Keep Finding Dead Flies In Your Home? Here's What You Can Do

Finding large quantities of dead, tiny flies around your home can make you feel like you're doing something terribly wrong, but rest assured it's a common experience for many homeowners that says little about the cleanliness of your house. If you start to notice groups of dead insects that are a little larger than normal houseflies around windowsills, you're likely dealing with cluster flies. These little insects are luckily harmless aside from being annoying. As the seasons get colder, they flock to the warmth of houses and apartments, then die as they try to escape through the cracks around window and door frames. Cluster flies do not indicate that there is anything decaying or dirty in your walls, and can be quickly removed using a few different methods.

Any visible cluster flies — dead or alive — can be sucked up using the handheld attachment on a vacuum cleaner. To catch any remaining flies, check out our ranking of the best fly traps and choose one to put out. You can also encourage flies to gather in one area of the home by setting out a jar of sugar water. While you wait to collect all the bugs, protect your home from future incursions by checking your walls and windows for cracks and sealing them with caulk. Then, lay down a line of house-safe pesticide or a natural insect repellant.

A pest control specialist is helpful if you're facing an intense cluster fly infestation. Regardless of the insect, a professional will be able to thoroughly check your property for any hot spots, and use unique pesticides to eliminate the specific bug. They can also treat your home to prevent more flies in the future. Having a pro on hand is always helpful, but isn't always necessary. Small cluster fly invasions can be handled alone, and there are plenty of easy ways to deter flies from getting into your house in the future.

While cluster flies are some of the most common household pests, especially around the wintertime, they aren't the only intruder. If you're able to identify the dead flies as something other than cluster flies, like a common housefly or blowfly, the removal process is more involved. These nastier flies, which are characterized by flying around more than cluster flies, can be a sign of something gross in or around your house. Sometimes the solution is as simple as cleaning up food waste and taking out the garbage, flies that are drawn to a dead critter inside your walls often need a professional to be removed.