and my toddler and we have a new baby and I’m just going through it please help me on how to get rid of these”source ↗
“Hello, we recently moved to Southwest Florida and have had drain flies constantly getting into the front door.”source ↗
“I have a Zevo plug-in right inside the door and I am having to change the refills constantly.”source ↗
“Please help! I can't keep fighting to keep them out of the house. It's driving me nuts and they're winning.”source ↗
“I will start it by saying I am so sorry for this novel but I am genuinely losing it with these flies”source ↗
“3 days after pest control and my remedies, they’re still coming in.”source ↗
“my family wakes up every morning to a bunch of flies (dead and alive) in and around the sink. there’s also some pink/reddish ones that fly around our faces. how do we get rid of them??”source ↗
“I’ve tried light traps, I’ve tried apple cider vinegar, they’re not falling for either of those. I’ve removed anything at all they could be attracted to, yet they’re still sticking around.”source ↗
“They crawl a lot I’ve never seen gnats crawl”source ↗
“I’ve lived in my northeast home for two years and have bottle flies/blow flies in my home everyday from may-September arranging from a few to over a dozen depending on heat/sunshine.”source ↗
“I’ve had my home treated three times this summer which doesn’t seem to do anything.”source ↗
“It seems I’ve tried every solution and nothing keeps them out.”source ↗
“I haven’t been able to get control of the situation as the house is vacant most the time.”source ↗
“I need help getting rid of drain flies and getting rid of them right away. For weeks I’ve been struggling to get rid of them.”source ↗
“Every single day multiple times a day I’m putting boiling and bleach down my drains.”source ↗
“I need all the unhinged advice I can get on how to get rid of them because I’m so sick of them being in my house.”source ↗
“We’ve had a fruit fly and gnat problem for the last 6 weeks.”source ↗
“We kill around 50 a day and there’s more the next day.”source ↗
“I changed out the kitchen sink P trap. We dump bleach, drano, gnat killer down the drains nightly”source ↗
“It’s eating up a lot of my day and has become a 2nd job of ours. Can’t even enjoy a meal without them crash landing the plates.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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