If you’re seeing flying bugs inside, you could have drain flies.
Also called sink flies, these grayish moth-like annoyances can stick around for a long time if you don’t act fast. With the below 3 tips, you can solve or prevent a drain fly problem quickly and easily—and best of all, you won’t have to fill your home with poisonous chemicals to get the job done.
1. PREVENTION
Prevention is the easiest type of pest control—and thankfully preventing drain flies is as easy as they come. In fact, you’re probably already doing most of the essential preventative steps in the course of your daily housework
It’s all about limiting moisture and maintaining cleanliness, especially in humid spaces like bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, and basements.
Just keep your drains and sinks clean and free of organic debris, keep your plumbing in good working order, clean up water spills ASAP, and avoid standing water in drainage trays, planters, trash and recycling bins, etc and you’ll do just fine.
2. CONFIRM YOU HAVE DRAIN FLIES
Because fruit flies, gnats and drain flies are all very small and usually isolated to kitchens and bathrooms, it’s easy to mix them up. But if you notice smaller than usual flies around sinks and drains, that not only fly but hop, and they resemble little moths, then no question you have drain flies.
But if they’re too small or fast to tell for sure, here’s a quick way to find out whether or not you have drain flies:
Drain flies live in drains to feed on all types of sludge and scum but often leave their homes at night to explore, and you can use this little habit against them.
Just place two strips of duct or masking tape sticky-side-down over the affected drain in the shape of an X. Leave the tape on overnight and the drain unplugged and open. If you do have drain flies, when you check the tape in the morning, there will be at least a couple stuck to the sticky side. Remember, drain flies look like small moths, either gray or black.
If what you find doesn’t look like a small moth, you likely have fruit flies. Don’t sweat it though, we have you covered for that too. Click here and we'll show you exactly how to get rid of fruit flies in just 3 simple steps, all without having to use toxic bug sprays.
3. KILL & REPEL WITHOUT TOXIC PESTICIDES
So you got drain flies, now what?
First, let’s get those gross things out of your sink. You have a couple options. You can start by spraying your sink and down into your drain with a 1-to-3 mixture of water to standard 5% vinegar. Or, you can simply pour a pot or kettle worth of boiling water down the affected drain (just be very careful when you do it).
Either way, follow up with a deep clean of your drain and sink. There’s something in your drain that’s attracting drain flies and we need to get rid of it.
After the vinegar or boiling water and after deep cleaning your sink, there’s one last thing to do. Using family-safe and non-toxic bug spray Cedarcide All-Purpose Bug Spray, lightly spray your drain (no more than 2–3 trigger sprays). This will help kill any remaining flies and keep away those that were gone when you initially treated and cleaned your drain.
