Where are flies coming from in a clean house?
Flies can continue appearing in a spotless, closed-up apartment because they are breeding from a hidden source, such as a dead mouse trapped inside a wall. Even after thoroughly cleaning drains and storing all food properly, killing the visible flies only provides a temporary fix before another batch emerges the next day.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
Where are flies coming from in a clean house?
- 1Killing the flies manually every dayDid this help you?
- 2Keeping all windows shutDid this help you?
- 3Contacting property management or pest controlDid this help you?
- 4Checking near walls and vents for a dead animal smellDid this help you?
- 5Checking the house thoroughly for food sourcesDid this help you?
- 6Cleaning the drainsDid this help you?
- 7Identifying if they are actually phorid flies insteadDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’ll kill every fly I can find, and then the next day, another 5–10 appear out of “nowhere”.”source ↗
“I’ve kept all my windows shut for the last three days, yet they continue showing up.”source ↗
“For context, I keep my apartment very clean. I don’t leave trash sitting around, all my food is stored properly”source ↗
“had this exact problem in my old place and it was a dead mouse inside the wall behind the kitchen cabinets”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 22How do I find where pests are getting into my house?
- 4Why can't I find where these pantry pests are coming from?
- 56How to identify tiny unknown bugs found inside the house
- 22Why won't drain flies go away after pest control?
- 100What are these tiny red beads in my house?
- 55How to get rid of tiny flying bugs coming out of wooden furniture