Straight answerWasps flying into a gap in your cladding, a vent or a weep hole are almost always German or common wasps with a nest inside the wall. The cavity is dry and sheltered, so the nest can grow large without being seen. Leave the entrance alone, shut the inside room nearest the nest if wasps get in, and have it treated.
Signs of a nest inside the wall
Watch the outside of the house on a warm afternoon. A nest entrance has wasps flying in and out of one small gap: a crack in weatherboards, a hole for a cable or pipe, an air vent, or a weep hole in brick. Inside, you may hear a papery crackle or hum through the wall, and sometimes wasps appear around power points or skirting boards.
- Steady traffic into one gap in the cladding, a vent, pipe hole or weep hole
- A crackling or humming sound through an inside wall
- Wasps turning up indoors near power points, light switches or skirting
How big can a wall nest get?
Bigger than most people expect. In 2020 a Huntly couple found a nest over a metre long inside their kitchen wall, with an estimated 7,000 wasps using a hole only a few centimetres wide under the roof. Wall nests stay warm and dry, and in mild Auckland winters some German wasp nests survive into a second year and keep growing.
What not to do
Don't seal the hole with filler or foam while the nest is active, and don't spray fly spray into it. Either way you are left with a live colony inside the wall and no way to treat it through the entrance. Don't cut into the wall to find the nest yourself. Drilling or cutting into a live nest is how people get stung badly indoors.
How a wall cavity nest is treated
The entrance is the way in. A pest controller puts insecticide dust into the gap the wasps use, so returning wasps carry it through the nest. The wall is not usually opened. If the entrance is high or hard to reach, ladders or other access may be needed, which is why wall cavity nests cost more than an open nest. See the full removal process.
Once the wasps have gone
When there has been no traffic for several days, the hole can be sealed so another queen can't use it next spring. The dead nest normally stays in the wall. Ask about removal if the wall has to be opened anyway, or if there is a smell. Wall cavity jobs sit at the top of the wasp nest removal price guide.
Questions people ask
Can a wasp nest in a wall be removed without opening the wall?
Usually, yes. The colony is killed by treating the entrance the wasps already use, and the dead nest is normally left in place. It is dry paper once the wasps are gone. The wall only needs opening if the nest has to come out, for example during renovation or if it starts to smell.
Should I fill the gap the wasps use?
Not until the nest has been treated and the wasps have stopped using it for several days. Sealing an active nest traps a live colony in the wall and removes the easiest way to treat it. Once it is dead, filling the hole helps stop a new queen moving in next spring.
Are the wasps in my wall bees?
Check before booking. Honey bees also move into wall cavities, and they are not treated like wasps. Bees are hairier and browner and carry pollen. A colony of bees inside a wall needs a beekeeper or a specialist, not insecticide, because leftover honey and comb cause their own problems.
Sources we checked
- Life cycle of a wasp (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research)
- Wasp control (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research)
- Huntly couple's monster wasp nest in the wall, 2020 (Newstalk ZB)
- Swarm collection (Honey and Bees New Zealand)
Last reviewed 2026-10-06.