Literally Hundreds of Scary Wasps Hiding in My Wall!

OK, maybe I exaggerated a little bit to get your attention. First of all, this picture is not a wasp, it’s a scary hornet. And second of all, the wasps were in the walls. At some point. A while ago. Then they packed up their crap and moved out. This house was too crappy, even for them.

And maybe it wasn’t hundreds. Probably not.

When I demo’d the kitchen, I found a huge (and, thankfully, abandoned) wasp nest. Wasp apartment complex, really. It had multiple levels. Wasp-in closets. I think maybe I saw a gym in there. Wasp daycare.

This wasp compound spanned the width between two studs and about three feet down. So, when I first uncovered it (SURPRISE!), I ran away and did surveillance from afar. Once I was satisfied it was uninhabited, I quickly disposed of it.

Close up of wasp nest inside wall studs
Close up of wasp nest inside wall studs

Doesn’t it look weird close up? Unfortunately, close up is all you get to see because I don’t have any pictures of the whole thing. Honestly, though. You can’t be mad about that. My first instinct was to get it the hell out of my crappy house. And who even knew I’d be blogging about it years later? Certainly not I.

So here’s the wall where it used to be. I made you a visual. (I think I used a wasp picture this time, but I have no idea. I’m not a bug lady.)

wall showing studs and a dashed line around where a wasp nest used to be

Behind The Nest

So, yeah. The wasp nest was huge. And terrifying. But let’s move on and look at the nasty, brown fiberboard that is now exposed. My whole crappy house was sheathed in it. This stuff was cheap to use and… that’s about it. It was not weatherproof, and not even all that structurally sound. And now, forty years later, it’s crumbling apart.

This wall, in particular, had a lot of problems with things that are supposed to stay on the outside coming through to the inside. Specifically, the aforementioned wasps and water.

Here’s a close up of some fiberboard. You’re interested, right?

Fascinating. So, in order to fix the water problems and keep out any future free loading wasps, this whole wall had to go. And go, it did.

When You Find a Wasp Nest in Your Wall, You Have to Remove That Wall

wall of house without sheetrock, sheathing, or insulation open to back yard

That’s my cousin, Tommy, removing the entire back of my house. Tommy does everything I can’t do myself because I don’t have man strength. He’s awesome and he knows everything there is to know about houses. (And he’s single, ladies…)

So this is how the back wall turned out.

Wall of house with plywood sheathing shown from interior with no insulation or sheetrock

I get how this might not be exciting for you, but for me it means windows that don’t leak and no unwelcome pests. (Of the insect variety. I can’t control who stops by.)

And, hey, you read it to the end, so you must have been at least a little bit interested. Thanks for sticking it out! And if you enjoy mildly uninteresting home improvements and/or bugs, go ahead and subscribe by typing in your email in the box below. I love when people do that.

Click here to see how my crappy kitchen turned out. Spoiler alert: It’s no longer crappy…

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9 Comments

  • Flick

    Fascinating! …and yes it is interesting seriously. I have always wanted a wasp nest tey look so beautiful wihout the wasps though!

    • My Crappy House

      I had never seen a nest before. It was really amazing – I can’t believe they build that themselves. It looked just like carved wood!

  • Aferal

    Thought the nest looked beautiful…close-up…&uninhabited. AND I am the girl who almost died from a wasp sting@age 7 (Seriously)
    I kept scrolling back to the pics of the wasp apartments( Ha!)& thinking, ‘I’d frame that, hang it up as dramatic focal piece!’ Forget the attempted- murdering – vermins, it just looks oddly beautiful.
    P.S. Totally digging your blog! Found it today via AT. Probably gonna stay up all night reading! =^_^*=

    • My Crappy House

      Thanks for reading! That wasp nest really was beautiful. It looked like carved wood swirls. It was really fragile though – like paper, if I remember right. It amazes me that bugs can build all of that! I was VERY happy that they had already moved by the time I found their home. I’ve never been stung before. For all I know, I’m allergic too! That’s very big of you, to move past their attempt at ending your young life. Wasps are apparently talented architects, but also little bitches…

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