Gah! Help me destroy the drain flies!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

I can't take it any more.  I hate those little buggers, and I cannot seem to beat them!  It's been like 2 years, every time I think I have them conquered, they show up 3 weeks later worse than before.  I know they're living in the overflow drain of our bathroom sink.  I've tried: borax, vinegar, boiling water, bacout, alcohol...

What else is there?  I think by the time I get them all killed, they go on and have their laid eggs ready to hatch after I have a small respite.  I totally thought I had them when I cleaned & painted the bathroom, but no -they came back about 3 weeks later, like always.  Grr!  And their mothy black wings leave smears on my walls when I smash them into oblivian.  Help me rid myself of them for good. 

Advise me oh wise women!

[PhillyMama]

I can help, but.... it's not easy, cheap or convenient....

We lived with those little &(^%$%^'ers for 2+ years and I finally lost it when I was cleaning 10 of them out of the windowsills every morning.  

We had an exterminator come in over those years and spray and it kept the numbers down a bit but for some reason last March they just exploded in numbers and invaded the house.   So I called Terminix.

The Terminix man took one look at the numbers (like I said, 10+ in the windows) and said we needed a drain service.

Called Horizon and they came out and put a camera down the sewer pipe.... ohmygods what I saw was absolutely disgusting.  Swarms of those little ^(^%(%'ers in the pipe, just waiting for their day to come into the house.  I screamed.  (No joke.)

Based on that camera scope, Horizon said the sewer pipe had cracked thanks to tree roots and the little joys were breeding in the soil around the pipe.  

The ONLY way to get rid of them for good was to dig up the pipe, take out the contaminated soil, replace it with gravel, and replace the pipe.   We're on a concrete slab (no basement) so this meant drilling through our family room, laundry room and bathroom floors to fix the problem.

$11,500 and one week later (they got us right on the schedule because we were "such a bad case"), the drain pipes were replaced.  When I walked back into the house there was a carpet of the little %^(%$'ers on the floor.  *shudder*    I scrubbed the place for 3 days before I'd let my daughter come back (we stayed with family).

They kept appearing for a couple of weeks, but about 5 weeks later they had run their cycle and a year later we haven't seen one single little joy.  Yay!

And Horizon got us in touch with an insurance adjuster who was able to get our homeowners insurance to pay for the repair, woo!   (I strongly advise getting an adjuster, they really fought for us)

I saw one at a friend's house last week and my heart sank for her.

I hope that helps...  Sorry this is so long.

Good luck to you, MissMommy, and big hugs.   I understand the stress you must be feeling :(

[jksmith]

Ok, that sounds terrifying... but to make OP feel better, I had them for months and then they went away on their own.

I even had 3 resident spiders helping to keep them under control for a while... thank god they're gone now...

I tried borax in boiling water and that seemed to work temporarily, maybe I finally did it enough times. I would also close the drains and cover the overflow holes with tape, especially at night, and then do the borax 1st this in the morning. But I'm not sure any of that worked. I had a baby and wasn't paying attention and then one day I realized they were just gone!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Wow, that does sound terrifying!  Fortunately for us, though, if it was that bad, we'd know.  There are about 10 other drains they'd be coming out of before they reached the second floor sink drain.  They aren't even interested in the drain of the tub.  I have a feeling there is just some ring of muck they are living on that I can't reach because of my type of sink...it's a farm style basin...can't think of the word now, duh...the on the counter kind, not a pedestal or anything.

My dream is to steam the entire inside area out but I haven't figured how to do it.  I have thought of corking up the hole before.  They haven't been too bad lately, just in general they are gross & a pain in the butt. 

[SubliminalDarkness]

I heard to unscrew the drain cover, clean out the pipe with a pipe brush, then use Drano or something similar. After rinsing that, seal off the drain for about 24 hours. 

[Shantimama]

 Every few months my dh takes the drain apart and cleans everything. That seems to do the best job of keeping them away.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Hmm...maybe we can take it out and bleach it or something...then seal it up & not use it for a day or two.  Good ideas! 

[cristeen]

I didnt see it on the list of things youve tried already... Baking soda and vinegar? I buy baking soda in 12 lb bags at Costco and vinegar by the gallon. Id start making it a part of your nightly routine for a while. Run the water as hot as it gets. Turn off the water, dump half a cup of BS down the drain, chased by a cup of hot water. Pour in half a cup of vinegar, walk away for 20 minutes (it should bubble and fizz, and you should be able to hear it continue for several minutes. After 20 mins or so, run the hot water for a few seconds. Done. Repeat every night before bed, and your drain should be nice and clean.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

That's a good idea, but it's not even the drain to the sink...it's the overflow drain to my vessel sink...I think I'm going to have DH spring clean it this weekend.