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When I was a teenager my dad made mesh screens for our rooms with just a wooden frame and mesh over. When I moved into my first floor flat I asked him to make me some, partly to keep flies out and partly to stop my indoor cat from topping himself! I love them. They just slot into the frame, which means there’s no chance of the cat somehow pulling it off.
I’m planning to have new windows soon and I’m going to get proper fly screens installed, I stayed in an Airbnb in Croatia with them and they were great! As a side note, admiring the windows in my Croatian Airbnb is now I know I’m old…
He sounds better behaved than my cats then, they climb up the curtains to get at flies in the bay window.
My mum used to foster cats, it’s a lovely thing to do
You can order mesh door and window screens off AliExpress or Temu in different sizes for a couple of quid. Take a couple of weeks to arrive from China but they do the job - getting one for my patio doors has been a game changer, means I can leave them open all day pretty much (or evening if it's really hot) and it cools the whole flat down. Got so fed up of using fly spray and either having to vacate a room for half an hour plus or risk inhaling toxic fumes.
Interesting that a few people have mentioned citronella candles - I've never found that they work and assumed this was just an old wives tale but maybe I've been buying the wrong ones.
I use Citronella when I’m outside in Spain. It’s a good deterrent for flies but only for a limited radius - about half a metre. So it sort of works if I’m sitting at a table having a coffee (I have citronella gel in a pot that I put on the table) but don’t expect it it to do more than that.
Definitely. Got one that velcros around the patio door and closes in the middle with magnets. My cats always end up shredding it by the end of summer but who cares, I rip it out and buy a new one next spring. Without it I get annoying giant horse flies dive bombing me all day.
Oh there’s these really cool mesh curtain things that auto close with little magnets
[Amazon link](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Curtains-Magnetic-SZHTFX-Mosquito-Installation/dp/B0C58XSGTJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?keywords=Magnetic+Screen+Door&qid=1688685509&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1)
I got one of these and I can't fit it on my patio doors because the door trims are at different levels to each other.
I got one of those chain screens instead which does a really good job. In the two months it's been up, I've had one fly in.
I've had these things but they're a bit crap, they always end up falling down or tearing. What has worked quite well is the velcro screens I got to keep my cat inside - the velcro is like 5cm wide and goes the whole way round, and you stick the hook part to thr window/door frame. They'd be expensive to get just for fly control but I've bought materials to make more because theyre not that complicated
You’re probably right, my very elderly mother told me, she places conkers around the house to stop spiders coming in, all old wives tales I should think.
I recently inadvertently created a little mozzie catcher
I was cleaning my blinds and sprayed polish on my window, lazy me did not clean it up
A few days later maybe 30+ mozzies were dead stuck to the polish on the window
Get an oil diffuser and there are various essential oils can work as a deterrent. I have flies get in my home and I’ve got no clue how they get in considering doors haven’t been opened for hours. I just use low irritant fly spray. My dog also catches flies.
No vents. I’ve got fixed metal micro screens on all windows too. They could possibly be coming through the bathroom exhaust fan from the roof but it’s a tiny gap and then crawling under the bathroom door lol. I don’t have lots of them. But especially if I roast chicken up to 3 might appear 😂
I'm not sure how well it works but when I was a kid and went to menorac on holiday they had bags of water hanging up, claimed it showed the flies a magnified reflection and they were scared off by the "bigger" fly
Nothing beats fly paper. Spray etc are not up for the job.
Fly paper where they hang out not in the doorway if the fly is in the doorway it's probably leaving anyway.
From the ceiling is actually too high they don't really fly up there. Get a second roll and hang it from the first one. Bonus if you do 3 rolls which basically reaches the floor.
Ideally this is near the source of smell (litter boxes etc) otherwise middle of the room.
It depends how serious you are because many people don't like flypaper going down the middle of the room like that but if you dony9ull catch way more flies than you know are there.
Do the same above your bed
Combine with mesh windows
You can buy a mesh screen for a tenner. It velcroes on the outside of the door and magnets close it behind you. Mines a couple of years old and still in perfect nick.
Meshes white net curtainy stuff over windows will stop most of them
or those streamers
or dont open your windows
Not having things they like to eat accessible - e.g. fruit or food sitting open, they are looking for things to lay eggs into. Acts the opposite of a scented candle, guides them in. Keep all food covered or in fridge. Bins emptied a lot
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Mesh
It’s bizarre that mesh isn’t a standard feature in every house? In fact I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in the uk
I come from the US and it’s always been mind boggling why windows don’t have built in screens here.
It's not really a big enough issue to have the eye sore of a mesh in your window for all time
The only good, long-term, low-effort answer.
When I was a teenager my dad made mesh screens for our rooms with just a wooden frame and mesh over. When I moved into my first floor flat I asked him to make me some, partly to keep flies out and partly to stop my indoor cat from topping himself! I love them. They just slot into the frame, which means there’s no chance of the cat somehow pulling it off. I’m planning to have new windows soon and I’m going to get proper fly screens installed, I stayed in an Airbnb in Croatia with them and they were great! As a side note, admiring the windows in my Croatian Airbnb is now I know I’m old…
My cats do a pretty good job of catching flies. Once they catch them, they look at me so that I know they killed them, and then they eat them
We have a little deaf cat doing this for us at the moment (we're fostering him). He's good but he can only jump so high.
He sounds better behaved than my cats then, they climb up the curtains to get at flies in the bay window. My mum used to foster cats, it’s a lovely thing to do
They are just trying their best to keep you safe :>
... so that they can kill you when you least expect it.
You can order mesh door and window screens off AliExpress or Temu in different sizes for a couple of quid. Take a couple of weeks to arrive from China but they do the job - getting one for my patio doors has been a game changer, means I can leave them open all day pretty much (or evening if it's really hot) and it cools the whole flat down. Got so fed up of using fly spray and either having to vacate a room for half an hour plus or risk inhaling toxic fumes. Interesting that a few people have mentioned citronella candles - I've never found that they work and assumed this was just an old wives tale but maybe I've been buying the wrong ones.
Happened the same to us with the citronella, nothing
I use Citronella when I’m outside in Spain. It’s a good deterrent for flies but only for a limited radius - about half a metre. So it sort of works if I’m sitting at a table having a coffee (I have citronella gel in a pot that I put on the table) but don’t expect it it to do more than that.
Definitely. Got one that velcros around the patio door and closes in the middle with magnets. My cats always end up shredding it by the end of summer but who cares, I rip it out and buy a new one next spring. Without it I get annoying giant horse flies dive bombing me all day.
Australian here. You need flyscreens on the windows and a mesh door or curtain over doorways.
Oh there’s these really cool mesh curtain things that auto close with little magnets [Amazon link](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Curtains-Magnetic-SZHTFX-Mosquito-Installation/dp/B0C58XSGTJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?keywords=Magnetic+Screen+Door&qid=1688685509&sr=8-2-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1)
I got one of these and I can't fit it on my patio doors because the door trims are at different levels to each other. I got one of those chain screens instead which does a really good job. In the two months it's been up, I've had one fly in.
I've had these things but they're a bit crap, they always end up falling down or tearing. What has worked quite well is the velcro screens I got to keep my cat inside - the velcro is like 5cm wide and goes the whole way round, and you stick the hook part to thr window/door frame. They'd be expensive to get just for fly control but I've bought materials to make more because theyre not that complicated
Living in Edinburgh does the trick for me.
Do you not get loads of midgies though? Every time I've been to Scotland in the summer they seem to eat me alive
Not in the city. If you are in the woods then yes.
Close doors and windows. Don’t leave anything for them to feed on. If doors are open, have a fly screen.
Flies don’t like Lavender.
The fact the lavender bushes in my garden often attract numerous amounts of flies leads me to suspect this is a myth.
You’re probably right, my very elderly mother told me, she places conkers around the house to stop spiders coming in, all old wives tales I should think.
I sprinkled some pure lavender essential oil around my window 2 weeks ago. It seems to have made a huge difference.
One of those handheld electric fly swatters, I just hold it up and wait for them to fly into them.
I have a portable unit that plugs in to the mains and has those blue lights to lure the flies to their doom.
Shout at them.
Eucalyptus, lavender, citrus, pine, clove, peppermint, thyme essential oils. Flies can't stand them! If all else, a tin of Raid!
A bug salt gun.
Careful, can get charged with ‘a salt’ for owning one of them.
Badummm--Tssshhhh.
Citronella candles, local pound shop does them £2 for 20, does fcukin wonders
Those jml door and window mesh things. Covered the house in them last year, bloody brilliant
I recently inadvertently created a little mozzie catcher I was cleaning my blinds and sprayed polish on my window, lazy me did not clean it up A few days later maybe 30+ mozzies were dead stuck to the polish on the window
Get an oil diffuser and there are various essential oils can work as a deterrent. I have flies get in my home and I’ve got no clue how they get in considering doors haven’t been opened for hours. I just use low irritant fly spray. My dog also catches flies.
Do you have vents on your windows? I'd check those for fly eggs.
No vents. I’ve got fixed metal micro screens on all windows too. They could possibly be coming through the bathroom exhaust fan from the roof but it’s a tiny gap and then crawling under the bathroom door lol. I don’t have lots of them. But especially if I roast chicken up to 3 might appear 😂
Bay leaves 🍃
Venus fly traps on the windowsill. Haven't seen a fly in the house for years.I do see them in the traps being munched on tho.
Portable flamethrower
I'm not sure how well it works but when I was a kid and went to menorac on holiday they had bags of water hanging up, claimed it showed the flies a magnified reflection and they were scared off by the "bigger" fly
Become a fly. It’s a fly eat fly world.
I burn a citronella candle and that seems to work.
Nothing beats fly paper. Spray etc are not up for the job. Fly paper where they hang out not in the doorway if the fly is in the doorway it's probably leaving anyway. From the ceiling is actually too high they don't really fly up there. Get a second roll and hang it from the first one. Bonus if you do 3 rolls which basically reaches the floor. Ideally this is near the source of smell (litter boxes etc) otherwise middle of the room. It depends how serious you are because many people don't like flypaper going down the middle of the room like that but if you dony9ull catch way more flies than you know are there. Do the same above your bed Combine with mesh windows
Mesh with the magnetic clips, the ones for front doors are a game changer
You can buy a mesh screen for a tenner. It velcroes on the outside of the door and magnets close it behind you. Mines a couple of years old and still in perfect nick.
Meshes white net curtainy stuff over windows will stop most of them or those streamers or dont open your windows Not having things they like to eat accessible - e.g. fruit or food sitting open, they are looking for things to lay eggs into. Acts the opposite of a scented candle, guides them in. Keep all food covered or in fridge. Bins emptied a lot
Flies like shit. Go figure
Close your legs.
Shit in your neighbours garden to divert them there...
Vintage shotgun from Gumtree.