Removing yellow jacket nest from attic: spraying the outside would not have worked

This client in Chester Springs PA was seeing yellow jackets coming and going along the roofline outside of their house. The area where the yellow jackets were seen on the outside of the house was above 2 stories high and with the pitch of the roof, was inaccessible to try to treat from the outside. Later on, we discovered that the yellow jacket nest was around 4 feet in from where we could see the yellow jackets entering the roofline. This means that even if we could have treated from the outside, the treatment would not have resolved this issue.
We put on our sting protection suit and entered the attic space to find the nest. After much effort, we located the nest under some insulation approximately 4 feet away from where the yellow jackets were entering the attic space. Yellow jackets will typically build their nests in the attic between the insulation and the drywall. This nest was located in this exact spot. Using an aersolized insecticide, we treated the nest and removed the nest. After the treatment, we applied an insecticidal dust to provide us with some long-term residual protection.
How could the client prevent this from happening again? Since the yellow jackets were entering through the soffit area of the roofline, caulking or sealing would not have been practical to prevent this nest from building. This is due to the nature of soffits, which is to allow airflow into the attic which expels moisture from the attic space and prolongs the life of the roof and insulation. For this client, a professional treatment on the outside of the house in late May/ early June would have stopped this nest from developing into the size and eradicated the issue way before it even became an issue. A preventative treatment typically involves an exterior spray that hits all of the eaves, soffits, and peaks of the roofline.
Prudential Pest Solutions is a fully licensed and insured pest control and exterminating company that specializes in stinging insects. We service Chester Springs and all of Chester County, Berks County, Lancaster County, and Southeastern Pennsylvania. Prudential Pest Solutions is a family and veteran owned and operated company.
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